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De Sisti Open UK Sales and Projects Operation

UK – De Sisti has been a world leader in professional lighting systems since 1982. Innovation, technological research, high performance products, substantial attention to detail and highest attention to international safety standards are the most significant company priorities. All products are designed, manufactured and tested at De Sisti’s factories, where total quality control is the primary goal. De Sisti has made substantial investment in its products, system upgrades and development to ensure users benefit from the technology advances and their significant optical experiences. As part of this investment De Sisti has now opened De Sisti UK to support the substantial existing and potential customers based in the UK and Ireland as well as providing project concept and design, a complete installation service, and maintenance support with annual inspections if required. The office is currently based close to Junction 11 of the M25 to make access across the UK easy with support for TV and film studios, performance spaces, rental companies and photographers.

The office is set up to provide full product support, is equipped with the very latest demonstration and loan stock and provides quotations for equipment and projects as well as offering a complete design service covering all of the aspects of film, TV and photographic studios: lighting, lighting control, suspension, electrical and the building itself.

In September, De Sisti launched a substantial number of new products and upgraded all the LED arrays within the Fresnel range ensuring that brighter sources are utilised whilst at the same time improving CRI and TLCI figures to sit within the 92 to 96 band. The Fresnel Rain Protected range was shown now with an F7 at 160W, the F10 HP at 330W and the F14 HP at a very bright 580W ensuring that energy efficient solutions are available to replace HMI and 5kW incandescent sources. At a recent demonstration in the factory De Sisti showed these being sprayed with high levels of water which carefully runs out of the products due to the water drainage system built into the housing to ensure no damage to the internal components, a great benefit with our UK unpredictable weather.

The recent addition of Vari-White technology to the Fresnel and the SoftLED range now ensures that studios and other performance spaces can be lit with the ability to set the colour temperature from the lighting console without any change in intensity and importantly immediately without gel or climbing ladders. In theatre and film or TV drama, this can help move from day to night or to simulate different artificial sources such as street lights shining through windows just by means of a fader movement or key stroke, thus utilising one fixture instead of a number to do the job.

In news and current affairs TV studios these fixtures can help to balance one skin tone to another changing immediately to suit the persons on camera making them ideal of long running news programmes with multiple guests. The technology provides adjustable colour temperature from 2800°K to 6600°K on a continuous basis for theatre lighting designers. For TV lighting directors a step basis is provided where set colour temperature changes of 400°K occur for every 10% variation in DMX intensity. The latter ensuring that TV lighting directors always know exactly what temperature they are working at.

The Fresnels continue to utilise the same high quality shock resistant German glass lenses they have since 1982, these being fitted in their original incandescent versions as well as throughout the LED Fresnel range that now spans from 30 to 580 Watts. The universal power input from 90 to 250 volts ensures a true smooth dimming range from 0 to 100% at any of the AC input voltages making them ideal for use on shoots where the power is coming from different supply sources. Up to date, any of the 30, 60 or 120 Watt versions are also operable on batteries.

The Vari-White and the standard tungsten or daylight fixed colour temperature versions operate using the installed self-stabilising active cooling system. This thermal stabilisation is managed by an internal thermal sensor and the central processor unit working with the fixtures array heat-sink and the integral silent fan cooling. This maintains the array at a constant temperature, thus ensuring array longevity and fixture stability with the silent hydro bearing fan operating at a very slow speed. Importantly the thermal stability also ensures that when DMX dimming is in use there is no shift in colour temperature.

De Sisti hold a patent on the optical system which basically operates in the same way as the incandescent Fresnels with an array and a reflector moving towards and away from the Fresnel lens. Unlike other manufacturers the Fresnel units always ship with a four-leaf barndoor and colour frame and are available as standard with manual yokes or optional with pole operated yokes pan, tilt and focus helping to reduce changeovers and turn-around times, a wide range of in front of lens options are also available.

