Maxima has announced the Maxima 7, which they are claiming is the world’s first compact LED fixture capable of matching the lighting output of a PAR 1200W HMI.
I’m not a fan of lighting companies making comparisons between LED lights and HMI fixtures. I can understand why they do it, but most companies don’t actually provide any testing data to back it up. Maxima says that light output is equivalent to 84% of a brand new Osram HMI 1200W SE bulb and equivalent to 88% of the same bulb with a 100-hour run-time. I’m no genius at maths, but 84% isn’t 100%.
In saying that, above you can see an actual head-to-head comparison.
The Maxima 7 was specifically designed to simulate sunlight in high-speed cinematography and professional photography environments. The fixture was developed by a purpose-built team of engineers, software developers and lighting professionals from the Cinestudio movie production company,
The Maxima 7 tips the scales at 8.7 kg (19.18 lb). The light is designed and manufactured in Italy, and it is enclosed in an aluminum and polycarbonate single body.
The Maxima 7 is a 5600K daylight LED light that draws 700W of power. The company claims that the light is capable of producing a lot of output as you can adjust the beam angle from 15 degrees to 120 degrees. Below you can see the claimed output figures of the Maxima 7.
These figures are certainly impressive and while it will do a good job at replicating a PAR 1200W HMI fixture, you aren’t quite going to get the same amount of output. Regardless, it is still nice to see a LED light that draws significantly less power that is capable of almost matching a 11200W HMI PAR.
Above you can see the companies claimed photometric scores.
It can be remotely controlled and is claimed to offer true flicker- free operation that make it a functional replacement of HMI fixtures. Maxima 7 is controlled by a powerful Cortex M7 CPU that continuously regulates light frequency, fan rate, and temperature while enabling connectivity via mobile App* or dedicated 2.4ghz remote control*.
* These features are still under development
Above you can see a video showcasing some of the features that will be included once it is launched.
100% flicker-free operation is ensured across the whole dimming range up to 10,000 fps.
The nice aspect of having a hard light like the maxima 7 is that you can turn it into a soft light. Conversely, you can’t turn a soft lighting source into a hard lighting source.
The Maxima 7 S-Type universal mount that you can access just by sliding the reflector away. This allows users to convert the fixture from a hard, single point light into a soft-light which can be used with a vast array of softboxes, small reflectors and open-face intensifiers.
Specifications
Price & Availability
This is all still unknown. The Maxima 7 is yet to have a price and there is no indication when it will start shipping.
