Q. Why, with respect to the competition - which produces a panel full of many LEDs - your solution uses such a small number of them?

A. The lights we produce use high-power LEDs, the broad beam of which is concentrated by an optical convergence unit. The great lighting potential is thus distributed uniformly, making it possible to reduce the number of LEDs required with respect to the light produced.

Q. Why has a supporting structure been chosen made up of drilled metallic fins?

A. Precisely to make an innovative product, we decided to abandon the idea of a supporting monobloc. And as a result of the enhanced lighting efficiency, we have decided to build a structure suited to being light and easy to cool at the same time, and thus highly efficient at dissipating the heat produced around the LED.

Q. Why did you not built a light unit with a single Fresnel lens?

A. The particular type of LED used requires collimator lenses appropriate for all types of LED. Thus every LED actually becomes a small spotlight in its own right. For the future, small projectors with single lenses are already being studied that are suited to a new generation of LED 5500°K.

Q. Why do you use a mix of white and red LEDs?

A. The LEDs used are a carefully selected “family” of units that produce white light across a long section of colour temperatures. Despite the selection at the start and that is made at our production units, the structure of all LEDs is such that they can contain an amount of spectral issue towards green or magenta. We have therefore been committed to finding LEDs that can correct this colour shift without having to use superimposed filters that, over time, would have lost their transmission characteristics.

Q. Why don’t you use barndoors ?

A. The use of conventional barndoors with multi-led arrays does not offer the effect typically expected as when using barndoors in front of open face or fresnel conventional lights. This accessory would rather generate undesirable effects like the obstruction of the light emitted from some of the LEDs in the array or (where the red LED is in the middle of the array) the alteration of the beam colour balance. The side light spills are brought down to irrelevant levels by surrounding each LED with an appropriate tube ; an in order to may control the light beam we are designing a series of honey combs sitting on top of the lenses and narrowing the beam to the wanted effect.

Q. Why is there no lighting unit calibrated for 3,200 °K?

A. The “family” of LEDs that produce wavelengths along the line having a centre of 3,200 °K is a range of less powerful LEDs the output of which would not give the hoped-for photometric results. Filtering a lighting unit at 5,500 °K therefore corresponds, if necessary, to having a lighting unit of 3,200 °K. We therefore think that in almost all operating contexts it is better to have a “white” lighting unit.

Q. Is it true that LEDs can present colour changes right from the start, during manufacture?

A. It is true, and it is up to the manufacturers to select the LEDs during production by classifying them into “groups” having the same colour-temperature characteristics but with variations in the zones of green and magenta so as to make up those which we call “LED families”.

Q. Why is it true that LEDs can exhibit colour variations at extreme temperatures?

A. There are small changes caused by temperature that are generated at the base of the LED and around the LED, especially if the heat dispersion at the base is not efficient. In most cases these changes are negligible or can be reduced to the requested colour values by using a light correction filter.


Q. What relationship is there between colour light emission response and power voltage?

A. As the power voltage of the LED lights is changed, only the emitted light intensity changes. Instead the colour temperature remains at the emission values established by the manufacturer.

Q. Can lighting systems exist with very particular colour temperatures or even uniformly coloured ones?

A. Yes, lighting systems with LEDs may be built at very high temperatures or indeed for a dominanting colour. The use is not however recommended since, as mentioned above, all LEDs have a component not only on the colour temperature line but also high peaks that cannot be visually controlled. Their use should nevertheless be “tested” and used carefully.

Q. What power supply can the LEDs receive?

A. The preferred power supply is the one that in our case has been chosen (7,2V -12V) because it is the most pratical and widely available - both during use on board and during the use on location. In the first case it is enough to use the auxiliary socket of any camera; in the second, a battery normally powers a single unit or a battery of assembled modules. It is always possible to use the mains 120/240V with adequate low cost transformers.

Q. Can Ianileds be used in outdoor locations with no fears for the weather conditions ?

A. Although we do not recommend to use the light under very heavy rain or to dip it into water as it is not an underwater light system, the light performs very well and safely in outdoor conditions. In facts as soon as we connect the wires to the connectors on the mcpcb, we seal it in order to make it drip-proof and to protect the electronics.

