A lot of new products have been hitting the market lately. Brighter is not sleeping either, releasing the X-Beam IP. This is the first device from this manufacturer based on a laser source.
Brighter X-Beam IP is a beam device based on a 120w phosphor laser enclosed in a small housing that weighs no more than 14kg while maintaining IP66 waterproof rating (if anyone is curious to know more about it, Kamil has put it together nicely. O here click)
Source, color and optics
As I wrote above, the X-Beam IP drives a 120w phosphor laser with a lifetime of up to 12,000 hours. The output is 6800 lumens, and the beam angle is a fixed-focus 1° with adjustable focus.
How does this phosphor laser work? In a nutshell, it consists of having a high-powered blue laser. Its light hits a special material called a phosphor luminophore. The phosphor changes some of the blue light to yellow, which causes the two colors to mix and white is produced. This allows high brightness with low power consumption.
For comparison, the old worn-out Sharpy (HRI+ 190W source) at 20m generates a light output of about 60k lux, while XBeam's claimed flux at 20m is 87.5k lux.
On a positive overall note, the color temperature at 9200 degrees Kelvin - quite blue - gently caught our attention. The RA coefficient (CRI) is determined at >70.
Here I was tempted to check how it compares with other devices on a phosphor source. Most devices based on this technology have similar parameters when it comes to warmth and CRI. For example, Ayrton Kyalami on a 100W Phosphor Laser source has 9000K and a CRI of 70+
Let's also keep in mind that this light source is fairly new, just like LEDs, which were also a novelty not long ago, and color mixing left a lot to be desired.
Effects, gobos, spinners:
What is certainly noteworthy about the device is the use of a wide variety of functions in a really compact housing and a high degree of waterproofing:
- CMY color mixing
- Shield of 12 dichroic filters
- 17 static gobos
- 2 prisms - one 8x circular and the other 24x circular, the possibility to apply both at once.
- Frost filter
- Electronic 16 bit dimmer and shutter 1-25 Hz
Objectively, we can admit that for the mentioned 14kg weight and IP66 it gives us quite a lot of effect possibilities.
Motion and Control.
The Brighter X-Beam IP has a classic range of motion of 540° PAN and 270° TILT. There is no information about the speed of movement at the moment, but looking at the size of the device and its weight, it should be fast.
Here the manufacturer stressed to us 3 times to take our word for it that the device is the fastest in its class on the market. We don't believe on our word, but we pass on the info. We would be happy to check it ourselves and then evaluate and come back to it. While we're on the subject of checking, the devices are touring Poland and you can book a demo for yourself by writing to the manufacturer. (click-contact)
The X-Beam IP will be controlled with regular 5-pin DMX or twisted pair via Art-Net or sACN. The unit has two DMX modes, one 14 channel and the other 19 channel. Again, the industry standard here.
Summary
Based on the data provided by the manufacturer, Brighter's product is definitely an interesting tidbit that deserves a moment's attention.
A few elements that we have read may raise doubts (whether it is actually like that in reality as on paper) because it looks too positive, and we already know of such cases! That's why we're eager to put the X-Beam on the mill and see for ourselves how the new Brighter device behaves, and then we'll be sure to come back with an update.
And what do you think of the new X-Beam IP? Feel free to leave a comment!
Manufacturer: Brighter Lighting
