Using Selecons to project color transparencies

[gafftaper]

A recent thread was started asking about Rosco Image-pros. Footer posted this post below, rather than hijack that thread further I'm giving it it's own thread...

Originally Posted by Footer4321

You might want to take a look at getting selecons instead of the image pros. You can essentially do the exact same thing and get a new fixture out of it as well. This set is done with selecons.... it was designed by someone that I worked with last year, also appeared on the cover of TD&T. http://dailyheadlines.uark.edu/images/Big-LOve-11.jpg

So Footer, I've seen a Selecon demo and was amazed at how cool they run. I love the shot you posted of it projecting clouds. Do you, or anyone else, know of any downsides to to using a Selecon for transparency projections. It's been mentioned in passing in a couple of posts but no one has really explored the topic fully. Clearly there are a lot of advantages of having a zoom instrument, with killer optics, you can buy transparencies for about a buck each at an office store to print at home. Plus instead of spending your money on something you only occasionally use with the I-pro, you have an instrument you can use all the time for other things.

Price: I-pro about $250
Selecon fixed focus: about $300
Selecon Zoom: about $400

Any negatives other than price? Can you get a brighter Image out of the Selecon than an I-pro?

[Footer]

Well, the source 4 does have more punch then a selecon. I have never seen a side by side with the iPro and a selecon, however I doubt that the difference would be noticeable. As posted earlier, the selecons are a very nice instrument, though I don't like the plastic barrel and such. I would not want to take them out on the road, but for a house that all the fixtures spend their entire life in one room, I don't think they would be a bad way to go. I would still use the source 4 for major systems, but the selecons definitely have their place. The reason/how Uark (where big love was performed) got those fixtures was due to a big Gala that the university sponsored. They wanted the theatre dept. to paint large drops to hang in a ball room depicting certain scenes (I don't know what, I guess some Arkansas history). The theatre dept said they didnt have time to do the painting, but if they bought them 40 of these fixtures they could do the same thing with projections (and the theatre dept. would get the fixtures in the end). They did it, it worked, and the theatre dept got a load of fixtures. I have only used the selecons once personaly, but I have heard and seen some great things done with them. I think they will be a serious player in the "specialty" market, just one more of those things that its not a bad idea to have 10 or 15 lying around.

[gafftaper]

As I've talked about in the past in the next 6 month's I'll be outfitting a new college black box. I've looked really hard at Selecon. They clearly have a lot of advantages over S4's and Strand SL's. They cost more but when you are spending over $100k on lighting it isn't that big of a deal. As much as I would love a theater full of Selecon gear, I'm just afraid to be all alone out there with a lighting instrument made in New Zealand. What happens in 5 years if they decide to stop selling in America? Where do I get parts. At the same time I see so many cool applications and possibilities because of how well designed they are. I think I'll definitely get a set of them just for image projections purposes. But I'm just affraid to go all in on Selecon when I know I'll be able to get S4 parts for decades.

[Footer]

Originally Posted by gafftaper

As I've talked about in the past in the next 6 month's I'll be outfitting a new college black box. I've looked really hard at Selecon. They clearly have a lot of advantages over S4's and Strand SL's. They cost more but when you are spending over $100k on lighting it isn't that big of a deal. As much as I would love a theater full of Selecon gear, I'm just afraid to be all alone out there with a lighting instrument made in New Zealand. What happens in 5 years if they decide to stop selling in America? Where do I get parts. At the same time I see so many cool applications and possibilities because of how well designed they are. I think I'll definitely get a set of them just for image projections purposes. But I'm just affraid to go all in on Selecon when I know I'll be able to get S4 parts for decades.

Ya, thats my feeling too. Also, I know the in's and outs of a source 4 like the back of my hand. There are also enough of them out there that nearly every theatre has at least a few laying around, and spare parts as well. I think they are just one more thing to have in the bag of tricks.

[Pie4Weebl]

so do you shrink the image down and put it in a gobo frame or how does it work?

[Footer]

Originally Posted by Pie4Weebl

so do you shrink the image down and put it in a gobo frame or how does it work?

Both work pretty much the same. You take the image, scan it, and print it out onto an transparency film. With the iPro you have to mount the transparency onto a special slide and them mount that into the iPro. With the selecons, you put the transparency into a special transparency gobo holder, and your done. I belive that the transparency's have and a 50 hour life in both types of fixtures.

[squigish]

I don't know if this is overkill or not, but my only experience with either selecon pacifics or the I-pro was from a production at my university last year, where we put an I-pro in a pacific for projection. It sort of worked, but it was impossible to keep both the center and perimeter of the image in sharp focus, which wasn't all that suprising, since we were using a field angle of somewhere between 70-90 degrees.

I agree that selecon makes great fixtures. The pacific was just a demo, we didn't end up purchasing any, but we use their Aurora cyc lights, and almost every tour that comes through raves about how great they are, in terms of gel burnout and an even field.

[TupeloTechie]

I looking at their website which said this

"TWO PATTERN / EFFECTS MOUNTING SLOTS. A fixed pattern and rotating pattern combination."

Does this mean there are just too slots so you can use a rotator and a static, or does these have built in rotators?

Just wondering because we are looking into buying some to do the same thing.

[Footer]

Nope, they don't have built in rotators. If they did, the would be an absolute steal considering a good rotator cost as much as one of those fixtures. They are simply telling you that one of the slots is big enough to take a rotator.

[gafftaper]

It's two slots just like a Source4. A small one for single gobos and a large one for accessories.