Q. Why can the colour temperature meters sometimes give discrepancies when measuring LEDs?

A. This is problem that is attributed only to the settings of the colour temperature meters. Indeed every company calibrates the filtrers for the cells of the three main colours of the colour temperature meters depending on a weighted average of the colour response curves of the various photosensitive materials. Some houses can have calibrated their colour temperature meters for photosensitive materials of more or less recent periods. The response must be tested and corrected depending on the sensitive material that is used at the time. We will publish tables aimed at identifying the differences between meters and sensitive materials.

Q. Unlike all the other manufacturers, why do you not clearly highlight the CRI (Color Rendering Index) value of your lighting systems?

A. The “notorious” CRI does not refer to finished lighting systems but to the lamps that generate the emission or to the LEDs. In the latter case, indeed, all the scientific- (CIE recommendation 13.3-1995) or empirical systems result as misleading in cinema and television photography - so much so that the CIE has thought of convening a new commission to give new recommendations on testing the CRI referred to the LEDs. The LEDs installed in our equipment maintain the their original CRI. Then they actually benefit from our construction method (our specific Leds mix and its electronic control by microprocessor), which adapts them to the values of Correlated Colour Temperature (CCT) in photo-film-TV environments.

Q. How are white LEDs created?

A. There are currently two ways to make white light with LEDs. One method mixes multiple wavelengths of different LEDs to make white light (i.e. RGB); allowing the lighting designer to tune the white light to a specific color temperature. The second method uses a blue Indium-Gallium-Nitride (InGaN) LED with a phosphor coating to create white light. This is the method that results in the more commonly seen “white LED”.

Q. Why d'ont you use RGB system?

As a matter of fact the Red Green Blue LEDs can be tuned to a specific white higher or lower colour temperature; but with much lower light output and excessive green or magenta (not suited to our specific application) than using our mix of white InGan LED tuned with just Red. In fact we must remember that the nice flexibility of tuning the colour temperature offered by RGB, is an advantage for those lighting designers who do not seek for powerful lighting tools (like in architectural and decoration lighting). But it is no longer so for the film and video directors of photography who seek for powerful and balanced light emissions. 

Of course filters again would help, but reducing the light intensity and this is not our commercial choice that goes instead toward the development of powerful Key LED light fixtures. So for long throws with balanced colour rendering.

Q. How the cameraman can calculate the duration of Ianileds, using his usual batteries ?

A. Simply calculating the Ianileds ampères and relating them to the battery capacity as follows :

Ianiled 6 12V 6W . Power /voltage = ampères 0,5Ah

Ex: Battery 4.1Ah/0,5Ah = duration about 8 hours

Ianiled 7 12V 7W. Power /voltage = ampères 0,58Ah

Ex: Battery 4.1Ah/0,58Ah = duration about 7 hours

Ianiled 6 7,2V 6W. Power/voltage = ampères 0,83Ah

Es. Battery 8.8Ah/0,83Ah = duration about 10 hours

Ianiled 7 7,2V 7W. Power/voltage = ampères 0,97Ah

Es Battery 8.8Ah/0,97Ah = duration about 9 hours

It is evident that the existing professional lighting batteries exceed the actual need of Leds . In fact Ianiro is developing a range of small pocket battery NiMH suited to the low consumption of its Ianileds range.

Q. Can the small magnets fitted on the filters and lenses for their quick release, damage the magnetic tapes used for video recording ?

A. No, they don't. Starting already from a minor distance of just half centimer they have a very low magnetic induction (0,1 gauss), that becomes even more irrelevant at further distances. 

Q. Are LEDs assimilated to laser rays and can they damage the skin or the sight ?

A. No,  they cannot be assimilated. Laser is narrower in wave lenghts and only some lenghts can cause a damage if directed straight toward the ocular bottom. Some high power and very concentrated laser rays can repair the retina in case of detachment or the skin damages.