At Cine Gear Expo 2022, we visited the Astera booth to learn more about their recently-released HydraPanel. This compact 25W RGBMA LED fixture provides a decent output and a variable light beam that can be easily shaped via a series of interchangeable accessories. It is now available for pre-order for $400. Astera is mainly known for their popular tube lights and the company has developed several other products with a peculiar design over the years, like their PixelBrick. Their latest addition is the HydraPanel, a 25W LED fixture that packs quite a few interesting features in its tiny metal body. Although we already reported about this product in detail in a recent article, we took the chance to visit the company’s booth at Cine Gear Expo 2022. We talk to Thor Andre from Astera and asked him a few questions about this new release. Let’s take a closer look. Image credit: CineD Astera HydraPanel: overview According to Thor, the new HydraPanel proves to be a very versatile fixture. Indeed, not only can this small LED panel serve as a traditional key or fill light, but it can also behave as an elegant practical to include in the shot. In fact, its 6 mappable RGBMA (Red/Green/Blue/Mint/Amber) pixels allow to create different lighting effects, making the HydraPanel look good even as a prop in the background. Its pixels are powered by the same Titan LED engine that can be found in other Astera fixtures, thus making the color-matching process much easier for...
Published By: CineD - Thursday, 16 June, 2022