Good All-Around Zoom?

[Sparkinium]

Hey all,
I'm a high school theatre technician, and I'm doing a bit of research work to finally replace the Colortran Zooms in the theatre here. From what I've seen, there are three types of instruments that pop up most frequently in discussion: The S4 Zooms, the Strand SL Zooms, and the Selecon Pacific Zooms.

I'm perfectly open to other suggestions, but given everyone's experiences, which zoom instrument is most well-suited to be used in a high school theatre? (I can't at this moment recall the throw distance that would be required, but I can say that many of the zooms would go in the 2nd AP or the Balcony Rail, if that's any help at all) My high school does a couple of our own shows a year, and we have outside clients, generally orchestras and dance companies, come in as well.

From what I've heard, the S4's are decent, but beastly heavy and very hard to work with, while the SLs have endcap problems, but are nearly half the weight of the S4s and are considerably shorter. I have heard less about the Selecon Pacific instruments, except some reluctance to use them due to their odd shape. Correct me if I'm wrong!

Thanks!

[Dillon]

I've worked with all three over the years... can't say that I prefer one to any other. The Selecons are very nice -- quite smooth, flat image area. Makes them great for projecting gobos. Take a look at pricing to see if one comes in significantly lower cost than the other two.

[soundlight]

Price is definitely an issue here. However, after wrangling older Strand and Century-Strand fixtures in our large music PAC, S4 zooms are not all that heavy. The 25-50's are a very reasonable weight, and the 15-30's are survivable. I also really like their focusing/zooming combined handle/knob. It works great, once you get the feel of it, which takes just a few minutes.

[icewolf08]

First of all, Welcome to the booth! You should pop over to the new members forum and say hi. Ask and answer questions, and I am sure you will come to love us...

As for you zooming issues. As an Source 4 zoom owner, I can tell you that I hate them. I have plenty of designers who hate them also. I personally am not a big fan of the zoom in general, but I do see where it has it's uses (sometimes... through a haze...). I can see where it would be useful in the high school setting anyway.

What other fixtures do you have? If you are mostly using source 4's the S4 zoom s advantageous because it has many interchangeable parts with the other S4s, plus it uses the same lamp, so it is easy to keep in stock.

If I were buying new instruments and had the choice and money, I would go with the Selecon Pacific Zoomspots. They are beautiful units. The optical quality is, in my opinion, superior to the S4. They are about the same size and weight, but they have lots of nice features. They sport 360˚ barrel rotation, they take virtually all the heat out of the light so that the temperature at the gate is cool enough that you can print an image on transparency and use it as a gobo. This also means that they almost never melt gel. Unless your positions wouldn't allow this unit to fit (due to it's shape) it would be my top choice out of the units you listed.

I don't have any experience with the SL Zoom, I have heard both good an bad about it. I would stay away, there are better options.

[Sparkinium]

Haha, whoops, totally missed the new user forums!

IceWolf: The theatre here uses a lot of Source Fours, and we're tending to move that way, because it reallly does simplify matters when it comes to finding a lamp, or doing maintanence or any of that. However, as you've pointed out, S4 Zooms seem to be a love-it-or-hate-it light.

I've heard a lot of good things about the Selecons. Other than their odd shape, which can cause problems in some places (I believe there's plenty of room here to use them), and the fact that they're not compatible with S4 stuff, are there any other problems with them I should be aware of?

I don't think we'd be against getting a different brand of light if the light itself was better. (And, given that the price was right.)

[jmabray]

I am biased (I indirectly work for ETC) but I would say that since you already have a great many source 4 instruments, that the S4 zoom would probably be the way to go here.

The Selecons are nice (from what little I have seen of them), as are the SL's. I do know that the S4's optics are better than the SL, and they are going to be more cost effective than the Selecon's. Couple that with the fact that they are US made (parts are local-ish - in comparison to the Selecon), and the lamp is the same as all your other fixtures, it would seem to make more sense to go with the S4 zoom.

If you were a professional theater, I might argue for the selecons, but due to the fact that you are a school and will have other issues to deal with (see the thread on the janitor changing lamps in your fixtures for an example) it would probably be best to just go with the S4.

[gafftaper]

Hey Spark if you are a friend of Tina's as I suspect... and heck even if you aren't... I would be glad to help you guys out... the college owns S4 zooms and I've got some Selecon zooms arriving in late November. You would have to take a drive up to Lynnwood but you could try them out side by side in our the new theater once it's open and I get my load of gear in.

My personal opinion (based on a demo only) is that Selecons have slightly better optics and some really cool features... but they cost more. S4 is a VERY solid option... and should not be considered a "second choice". The S4 definitely has it's own advantages. You will find people who prefer both so there's no clear cut "winner". Strand on the other hand is a clear 3rd choice in my opinion.

[SteveB]

You can also do a search on CB as this subject was covered a bit in past posts.

I happen to love the S4 6" zoom, having used the Colortran 6" zoom as well as S4 Jr's, Altman 4.5" zoom (discontinued) and the Shakespeare zoom.

Right now our road house has 64 S4 25/50 zooms, 20 Shakespeare 15/35's, a lot of now-retired Altman 4.5" units, with the Colortrans on the retirement list and in use by our Dept. of Theater, who also own 72 S4 Jr. Zooms, which they generally like.

The S4 is - in my mind, the most cost effective unit I own, very punchy, good lamp design, VERY fast to focus, decent imaging, not too heavy. The Shakespeares are a beast, hard to clean, weak lamp design, heavy and bulky. The Altman 4.5" units were nice and compact but cannot compare to the S4's. Note that I only use the 25/50 S4. The larger 15/30 is much heavier, longer and front heavy and is generally disliked due to it's size.

Steve Bailey
Brooklyn College

[church]

I own both S4 and CCT zooms. I have the S4 15 to 30 degree version. I like them, good output the weight is not too bad and at a push I have dropped an iris in and used them as follow spots in the 45 foot throw range in churches and little theatres. The ccts are not bad older generation but with the front reflector good light output but prohibitively expensive in North America. I should mention that I have the balance yoke's fitted onto my S4s transforms them, loosen the clamps and the fixture doesn't move. Without the balance yoke they are a pain. BTW here in Canada even S4s are significantly more expensive than in the USA

[Sparkinium]

Gafftaper: Yes, Tina is my theatre manager, and I'm sure she'd probably be interested in taking a look at both of those.

I was unaware the various S4 Zooms had significantly different weights. I believe the Colortran Zooms we currently have are 15-30, if that makes any difference. (It was noted the 15-30's were rather front heavy, hence why I noted it.)

We tend to change our own lamps, and with the number of different instruments we already have, having one different type wouldn't kill us. Admittedly, I do admit being able to just have a lot of HPLs would be awesome.

In reference to chruch's comment: What is CCT an abbreviation for? I am not familiar with it.