Hive lighting are well-known for their plasma lights – which makes the Wasp 100-C a departure for them as it’s based on five-colour LED technology.
After a successful Kickstarter last year, it’s now being delivered to backers and will shortly be available to buy, with delivery anticipated for July.
Best of both worlds?
The company claim it offers the best of RGB and bi-colour style LED fixtures, using five-colour LEDs to make up white light. This results in fully saturated colours – reds are truly red, greens truly green – and very accurate control, down to increments of 1°K. The aim is to provide the flexibility of a gel pack without the need to actually carry a gel pack around with you.
Wasp 100-C colour temperature range
The light’s colour temperatures range from 1,650K – 8,000K and Hive reckon intensity should be about the same at 3,200K and 5,600K: roughly comparable to a 650W tungsten fixture. Output will drop slightly if you’re using the light as a pure colour – but then that’s true if you’ve heavily gelled a light as well.
Accessories, compatibility
The Wasp 100-C is a par-style light that comes with a 22° reflector as standard and three spreading lenses that can take the beam spread up to an 80° flood. What’s more interesting though is that the mount on the front of the light is compatible with all sorts of pro photo gear: everything from Chimera and Elinchrome softboxes to Hive’s own 10° long-throw reflector and mini source four adapter for even tighter beam control.
We’ve been seeing a lot of manufacturers adopt the monobloc form factor for LED lights recently. It’s a nice change after the relative ubiquity of 1×1 panels, and means it’s often easier to shape and control the light using a variety of accessories.
Wasp 100-C price and availability
If you’re not an existing Kickstarter backer you can order a Wasp 100-C now. The standard kit sells for $1,052 US and includes:
- Wasp 100-C head unit with 22° reflector
- Wasp 100-C power supply 100-240 VAC
- HDP lenses: medium, wide, and super wide
- five inch four-leaf barn doors
There’s a manual, too. Because we always read them.
Were you an early backer on Kickstarter? Or late to the game but fancy a versatile workhorse lighting fixture? Let us know what you think of the Wasp 100-C in the comments below!
