Rosco Updates its Popular Silk LED Line for Filmmakers

Creating enticingly soft, diffused light, the Silk series is a favorite among lighting technicians. After feedback from the community, Rosco has upgraded its Silk line in time for NAB to include new capabilities in precision, control, overall functionality and ease of use. 

“We’re very excited to share these improvements to our Silk line with the marketplace”, said Tracey Cosgrove, Rosco’s Director of Products. The fixtures use proprietary tungsten and daylight balanced LEDs to produce color temperatures ranging from 2800 - 6500K. The broad-spectrum white light emits TLCI, CRI and R9 metrics in the high 90s that have been validated using TLCI test algorithms, making the need for color correction in post virtually unnecessary. 

The Silk 110, Silk 205, Silk 210, and Silk 305 feature all the bells and whistles we're used to—on-board dimming and color temp controls, 100 /240 AC power supply, V-Lock and Anton/Bauer accessory plates to attach batteries directly, 4-pin XLR inputs for battery bricks and belts, controllable via two channels of DMX—but Rosco has also improved on many of the details. 

All the control knobs have been enhanced and are now flush from the main control housing, which features a matte finish and a larger safety rope. Two new DMX modes have been added: DMX Master, which enables one Silk fixture to control the others on set that share the same base address, and wireless DMX via LumenRadio CRMX technology to help eliminate interference on the 2.4 GHz band. DMX dimming is now possible in 8-bit or 16-bit modes to offer smoother options with linear, square law, S-curve, and tungsten dimming curves added to its control as well.

The fixtures' color temperature dial has been increased to 50K resolution and the dimming dial to 15K for finer tuning and greater accuracy on interim stops of color temp and resolution at low end dimming. The company also added a control lockout button to prevent any of the settings from being wiped out unintentionally, increased the brightness, and added more contrast to the display panel. Further, fixtures can now be upgraded via USB. 

Two new larger Silk variants will be coming soon, too: the Silk 220 and Silk 410. The entire line features a non-glare diffuser to provide its uniform light source with optional accessories including egg crate louvers and barn doors. 

Tech specs

• Tungsten and daylight balanced LEDs
•  2800 - 6500K color temperature
• DMX controllable
• 100 /240 AC power
• V-Lock and Anton/Bauer battery options

Which are your favorite LEDs among the many competitors? Let us know in the comments.

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