Sky cyc at 4 feet?

[jgels]

Hi all,
I am planning to use the 16 foot projection screen and 18 feet down to the floor at the back of my black box at the school as a cyc. How many Altman sky cycs would I need to get decent coverage on this thing considering that the only place to put it is 4' from the screen on the pipe there. Also is there a better option to rent on this sheet than sky cycs http://www.alpsweb.com/AlpsRent09.pdf

THanks

[Les]

Two of the 8' L&E ministrips may work better at that range, but I have never used strips to light a cyc, so I am only guessing. But my thought process is that at a close distance, a full-length fixture would be a better choice. The trick would be achieving even illumination from the top to the bottom of the screen. If you can rent four 8' ministrips, you could do a ground row as well.

By my math*, you would probably need three SkyCyc's to get decent coverage from a 4' distance over a 16' length. My concern here would actually be throwing that much heat at a projection screen. I would guess that you'd also get severe hot spots (lighting-wise) in front of where the fixtures are located. Even more so in the likely event that the screen is a reflective material. What model SkyCyc's are we talking? 4-cell (2 over 2), 3-cell, 4-cell inline, etc?

*A general rule of thumb for cyc lights is that the distance between units should be equal to that of the distance from the cyc being lit.
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[jglodeklights]

L&E Mini-Strips with EYC Flood lamps can be used. However, their effectiveness will be limited by your budget to purchase gel, and how far above the CYC they can be hung. It sounds like you will be hanging them on a pipe at the same level as the screen. This means that you will, even at four feet away, need a fairly heavy diffusion gel to prevent scalloping. R113 cut lines running up down/beam spreading left and right may be sufficient. If it isn't, you will need an opaque frost in order to eliminate scalloping (this is what happened to a designer in a theater I was working with recently). On the positive side, this does provide much smoother color mixing than a typical cyc fixture would.

[Amishplumber]

Hey Joe,

I asked the same question 3 years ago when I was there... I ended up renting 2 zip strips and they did a great wash of the upper half of the cyc.

best cyc lights with little space.