iFootage Anglerfish PL1 80BN BLWW LED Panel Light

iFootage has quietly announced its new Anglerfish PL1 80BN BLWW LED Panel Light. Just like the also-announced PL1 80C, it looks like a decent fixture with a lot of nice features at a very affordable price.

The PL1 80BN is a BLWW Bi-color 1×1 style panel that draws 100W.

It has physical dimensions of 351 x 318 x 71.5mm / 13.81″ x 12.51″ x 2.81″ and it weighs 2.6kg / 5.73 lb. The AC power adapter weighs an additional 465g / 1.02 lb.

The fixture has a CCT range of 2700-6500K.

You might be asking what is BLWW? I’m glad you asked. Unlike traditional bi-color LED lights that only mix warm white and cold white lights, the iFootage PL1 80BN utilizes BLWW mixing technology that blends blue, lime, warm white, and cold white colors. Combined with TIR technology (which I will talk about further down in the article), this enables the light to achieve a more precise color temperature.

By utilizing BLWW four-color mixing technology, the color temperature adjustment process of 2700K-6500K more closely adheres to the blackbody radiation curve.

iFootage claims that the lights undergo 13 strict calibrations before shipping to ensure the highest quality, color accuracy, and consistency.

The PL1 80BN features a removable diffusion panel that allows users to switch between creating soft or hard lighting.

Due to the semi-transparent and white nature of the diffusion panel, non-uniform light passing through can cause color deviation. To prevent this from happening, iFootage has integrated a sensor at the bottom of the panel. This sensor sends real-time data to the color engine and then an algorithm ensures color consistency regardless of what panel is being used.

iFootage is using a technology they are calling TIR. TIR technology achieves even light dispersion by rotating adjacent light groups by 90°. This prevents local color deviation caused by lights of the same color being in the same row or column, ensuring more complete color mixing between colors and overall color uniformity.

By focusing the light emitted from the LED chips to a 45-degree angle instead of a 120-degree angle, the brightness can be increased threefold while maintaining the same power consumption. Essentially this is just a method where you are effectively lensing the LEDs. In Laymen's terms, it is like putting a magnifying glass in front of the light source. This is not a new technology and we have seen numerous lighting companies using this exact type of method to create higher output. The light is claimed to be able to output 7350lx @1m /3.3′ using the 45-degree panel. This is a lot of output for a 1×1 panel that only draws 100W.

iFootage offers two removable panels for the fixture so you can change the beam angle from 120 degrees to 45 degrees, or soften the light up.

The PL1 80BN can be powered via AC, a v-mount battery using the integrated v-mount battery plate, or through a USB-C PD 100W power source.

Yes, it does. iFootage states that the light utilizes a brand-new dual-turbo fan design that has a lifespan of up to 70,000 hours at 40 degrees Celsius, which is said to be more than three times the lifespan of conventional fans. The intelligent temperature control includes three modes to choose from: intelligent mode, silent mode, and ultra-silent mode. The ultra-silent mode is claimed to only produce 28dB of noise. iFootage doesn't state whether the output is limited when running in the Ultra-silent or Silent modes.

The fixture has 10 lighting effects that you can choose from.

You can do DMX control via the USB-C input with a type-c adaptive cable.

The iFootage Lumin app allows you to connect HL1 C4, SL1 series, PL1 series, and other fixtures, all under one platform. With just one app, you can control up to 220 lights at a distance of up to 60m/ 196.85′.

In a nice touch, iFootage has incorporated a way of syncing settings between multiple fixtures. With preset sync, you can easily keep your lighting settings consistent across multiple devices. You can do this using a desktop computer, tablet, or smartphone.

iFootage Lumin also features a new project-based management system to help simplify switching between and managing multiple lighting scenes. By creating projects, users can quickly segment scenes and achieve precise control over different lighting combinations in different locations or within the same scene.

The new Lighting Diagram mode allows you to import photos of your lighting scene from your album or capture them on-site, and then simply drag and drop the target lights from the left light list to their actual position.

The PL1 80BN reatils for $299 USD.

Matthew Allard is a multi-award-winning, ACS accredited freelance Director of Photography with over 30 years' of experience working in more than 50 countries around the world.He is the Editor of Newsshooter.com and has been writing on the site since 2010.Matthew has won 48 ACS Awards, including five prestigious Golden Tripods. In 2016 he won the Award for Best Cinematography at the 21st Asian Television Awards.Matthew is available to hire as a DP in Japan or for work anywhere else in the world.