Clay Paky Sharpy

[GoboMan]

I have noticed when watching live music events on TV (The Voice, SNL, etc.) that the "Sharpy" by Clay Paky has become a pretty dominant lighting instrument in the rigs I've seen.

I was just wondering what everyone's thoughts and opinions were on these lights? What makes them so apparently desired in concert venues these days? I see them EVERYWHERE lately...

 

[DaveySimps]

My guess is that it has a lot to do with its compact size (makes it easier to tour with and fit into rigs), and its great output compared to its relatively low power consumption. The optics of the fixture are a bit different than other instruments too. The smaller arc source in the lamp allows the beam it produces to be more consistently parallel at a comparatively longer distance. I see them come through a lot. They are a nice fixture.

~Dave

 

[soundman]

A few reasons, they are quick, bright, weigh next to nothing and have a low power draw. It uses a fixed color wheel and can bump colors very quickly which can be useful. While they are kind of a one trick pony I have seen them used nicely.

On the most recent Foo Fighters tour there was a half circle automation track on the upstage end of the stage with I think eight pantographs that could track along it. Each pantograph and a syncro light and 2 Sharpies on it. The look of huge beam next to two small ones was visually interesting and allowed for some neat layers of light in the haze. If the Sharpies weighed more the it might not have been possible with out beefing up the rigging.

Phoenix had a bunch at Coachella, they were surrounding the band on three sides and used to build a wall of light around them. Because of the punchyness of them even in deep colors the look read well. And when they were pointed out over the audience the beams seemed to go for miles.

I like that you can address them with out power.

 

[StNic54]

We recently got a batch of about 16 or so Sharpies. It took us a long time to get them - we had to rent them for a few shows leading up to the purchase delivery. They are fast, and they are bright. When we do arena shows, they are the difference-makers because they can cut through and really pop from very long distances. They are super lightweight, and our road cases hold 6 per case. They are awesome as effects units. I'll take them any day over our other units.

Some of the downsides: they get very hot, and the beam has the ability to set things on fire - hence the minimum 40' throw warning on all the fixtures. We did have an issue after renting some out where the pan locks were not unlocked when powered up, and some of the gearing was ground down. Not a fun thing to discover. Also, they are overkill for smaller venues, and when you watch Saturday Night Live, you can clearly see that they are overkill for that particular show because they overpower the cameras for the musical guests and actually negatively impact what the viewer at home sees. However, if you watch wrestling week to week, you'll see a great utilization of Sharpies throughout the show as ground units.

All in all, they work nicely, if you can get em.

 

[GoboMan]

A minimum 40' throw?! Wow, that is intense. Makes me wonder, though... I watch "The Voice" and in the upstage corners of the audience they have a row of Sharpys and VL500s lining the top row of the audience, and many times the Sharpys are aimed at the backs of the heads of those audience members at the top row. Are you saying that they are probably feeling the heat of those beams when they are focused on them?

 

[StNic54]

Could easily be feeling the heat. There should be some photos floating around the web of instrument housings that melted from a Sharpy beam hitting them. They did a test on Spansets and the burn time was lengthy, like 5 hours.

 

[ship]

Watch the lamps in cost effective - 2,ooo hours is a lot to much for useful.

 

[Footer]

Simply put... because you can do this:


A few 8" mirror balls and there ya go. They also had a few halved and on the floor that they shot at.

 

[Judge]

A minimum 40' throw?! Wow, that is intense. Makes me wonder, though... I watch "The Voice" and in the upstage corners of the audience they have a row of Sharpys and VL500s lining the top row of the audience, and many times the Sharpys are aimed at the backs of the heads of those audience members at the top row. Are you saying that they are probably feeling the heat of those beams when they are focused on them?

Meh, serves them right. Its a bit worrying that they can actually melt Spansets though! Okay, so they would never be in a situation where that would happen, but still...

 

[wolfman005]

In the manual, there is an option to add a special heat shield so instead of a minimum of 12 meters, it's 8 or something like that.

 

[Judge]

I feel safer now

 

[ship]

Still though, in any normal selling point for a moving light, a question comes up in lamp life. These are advertised for 2,000 lamp hours beore replacement. I see between 600 and 1,000 hours normally before more or less wash beam of light - and as normal for most high output fixtures, you won't get that beam of cool above well into the tour. Sure I see lots of them come back these days as per "dim" in saying so in the range of loss in efficiency.

