So, the great Kelite send me an HP3 and an HP5 to take a look at. Our facility if you don't know already is all conventional. One space has a 400 unit rep plot, the other space has a 150 unit rep plot. Being in a big giant Egg means power is at a premium... pulling new power into the space is not something that is easy to do! So, we are starting to look at LED lighting to add some more variety to our plot without the need for more power. I got to hold onto the units for about 2 weeks. In that time Mrs. Footer got to light a few shows with them and really enjoyed them.
So, here it goes. My first impression of the fixtures was how heavy they were. Each unit weighs 16 lbs and is smaller then a S4 par. The unit is all metal... and most of that metal is heat sink. The unit feels incredibly solid. Connectors, LCD, and buttons on the back are solid as well. The LCD is very easy to navigate. Each unit can be ran in HSI, RGB, and in the case of the HP5 RGBAW. It also has a bunch of pre-programmed modes.
Multiform HP5
The HP5 is a RGBAW unit.
I was pretty interested to play with this unit. Our program can be modern dance one day and rock and roll the next day, so getting good pastels is a pretty big deal along with saturated colors.
The unit did have some great color mixing. It mixed to a great R22 and R05. It also did a pretty decent R33 and R55. Even though each LED had its own lens there was no pixelation in the color.
Personally, I found the unit to be rather spotty and dim. It simply did not have the punch or the spread that I would like in a fixture. At a 20' trim and color matched it could not punch over a 1k fresnel wash loaded with R22. I also felt that the beam was a bit spotty. This thing would do great as a wall washer but in order to make a decent wash you would need a ton of units.
I thought this unit was going to be my favorite but it turned out to be a bit lacking for my uses.
Multiform HP3
The HP3 is a standard RGB unit.
I got this unit because I wanted to shoot out between the two. I did not really expect much from it, but I was blown away with what this unit can do.
The color that this unit threw out was extremely punchy. It gave out excellent blues, reds, greens, purples, and any other color you could grab. Running in HSI mode I was able to get some pretty decent pastels as well. The unit combines a red, green, and blue LED into each lens so there is zero pixelation. The unit held its own when color matched against a 1k Par WFL w/ R80 and R27. It was also just as bright as a S4 750w with R73 in it.
The beamspread was similar to a MFL Par64.
This unit really wowed me with what it could do. Mrs. Footer got a chance to light Ani Difraco with it as her only backlight. All of these shots were taken with my Galaxy Nexus.
The following were taken with my D40. All of these shots are of the HP3.
This final shot is of the HP5 with R22 Fresnels.
All in all I was impressed with both of these units. For a 500 dollar price point they really were well built quality units. Though the HP5 was not what I was looking for, it could have its uses. I do wish that it was at least twice as bright. On the flipside the HP3 was fantastic. It can easily replace a Par64 MFL if you run saturated color in the par currently.
So, here it goes. My first impression of the fixtures was how heavy they were. Each unit weighs 16 lbs and is smaller then a S4 par. The unit is all metal... and most of that metal is heat sink. The unit feels incredibly solid. Connectors, LCD, and buttons on the back are solid as well. The LCD is very easy to navigate. Each unit can be ran in HSI, RGB, and in the case of the HP5 RGBAW. It also has a bunch of pre-programmed modes.
Multiform HP5
The HP5 is a RGBAW unit.
I was pretty interested to play with this unit. Our program can be modern dance one day and rock and roll the next day, so getting good pastels is a pretty big deal along with saturated colors.
The unit did have some great color mixing. It mixed to a great R22 and R05. It also did a pretty decent R33 and R55. Even though each LED had its own lens there was no pixelation in the color.
Personally, I found the unit to be rather spotty and dim. It simply did not have the punch or the spread that I would like in a fixture. At a 20' trim and color matched it could not punch over a 1k fresnel wash loaded with R22. I also felt that the beam was a bit spotty. This thing would do great as a wall washer but in order to make a decent wash you would need a ton of units.
I thought this unit was going to be my favorite but it turned out to be a bit lacking for my uses.
Multiform HP3
The HP3 is a standard RGB unit.
I got this unit because I wanted to shoot out between the two. I did not really expect much from it, but I was blown away with what this unit can do.
The color that this unit threw out was extremely punchy. It gave out excellent blues, reds, greens, purples, and any other color you could grab. Running in HSI mode I was able to get some pretty decent pastels as well. The unit combines a red, green, and blue LED into each lens so there is zero pixelation. The unit held its own when color matched against a 1k Par WFL w/ R80 and R27. It was also just as bright as a S4 750w with R73 in it.
The beamspread was similar to a MFL Par64.
This unit really wowed me with what it could do. Mrs. Footer got a chance to light Ani Difraco with it as her only backlight. All of these shots were taken with my Galaxy Nexus.
The following were taken with my D40. All of these shots are of the HP3.
This final shot is of the HP5 with R22 Fresnels.
All in all I was impressed with both of these units. For a 500 dollar price point they really were well built quality units. Though the HP5 was not what I was looking for, it could have its uses. I do wish that it was at least twice as bright. On the flipside the HP3 was fantastic. It can easily replace a Par64 MFL if you run saturated color in the par currently.
