The good folks at SUMOLight have developed a clever solution for the rapid deployment of large-scale backlit LED walls for (high-end) studio work. The SUMOSKY system is ready to go in a fraction of the time it takes for classic backlit backdrops, and it offers high-quality RGBWW output, green screen, blue screen, custom colors, gradients, moving lights, you name it!
creating evenly lit painted backdrops when shooting in a studio is not exatly an easy thing to pull off. Oftentimes it’s a lengthy and therefore expensive setup and once it’s done changing colors and other paramters is again a complex process.
Enter stage SUMOSKY. A straightforward system of LED striplights for creating huge backdrops in a fraction of the time. No individual DMX addressing of each and every fixture, the whole system just rolls out of an array of hard rolling cases and off you go.
In a way, you could say the SUMOSKY is a lighting system that bridges the gap between static green screen and dynamic LED displays.
SUMOSKY illuminated backdrop system
To set up, you (and your crew) need to align all the rolling cases with SUMOSKY fixtures in them, connect everything appropriately, and mount the whole thing on a lighting truss. For diffusion, you can use traditional Translight backdrops to enhance light or color changes, as well as Rosco projection screens and SoftDrops™.
The entire system can be 100m or more in width and up to 15m in height. Although this is obviously outside the financial scope of possibilities for owner/operator filmmakers, the SUMOSKY system is much cheaper than fully immersive LED walls like the SONY Crystal LED system.
Unlike traditional backdrop setups, the SUMOSKY is also quite compact in size. Only 40cm is needed between the lights and the diffusion material. And one fixture can illuminate up to 30m2 (2m x 15m).
Specifications
The SUMOSKY system can create perfect green or blue screens, although you may not need them, as the backdrop can be any color, pattern or even video you want. The resolution of each SUMOSKY unit is 20×38 pixels and you can achieve a total resolution of up to 10 cm pich. Other specifications include:
- CRI 95 white light for superior spectrum
- Full spectrum effective 16 bit per channel, 80 bit per pixel, flicker free
- Perfectly homogenous lit surface
- No banding – Smooth background for keying
- Pre-set functions and full custom control
- Easy user interface – Laptop or light desk control
- Image or video as data source possible
- Moving lightsDimming to zero
- Flash and strobing
- Auto-addressing of all light bars
This is more of a rental item, of course, but I still find it pretty exciting, as I’ve experienced the agony of having to evenly light a green screen studio myself multiple times.. And since the SUMOSKY isn’t limited to a single color or even a static backdrop, you can get pretty creative with it. Coupled with the clever “straight-out-of-the-box” mechanism, setup time seems more manageable.
Link: SUMOLight
What do you think? Might this be a cool lighting tool for your next project? let us know in the comments below!
