Lighting pioneer and cinematographer Dedo Weigert has passed away at the age of 87. Dedo was a lighting pioneer, and his fixtures were a staple in our industry. Back in the day, just about every shooter I knew used them.
I have used Dedolights for a very long time, going back well before the days of LEDs. The original Dedolights were very popular because of their compact size and ability to shape and control light. I still have two DLED7-Bi Turbo fixtures that have been in my lighting kit for almost 10 years.
Dedo Weigert was born on 5 November 1938 in Breslau, and he died on 30 November 2025. He was a German cinematographer, film producer, and entrepreneur, but he is widely known as the developer of the Dedolight lighting system.
Dedo received a Technical Achievement Oscar for this lighting system in 1991, and in the early 2000s, he introduced another lighting system, for which he received another Technical Achievement Oscar (Scientific and Engineering Award) in 2003, as well as an Emmy.
Dedo Weigert Film has been in receivership since the end of September 2025.
Dedolight California and DedoCanada posted this tribute on their website:
It is with profound sadness that we share the news of the passing of Dedo Weigert — the founder of Dedolight and a singular creative force whose influence on cinematography and professional lighting will be felt for generations.
Dedo was more than a filmmaker, more than an inventor, more than a relentless engineer. He was a magician of light. A cinematographer by training, he approached illumination not as an accessory to storytelling but as its hidden architecture — something to be bent, shaped, sculpted, and refined until it served the image with absolute intention. His pursuit of perfection was endless, and his standards reshaped the expectations of working professionals all over the world.
He developed tools that did not simply fill gaps in the market; they redefined what was possible. From optical systems with previously unthinkable precision to nurturing a shared philosophy of “reflected light” that inspired an entirely new way of working, his contributions were never about novelty. They were about giving artists the most honest, controllable, intuitive instruments they could have in their hands.
His contributions were recognized across the industry, earning an Academy Award for Technical Achievement and an Engineering Emmy Award — honors that reflected not just innovation, but his lifelong devotion to elevating the craft.
For those of us who had the privilege to learn from him, collaborate with him, or simply witness his mind at work, Dedo was a rare combination of visionary and craftsman. He carried humor right alongside intensity. He expected the best because he believed professionals deserved tools built without compromise. And he was endlessly generous in sharing the knowledge he had earned over a lifetime behind the camera.
The professional lighting world has lost a true giant — not a brand figurehead, but a maker, a thinker, a doer. Someone who changed the craft not with slogans, but with solutions.
We will miss his leadership. We will miss the pure curiosity that drove him to keep reinventing even the things he had already invented himself. Most of all, we will miss the way he illuminated not just sets, but also our collective creative potential.
Though Dedolight has lost its creator and caretaker, its spirit lives on in every tool, every precision-engineered element, and every artist who has ever shaped light using Dedo’s innovations. To our global community of story-tellers, cinematographers, gaffers, educators, students and collaborators: together we will carry his legacy into the future.
With respect and heavy hearts,
Dedolight California & DedoCanada
