Icewolf08 wrote:
"I can only speak from the perspective of being in the US, but given the nature of Americans, the
Zoom is kind of the lazy-man's
unit. "
The Euro (and Australian and NZ) use of zooms is often in a
house that is a big multi-user facility, with little time to do re-hangs, due to very busy schedules of visiting events, ballet, dance, opera
etc... Or so I've been told by many of the Euro companies that visit our space.
This is probably the best application for
zoom ellipsoidals or S4 Pars, Fresnels and/or PC zooms, namely maximum flexibility with the least amount of time wasted - I.E. not swapping lamps, lenses, or barrels.
This is why I have maintained an inventory over 60 total
zoom ellipsoidals in my rep
plot, of assorted
Altman 15/30 Shakespeares,
Altman 4.5" 25/50 zooms and now 48 (climbing to 64) S4 25/50 zooms. I don't have time to swap barrels, and find the ability to simply
zoom to the correct size a far superior method then accepting an
image that is too big at 36 degrees, but too small at 26. The LD's visiting my space DON'T have to do the math to decide whether to go to a 50 or a 36 or a 26, the
unit does it all, and quickly (in the hands of an experienced operator). Granted that I no longer use zooms in my
cove as the 19 and 26 degree S4's work fine - especially with
iris's, nor do I need zooms on my fixed side ladders where 30 and 40 degree Shakespeares do the trick, but when I
build up a set of 8 dance side towers this coming fall, that's where I'm putting all my surplus 4.5"
Altman zooms. Want it to be 25 degrees, no problem Too small,
zoom out a
bit. Everything for everyone.
SB