Gear of the Year Winners 2025: Lighting
Posted on Oct 27, 2025 by Pro Moviemaker
We reveal the worthy winners in our ninth annual celebration of top-tier moviemaking lighting
No filmmaking set-up is complete without the right lighting. From ultra-thin panels to powerful hard lights and clever innovations that alter how we think about illumination, the awards celebrate the best tools for shaping light and mood on-set. Here’s what this year’s impressive winners put on offer to up the film industry’s lighting game.
1. Hard light
Godox Knowled M1000R
When you need punch in a shot, nothing replaces a powerful hard light – and Godox delivers in style with the Knowled M1000R. This RGBWW fixture offers a whole kilowatt of output while retaining impressive colour control and flexible effects modes. It’s quickly become a favourite for cinematographers who want both power and finesse. The M1000R’s build quality and reliable thermal management make it tough, while its compatibility with a wide array of modifiers gives it extra creative range. It offers a potent combination of brute strength and modern versatility, making it this year’s crowning hard light.
2. Innovation
Astera Lunabulb
Astera is famous for thinking outside the box, and its Lunabulb is the kind of product that will make you smile when you see it. At first glance, it looks like a household bulb, but in reality it’s a fully controllable RGBWW light. Designed to screw into standard sockets, the Lunabulb lets filmmakers turn everyday practicals into colour-accurate, app-controlled set lights. If you’re matching ambient lighting, creating subtle effects or transforming a simple desk lamp into a storytelling tool, the Lunabulb opens creative doors. Voters loved its ingenuity and flexibility, awarding it this year’s innovation title.
3. Light panel
Amaran Pano 120C
The Pano 120c is an outstanding example of Amaran’s reputation for delivering pro-level lighting at accessible prices. This full-colour panel mixes high output with colour accuracy, all in a lightweight form. Its advanced RGBWW control provides precise control over hue, saturation and intensity, useful for indie filmmakers and content creators who work in smaller, unregulated spaces. The 120c’s app compatibility lets you set looks on a phone, while DMX and CRMX support ensures it scales up for larger productions. For its portability and performance, it was the clear panel winner.
Editor’s choice
Nanlite Pavoslim 120C
The Pavoslim 120C from Nanlite impressed editors with its razor-thin build. It’s one of the most portable colour panels around but still packs powerful output and very accurate colour rendering. For cramped locations, its slim profile and light weight make it invaluable. Big performance does not always need bulky housing.
Aputure Storm 1000C
Aputure’s latest Storm 1000C deserves recognition for its innovative performance. With tunable RGB colour, high output and a weather-resistant construction, it pushes the boundaries of what a hard light can do on-set. Its compatibility with the brand’s growing ecosystem of modifiers and wireless control systems also makes it a natural fit for professional workflows.
Atomos Sun Dragon
Another product that impressed the editors is the Atomos Sun Dragon. This flexible rope light offers powerful, fully tunable output in a format that can be shaped, bent and wrapped around set pieces. It’s a bold move from a brand better known for recorders, a turn that signals how lighting technology continues to evolve in unexpected ways.
This article was first published in the November/December 2025 issue of Pro Moviemaker