Some of the very first generation of De Sisti LED luminaires has now been installed for in excess of five years with recent tests showing that in 24 hour a day studios the operational hours have exceeded 35,000 without light output or colour degradation.

The SoftLED range launched earlier this year provide a wide range of wattage ratings and physical sizes. Constructed from rugged and lightweight aluminium extrusion ensures a very rugged housing which when finished in a black oxidised low glare finish to ensure that the fixtures are designed to stand up to the daily usage of rental and studio applications. Accurate honeycombs provide the opportunity to key from the softlights as well as shaping and controlling the beam spread. The range spans from 60 Watts with SoftLED1 to 120 Watts with SoftLED 2, 180 watts with SoftLEDd 4 and the awesome 360 watt SoftLED 8, which is a highly intense source suitable for area washing. All are available in dedicated tungsten or daylight colour temperatures or as a Vari-White version which is proving to be incredibly popular with the SoftLed 8 producing over 1000 lux at a distance of three metres making this almost twice as bright as other well known brands.

To complement the range of LED soft and keylights De Sisti has upgraded its range of suspension solutions for pantographs, motorised hoists and a new low cost push pull telescopic drop arm. De Sisti recently secured a large order from the new Riverside Studios to supply 147 Lite Mini Hoists for the new Studio 1 opening next year. The hoists are being purpose manufactured to a match a detailed specification prepared by Riverside. This includes the ability to determine operating height and to store this hoist by hoist, to include a built in Ethernet to DMX node capable of providing four universes of DMX per hoist, 80kg SWL capacity, dimmed and direct power and data all managed by a cable management system per hoist. The hoists are being control by a De Sisti AED hoist control system of similar type to the six systems delivered to the three refurbished studios at Television Centre. This touch screen based-control system is designed to be easy to operate by an inexperienced rigging crew that changes regularly, thus requiring a logical easy to use approach.

New lower weight capacity pantographs and the new telescopic drop arm are further additions to the suspension range ensuring that even low height studios and performance spaces can now benefit from the De Sisti D Smart Grid which uses a unique aluminium extrusion that can support lighting bars but can also contain integrated dimmed and direct power, Ethernet and DMX or video and audio data based around its D rail and primary structure with top and bottom mounts for Unistrut or Hilt components. These solutions are extremely cost effective and most importantly ensure that the grid solutions are managed by specialists rather than being part of a general building contract. These grids are perfectly suited to performance spaces requiring objects such as loudspeakers, other audio equipment, projectors and video screens, manual and motorised luminaires, and effects equipment to be hung overhead. The grid allows for fixed extruded bars or standard 48.3mm barrels or for manual pull along types with trolleys than can support diagonal or parallel movements. Locating such a system above a torsion wire grid in a multi-purpose venue can provide a completely flexible system at an economic cost.

The UK operation is managed by Nick Mobsby who has considerable experience of designing studio and performance venue solutions. The UK operation will provide spare parts support for existing products including those that have been out of production, a complete design service for lighting and suspension solutions, delivery of new product with help and guidance if required. Mobsby confirmed that: “We have loan lighting and suspension equipment available for those wanting to try out any of the kit.”

At a recent Society of Television Lighting and Design visit to ITV’s Coronation Street production centre the head of lighting Chris Chisnall demonstrated three different generations of De Sisti equipment from incandescent fixtures (these are still available), to the first generation LEDs, to the very latest in LED softlights and Fresnels. He showed how sets are now lit in the two new studios primarily using only 240 Watt soft lights where the honeycombs help to control the light simulating keylight, a few occasional 60W modelling Fresnel keys are added if required for close up work. Chris also has some of the rain proof versions out on the filming lot.

The UK operation is part of the De Sisti world-wide projects network with bases in the USA, UK, Europe, Middle East and Asia ensuring that small and large scale projects can be managed across the globe, packaged to match the needs of end users with the same level of quality, engineering and project management.

www.desisti.it

27th November 2017

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