Cyc Light Recommendations

[WestlakeTech]

I'm the Asst. Facilities Director at my high school and I've been given the job of shopping around for some new Cyc Lights. I was wondering if you guys had any recommendations. Don't worry about cost. They cannot be strip lights (teachers orders). The bigger the spread, the better. Links to sites showing any recommended devices would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
WestlakeTech

[soundlight]

If money is truly no object, have Altman demo their Spectra-CYC 100 units for you and see if they're really worth it.

If money would put the Spectra CYC 100s out of your price range, Altman's sky cycs and ground rows are standards. James Thomas Engineering also sells decent cyc lights, and Selecon Lighting sells 3 lines (HUI, LUI, and Aurora) of cyc lighting/groundrow products.

What you have to realize is that however wide the beamspread is, you are still going to end up needing to put the units almost end-to-end to get strong saturation when you've got alot of frontlight.

[derekleffew]

Originally Posted by WestlakeTech

...They cannot be strip lights (teacher's orders). The bigger the spread, the better. ...

These two statements appear to be incongruous. I suspect your definition of "strip lights" needs some refinement.

The best cyc lights I've ever used are those from Ianiro/QuartzColor, which used to be sold in the US by Strand. The Iris model for the top and the Orion for the bottom. Link to catalog. Altman, L&E, and Selecon make adequate (but not as good) fixtures also.

If space is at a premium, and it sounds as though it may be as "the bigger the spread, the better," the L&E MR-16 MiniStrip is likely your best solution.

I've ignored LEDs, which I don't think are ready for prime time yet. (Although I am sorry I missed investigating the Altman Spectra Cyc at LDi.) The CK Color Blaze and PixelRange Pixelines are fine products, but cannot achieve the same eveness of an assymetric reflector fixture. I'll issue a preemptive strike before a certain member jumps in and regales us with how great the Selador 7-color LED strips are: They're still not bright enough! (And technically, they're striplights.)


Finally, what are you using now, and what are your chief complaints? Have you tried Roscolux Cyc Diffusion (R120, 121, 122) and/or Cyc Sliks (R124, 125, 126)?

[DaveySimps]

We have been using the Selecon HUI's for a few years now, and have been pretty happy. We have found in our instance that the ground row configuration does indeed trap heat much more so than when the units are hung from a batten.

~Dave

Selecon Lighting - Hui Cyc

[WestlakeTech]

Originally Posted by soundlight

If money is truly no object, have Altman demo their Spectra-CYC 100 units for you and see if they're really worth it.

If money would put the Spectra CYC 100s out of your price range, Altman's sky cycs and ground rows are standards. James Thomas Engineering also sells decent cyc lights, and Selecon Lighting sells 3 lines (HUI, LUI, and Aurora) of cyc lighting/groundrow products.

What you have to realize is that however wide the beamspread is, you are still going to end up needing to put the units almost end-to-end to get strong saturation when you've got alot of frontlight.

Right, width of the spread isn't quite our issue, but I'll explain that as I respond to Derek's post.

Originally Posted by derekleffew

These two statements appear to be incongruous. I suspect your definition of "strip lights" needs some refinement.

The best cyc lights I've ever used are those from Ianiro/QuartzColor, which used to be sold in the US by Strand. The Iris model for the top and the Orion for the bottom. Link to catalog. Altman, L&E, and Selecon make adequate (but not as good) fixtures also.

If space is at a premium, and it sounds as though it may be as "the bigger the spread, the better," the L&E MR-16 MiniStrip is likely your best solution.

I've ignored LEDs, which I don't think are ready for prime time yet. (Although I am sorry I missed investigating the Altman Spectra Cyc at LDi.) The CK Color Blaze and PixelRange Pixelines are fine products, but cannot achieve the same eveness of an assymetric reflector fixture. I'll issue a preemptive strike before a certain member jumps in and regales us with how great the Selador 7-color LED strips are: They're still not bright enough! (And technically, they're striplights.)


Finally, what are you using now, and what are your chief complaints? Have you tried Roscolux Cyc Diffusion (R120, 121, 122) and/or Cyc Sliks (R124, 125, 126)?

Well, for starters, despite the fact that I'm a high school senior in my 4th year of Tech Theatre, I'm still learning... even many of the basics. Also, there are some differences in what my school teaches and what's used in the real world. Most people call those on a running crew who move scenery and set pieces "stage crew", whereas we (for some unknown reason) call them "grip crew" often.

As for the chief complaint...
Right now we're using some form of Altman strip (border) lights. Problem: HEIGHT of spread is not as great as we'd prefer.

Here's the scenario for those who care to read this much; recently we put on a play and one of the set pieces was a big window (probably about 6' x 8') placed upstage. There was no glass, just empty space where there normally would be glass. The design concept was, light the cyc to represent the daylight (/time of day) outside. Well, none of our Altman strips' washes traveled far enough UP the cyc, so we ended up having to put PARs on the floor behind the window. We made it work, but it didn't really give us the look we were hoping for.

(also, yes, we did use diffusion gels)

So we're trying to make sure problems like this cease to occur.


And Thank You all for your recommendations. Please keep 'em coming. I'll take any help I can get.


***Also, now my teacher/boss is saying strip/borderlights are OK... couldn't even remember telling me that they weren't.

[cdub260]

Originally Posted by WestlakeTech

They cannot be strip lights (teachers orders).

That's really too bad as I'm going to be getting rid of eight ancient R-40 strips sometime in the near future.

Originally Posted by WestlakeTech

Well, for starters, despite the fact that I'm a high school senior in my 4th year of Tech Theatre, I'm still learning...

Despite the fact that I'm in my twentieth year in this industry and about to start my tenth year as ME of the Pageant, I'm still learning too. That seems to be one of the never ending facts of life. If we want to retain our status as knowledgeable and competent in whatever field we pursue, we have to keep learning.

Just a little something to think about as you move forward in your career.

[ruinexplorer]

To me it sounds that your cyc electric is close to the cyc itself. When you were having difficulty lighting the top of the cyc, no strip light will be able to help you with that, their beam spread is not intended for such a tight proximity, even with silk and diffusion. Your best coverage will be a combination of cyc lights and a ground row (if you can mask their location).

While I love some Selecon fixtures, I have issues with their cyc fixtures. I hate that you have to take apart any fixture depending on where you decide to hang it. Once they are properly configured, they seem to do the job well. I like some of the other fixtures, like the Altmans that Derek pointed out.

There are many benefits to strip lights as well, but make sure that they are the right light for the job.

[gafftapegreenia]

As has been said, if your lights are really close to the cyc, no amount of spread will help, they won't travel.

I"m still trying to understand, were these strip lights on the stage floor, or were they hung from an electric?

[propmonkey]

Originally Posted by WestlakeTech

Most people call those on a running crew who move scenery and set pieces "stage crew", whereas we (for some unknown reason) call them "grip crew" often.

thats what we always referred to them as in high school. i dont see anything wrong with it. i think it comes from the film industry.

just think like soda, pop, coke, etc all mean the same thing but usually regionally specific

[WestlakeTech]

Originally Posted by gafftapegreenia

As has been said, if your lights are really close to the cyc, no amount of spread will help, they won't travel.

I"m still trying to understand, were these strip lights on the stage floor, or were they hung from an electric?

Stage floor. We have no fly system of any kind in our black box.