Mac 600 & 550E

[zackw250]

Has anyone had any experience with these fixtures? I am looking to possibably rent them for our Christmas week productions. I've never used anything but High End System fixtures.

I'm thinking 8 fixture total, 4 of each. The wash's will be on stage at the bottom of our 18 x 80 foot CYC for color "spikes" and washes on the cyc (ontop of our normal RGB color washes). The 4 spots will be FOH for GOBO pattern projection & color washes on the stage/CYC. They will also will be used for some key lighting on solo numbers.

I will mix the HES Studio Color 575 with the Mac washes and my 4 HES studio spot 575s will be hung at the top of the CYC for audience lighting & concert lighting effects. Stage dimensions: 80 feet wide by 20 feet deep.

Anyway let me know what you think of my plan or the fixtures.. thanks.

[digitaltec]

Yeah, I use those fixtures every day.

You might want to see if you can get the MAC 600 NT, I feel they have a better performance. The MAC 550 Profile's are great fixtures. But I would ask the rental house what gobo's and colors come in the 550's. Rental houses tend to change those things out for gigs that they have then you rent them and what is usually standard is not in the fixture and there are particular things you want and they are not there.


If you have any questions, feel free to ask. But I think you got a nice little moving light rig going on there.

[zackw250]

Chris - I meant the Mac 500E profile, not the 550. The only reason I choose the 500 over the 550 is because I like the stock gobo selection better. I will be using the Mac profiles for CYC pattern projection and the gobos on the 500 seem to be alittle more natural. I would probably go with the 550 if I was planning on using them for atmospheric concert effects... any notes on the 500? And I called the rental place today and they have a whole warehouse full of fixtures with stock gobos only - yeah!

[digitaltec]

The 500E's are great, not a fast moving fixture but it will still get the job done for what you are planning to produce. I love the 550's for alot of reasons, including the zoom features, better tilt functions, and you cant forget the animation wheel. But, a fixture is a fixture and not every feature of a fixture is needed for every event. So you need to break down your needs and budget and see what will fit in. I will always back Martin Lighting but that does not mean Martin is right for every event or need. Just my 2 cents.


Hope it all works out and feel free to contact me with any problems.

[JahJahwarrior]

one church I run tech at has three 600's for lighting (and a few pars), and one of them is always acting up. For all I know, it's a short in the cable, or somethings not terminated, or whatever, but one light just NEVER seems to behave! She'll wait a minute or two after you give a command to do something (ie: you dim it down, she'll blackout about 30 seconds later, completely skipping the whole dimming nice and slowly thing, and doing it way after you are done with it, or say you try to mix the cyan, it won't go to the amount you specify until a few seconds later (like, 30 or so), and sometimes she'll randomly freeze up and I'll have to reset her) Very aggravating, but other than that one PITLB (pain in the light board) they seem like nice fixtures the 600's though don't have gobos at all, and are wash fixtures. No zoom or iris. pan and tilt, CMY mixing, fine pan and tilt adjustment, things like strobing, it has a color wheel (if the colors in theirs are stock, then it's like white, color correction, red, green and something else) and can rotate that.....

they are alot nicer to work with than pars

[zackw250]

Hmm... why can't I get a 550 with the stock gobos of the 500? Ahhh choices choices....

[digitaltec]

JahJahwarrior, sounds to me you have a PCB problem or a software problem. You might need to reload the software and see if that corrects the problem. It is also possible that you are having DMX issues to the fixture.

You might want to start with the DMX and then software, then PCB

[Inaki2]

You can get a 550 with 500 gobos, all you have to do is request it at the rental company. I can't remember if they're the same size, if not they'll have to custom make them, and since they're metal gobos it shouldn't be too bad.
500 are not my choice of fixtures, we've mostly gotten rid of al of them...except for one that keeps popping up al the time. Not bright, slow...try and get a hold of MAC700...my favorite new toy.

[zackw250]

I don't want to pay anything for gobos, my budget is already tight.

Do you know if the 500's output is similar to the HES spot 575s?

I can't find anywhere to get equipment except from PNTA (www.pnta.com) and Hollywood Lights (www.hollywoodlights.biz). Do you know of any Western Washington rental companies I can get 700's from?

But I think budget wise I'll probably have to go with the 500s. I don't need alot of punch, and they won't be doing any movement effects (other then gobo stuff).

[Inaki2]

I just got tired of that light. I like some of its gobod for aerial stuff, but not for projection. The 700s are pretty new, not a lot of rental companies have them yet. I like the Studio Spot much better for both output, quality of light and gobos!

[zackw250]

So you didn't like the gobo patterns for projection - why? They look pretty natural to me compared to the 550 gobos. Just looking at the Martin website I would think that the 550 had better arial gobo effects?

[Inaki2]

Its all a matter of taste.