My point is that these fixtures while perhaps selling point for lamp hours isn't realistic. Am testing an Osram version of the Philips lamp also - not designed for the use but plays nice with it so far. Got one of two back recently but the roadie's were too busy to fill in lamp hours appairently. Given lamp hours before rejected, it was a bad lamp for intensity and no useful info beyond that in testing the new lamp.

Main point, if a selling point is double the lamp hours of this lamp for a sale - don't believe in more like the 600 thru 1,000 hour range for useful and normal.

 

[masterelectrician2112]

I saw Howard Ungerleider's lighting design for Rush's Clockwork Angels tour, and he uses them extensively. I think what makes them so desirable is their ability to throw about a quarter of a mile in good conditions for the size that it is. I can't think of another light that is that small that has that kind of output. They were also used in the Superbowl halftime show for Rihanna around the rim of the stadium. You can see how far the beams throw in the video. I had the opportunity to see a couple in action for a project at school, and they were without a doubt the most punch-y fixture in the rig. One of the designers for that project apparently didn't realize their power, though, since they decided it would be a good idea to point them at the top row of seats where I happened to be sitting and strobe them. The flashes were so brilliant that my eyes started watering and I had to leave the theater for a while as I became disoriented. These things have a punch that shouldn't be forgotten.

 

[derekleffew]

As a lighting student trained in the McCandless Method, it's difficult for me to reconcile beamage --light for lights' sake. To put luminaire s on a plot for the sole purpose of lighting air or haze, instead of talent or scenery, just seems wasteful. But IF I'm going to "waste" light, I'd rather it be a 189W Sharpy as opposed to a 5- or 7kW Syncrolite.
.

 

[techieman33]

As a lighting student trained in the McCandless Method, it's difficult for me to reconcile beamage --light for lights' sake. To put luminaire s on a plot for the sole purpose of lighting air or haze, instead of talent or scenery, just seems wasteful. But IF I'm going to "waste" light, I'd rather it be a 189W Sharpy as opposed to a 5- or 7kW Syncrolite.
.

It's not wasted light if it's adding to the feel of the scene.

 

[Footer]

It's not wasted light if it's adding to the feel of the scene.

....or looks cool when the audience is blasted on ketamine.

Lets face it, none of the moving light companies in the last 5 years have made a fixture that actually lights a stage well as a priority. Along with that, a 1k VNSP par never did anything to light a stage.

 

[wolfman005]

Don't forget TSO. They had a very impressive amount of Sharpys.
I'm not a lighting student by any means. In fact I might even be considered a hobbyist, but when I do design for a band, the first thing I do is pic what type of beam/aerial lights I'll use. Course it's easy to do that when you use pre-vis software and have unlimited possibilities.

 

[Hughesie]

They are a very limited fixture that can only really be classed as an "Effect Light" even Clay Paky realised this as they have no released the Sharpy wash. I have done a few events with the sharpy and one with the sharpy wash and can certainly say the newer model is a welcome improvement if you have a tight rig budget or space restriction and need a functional light AND pretty beams.

 

[Les]

As a lighting student trained in the McCandless Method, it's difficult for me to reconcile beamage --light for lights' sake. To put luminaire s on a plot for the sole purpose of lighting air or haze, instead of talent or scenery, just seems wasteful. But IF I'm going to "waste" light, I'd rather it be a 189W Sharpy as opposed to a 5- or 7kW Syncrolite.
.

I use "beamage" a lot if I'm doing a show that relies heavily on suggested scenery. Les Mis is one that comes to mind as one that I used gobos as aerial effects to add texture. Good thing the balcony was closed for that run or the audience would have seen a lot of random grate and palm leaf gobos.

I had some bigger "beamage" scenes than this, but I think I've posted them here before so I'll just go with this one.

 

[masterelectrician2112]

As a lighting student trained in the McCandless Method, it's difficult for me to reconcile beamage --light for lights' sake. To put luminaire s on a plot for the sole purpose of lighting air or haze, instead of talent or scenery, just seems wasteful. But IF I'm going to "waste" light, I'd rather it be a 189W Sharpy as opposed to a 5- or 7kW Syncrolite.
.

For theatre, I agree completely. However, for concert lighting, I think that a fixture meant to create beams through haze is quite useful. It allows you to create tight-beam effects that weren't as easily achieved before. Also with the saturate colors the Sharpy can achieve, I think it could be used to light talent possibly as a backlight.