During IBC 2023 we had a chance to talk to Kinson Loo, CEO of Zolar (the lighting brand of Shenzhen ImagineVision Technology Limited that also includes camera manufacturer Z CAM) who showed us a demo of two new lights – the ZOLAR Blade 60C rainproof panel and the ZOLAR XBlade 60C fully waterproof Panel.
ZOLAR Blade 60C LED
The first panel we saw from Zolar at IBC this year was the Blade 60C. This is an RGB 60cm/24″ wide panel with 6 light zones that has a full metal frame and is only 1 inch thick. This panel has an IP rating of 65 which means that it is fully rainproof and in the demo at IBC it worked all day under a shower of water.
Like other Zolar lights color accuracy is said to be extremely high with an official SSI of 90 both in daylight and tungsten (this number is higher than any light that we have tested).
The light has both DMX control and CRMX for a higher degree of control flexibility as well as a way to control arrays of several panels which are supported by Zolar.
The light has a very wide color temperature range of 2000-20,000 kelvin and has 24 built-in effects and a total weight of 3.15 kg/6.95 lbs.
The ZOLAR Blade 60C
ZOLAR XBlade 60C LED
The second LED panel called the xBlade 60C is very unique. It is thicker and while it has the same panel and color performance as the Blade 60c it consumes 200W (the Blade 60c consumes up to 140W).
The main feature of the Xblade panel is its IP X8 rating which allows this panel to be fully submerged under water for up to 20m or 65ft.
Lights that can be fully submerged for more than a few meters are very rare and usually special (and very expensive) housing is needed. This light is fully ready to be submerged out of the box with only the power cable out of the water making the task of lighting underwater much simpler (and possibly a lot more affordable although pricing was not provided during IBC and will probably given only upcon direct contact with Zolar).
We wanted to know if the light will have a way to compensate for the color shift of the light underwater and Kinson Loo promised that the company is working on a special underwater mode that will make some adjustments to the color when used underwater.
The ZOLAR XBlade 60C in an underwater demo during IBC 2023
Pricing and availability
The ZOLAR Blade 60C LED is available for order on B&H for just under $900. The xBlade version pricing was not disclosed at this point.
Be sure not to miss any of our IBC 2023 videos and articles on our special show coverage page.
Special thanks to our sponsors for IBC 2023: SmallRig, Ulanzi, Godox, Zhiyun.
Iddo Genuth 
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