Rosco and DMG Lumière Get in the Mix

NAB 2018: This new six-chip RGBW smart lighting system comes in three sizes.

American Cinematographer

NAB 2018: A new six-chip RGBW smart lighting system comes in three sizes.

Evolving their collaborative Switch line of LED lights, Rosco and DMG Lumiére have introduced an entirely updated design with the new Mix line of RGGBAW fixtures. Providing the “best Rosco gel matches of any color mixing LED source,” the Mix models incorporate six primary LED chips: Red, Lime, Green, Blue, White, and Amber, at 4400K, which the company says was added over a previous iteration for “punch.”

With six options for mixing and matching, a much wider gamut of color is available over four-chip RGBA and five-chip RGBWW lights. The Lime and Red chips, both phosphor coated, are exclusively available in the Mix lights, an additional benefit for highly specific tones, hue and saturation, as well as unique combinations not found in competing models. The control software will also automatically set a base color temperature of a Mix model to accurately match other models on set or in an environment.

All is controlled from their Mymix application, which offers presets, templates and lighting designs that can be stored in a personal library, or uploaded for other users to collaborate or emulate. A color-picker is also available to recreate colors from a photo of a real-world situation. With fast firmware updates to multiple units available through the included SL1/Mini Control driver, Rosco and DMG Lumière are promising continually updated libraries of color temperatures, hues and Rosco gel emulations.

The SL1 MIX LED light from Rosco and DMG Lumiére

With near-infinite modifications of hue, saturation, and green and magenta shift, three modes are provided to choose between color temperature, color, and gel. For simplified operational choices, a White Mode with green/magenta has a range of tunable white light, from 1700-10000K, while the Color Mode offers 360 degree hue wheel with options for output intensity. Colors can be desaturated towards various white balances for tonal adjustments of the base hue in the Color Mode. Lastly, the Gel Mode presents an archive of Rosco gel colors, which can be adjusted for hue, saturation and green or magenta shift.

An early version of the MINI MIX LED light from Rosco and DMG Lumiére at this year's NAB conference

Each gel color in Rosco’s massive library has been matched and authenticated for digital simulation in the Mix lights to both tungsten and daylight. Currently available in two models, the Mini Mix and the SL1 Mix, both are constructed from 100% aluminum with passive, fanless cooling. Drawing 100W with 288 diodes, the 23" x 8" x 1.4" Mini Mix offers 2260 lux at 3’ and 266 lux at 9’ in 5600K. With 576 LEDs, the larger 200W SL1 Mix tests at 4036 lux at 3’, dropping to 544 lux at 9’.

As the line is based on the same exterior dimensions of the previously available Switch LED lights, 23" x 8" x 1.4" and 44" x 8" x 1.4" respectively, there are already several accessories available, including barn doors, powering and mounting plates, mounts, handle, and dome diffusion, as well as SnapGrid and SnapBag from DoPChoice. Claiming availability in early summer, the third model, a much larger Maxi Mix, will follow the release of the first two models shortly after. (The previous MaxiSwitch measures at 48" x 26" x 0.8".) Preorders are up now.