Radiance Hazer

[Radman]

Has anyone used the new Radiance hazer by LeMaitre? I am thinking of getting it at school, we don't currently have a hazer, and I think it looks to be a rock solid choice. Not only would it be great for school productions, but we could rent it out, too. So basically I'm just asking for opinions on it or a more suitable hazer. Peter Morse and Eric Wade have given testimonials actually that are on the LeMaitre site. http://www.lemaitrefx.com/

Thanks

[len]

Great product. At full intensity it looks almost like a fogger. Don't know much about dependability since it is new.

If I were planning on renting it out, I'd get the case and the fan. Expensive, but will keep everything protected and should enable to raise the $$ enough to pay for it.

[BillESC]

Ryan,

The Radiance is the replacement for the famous Neutron XS. We've shipped a bunch and had no returns to date.

Note; Le Maitre is having a price increase of 5 to 7% the first of April.

[Radman]

Originally Posted by BillESC

Ryan,
Note; Le Maitre is having a price increase of 5 to 7% the first of April.

That sholdn't be a problem, we're putting it on the purchase order today I believe.

I'd ask to get the touring pack but we don't actually have that much money, at least not without sacrificing gels and lamps and whatnot for the current show. I'm gonna need those lamps, so we'll live without the case and fan. It would be more of an occasional rent out to a theatre or concert than a regular deal. Not that many people in this town actually need one.

Thanks everyone, I'm really excited to finally get to use haze (w00t!)

[Radman]

Well we got it, and the thing is pretty awesome! It has such a high output! I tested it out and it was almost too much on the lowest setting (well the lowest setting that wasn't OFF)! It should be great, I'll be controlling it via DMX from the light board so I'll have control, and I should be able to produce different atmospheres for different scenes fairly easily. Does anyone have a personality for it for an Express? Should I even bother with one? I have many questions now, as I've never worked with a hazer...lol.

[len]

Originally Posted by Radman

Does anyone have a personality for it for an Express? Should I even bother with one? I have many questions now, as I've never worked with a hazer...lol.

I don't bother with specific personalities on effects like that. Just give it 2 channels, 1 for output and 1 for fan. You'll be fine.

[pacman]

We just bought a Radiance hazer. I agree with the comment that at highest speed/output, you get more of a fog effect than haze. I was late turning the unit on one night, so I set it to max to cover the stage & ended up with clouds rather than haze. Given a little time, it will disperse to a nice even haze. At lower speed/output, you'll not get the "puffs," but a fine haze; it's all in how you set the controls. We used it for the opening scene in a show & then shut it down. The haze was pretty much gone by into the third scene. My previous experience with DF50s was haze that would be around for days, so it's nice to have a machine that will dissipate relatively quickly (& not leave an oily mess on everything). I would rather have it go away & have to run the machine again, than to have haze in a scene that shouldn't. By the way, one machine produced enough haze to fill a 44x32 stage. It also seems to use very little fluid.

[asb002]

We rented a Radiance for one of our musicals, it was awesome! Unfortunately, it set off the smoke sensors in the house, so we couldn't use it. It was simply the best hazer I ever used.

[Radman]

So as if I was already warned of this enough, I saw the show yesterday and lo and behold the haze stops center stage. Then goes up, and over the curtains, to backstage. Houston we have a problem. This didn't occur at the few rehearsals I was able to run haze for. After a bit of investigation, I've come to an educated guess.

Before I left one day I noticed that the vents in the house blew pretty well, which turns out to be a good thing, as it keeps the haze out of the house and just on the stage.

During the performance, the haze, even with fans to push it across, refused to make it any further than center stage.

I then noticed when I walked up to the stage left door (hazer SR) backstage, that the door was cracked and a considerable draft was coming through. Okay, I'm thinking, the stage has negative air pressure. There's a start.

Then I saw that on the other side of the stage, all the haze was filling up a hallway that leads to the outside. Now we're getting somewhere.

Cracking the outside door, haze immediately rushes out.

So the building is pressurized. Specifically, the halls are pressurized, and the theater is acting as a sort of "locks" (think river locks) for the pressure to get outside. So the air is flowing forcefully against us in on the stage. Argh. Easy fix, move hazer to the other side. Hah we have one performance left. Oh well, it can look right at least once.

[len]

Originally Posted by Radman

So as if I was already warned of this enough, I saw the show yesterday and lo and behold the haze stops center stage. Then goes up, and over the curtains, to backstage. Houston we have a problem.

I think this is the biggest problem lighting people have. You test, you test, you test, and still at show time some seemingly random door opening or closing screws the effect.