ellipsoidals

[dwt1]

We have used the Strand SL's for several years and have been quite pleased with their performance. To add to the pro and con list: The gate for the pattern holder is considerably wider front to back and appears to accept any
SFX, rtator or other devices regardless of whether they are intended for S4's.

Also, the gate has thumb screws rather than phillips allowing for faster access.

The only con I have run into is that the base (where the lamp is seated) can come loose and will effectively disconnect the lamp. The first warning sign is the carbon buildup from the arcing. According to our dealer, the caps are very tough to fix. It would appear that Strand has accepted this flaw and is offering a swapout for the caps at $85.00 per cap.

 

[DarSax]

Sorry if I annoy anyone by posting with no new information, but thanks tons, kingfisher and ship, for the advice/help on updating me on the zoom/beam angle stuff, definitely will help make me less embarrassed when I finally work in another theater than our high school's. (And just important to know in general).

 

[kingfisher1]

One last thing, as you run the barrel from soft to sharp and back again the beam angle does get larger and smaller. this can work in your favor or agaist. just another thing to keep in mind

 

[Pie4Weebl]

I am a fan of the S4 fixture, easy to use and works great. My only issue with it is the lamp clip can be a pain when trying to pop out a lamp. I agree with ship that zoom-able fixtures can be pointless in some situtions and not worth the added cost/weight. In my space all out front light are 19 degree beams and we never have reason to change this. Also with Source 4s go for the 750 watt fixture even if you plan on using 575s, the handle on the back of those is well worth it, and an occasional outside group may require 750s.

Also another fixture I have tried a few times and really liked was Selicon Pacific's elliposdal, they have a infared mirror so that a good majority of the heat from the beam leaves the fixture via a heatsync instead of heating up the actor.

 

[cutlunch]

Also another fixture I have tried a few times and really liked was Selicon Pacific's elliposdal, they have a infared mirror so that a good majority of the heat from the beam leaves the fixture via a heatsync instead of heating up the actor.

Because the beam on the Pacifics are cooler, when used with a lower wattage lamp I believe you can use inkjet transperencies for gobos. I haven't tried this out my self yet.

 

[kingfisher1]

the pacificas look like a really cool fixture, although they also seem more bulky. however i've only seen them in pictures so i'm not really qualified to make comments.

 

[soundlight]

If only they weren't so expensive, then everyone would be happy!

 

[cutlunch]

the pacificas look like a really cool fixture, although they also seem more bulky. however i've only seen them in pictures so i'm not really qualified to make comments.

Coming from the land of the Pacific's ( New Zealand) I have used them a few times. Kingfisher you are right they are slightly bulkier then a Strand SL but they don't wiegh much more. I have used them a few times. I have just finished a High School production of "Footloose" . I used twelve Pacific 23 - 50 degree for area lighting. They did the job well. In the past for another show I used two Pacific 90 to wash a floor space of approximately 10 metres by 6 metres. Although I would have liked more this did the job well. If you have big washes to do and can only have a few lights give the Pacific 90 ago.

Depending on which base you get you can use the same bases for different lens fittings. Also the lenses rotates to allow for those difficult cut offs.

They are worth trying if you get a chance.

 

[gafftaper]

I just got the full Selecon Line Demo last week and I'm REALLY impressed. They have some very smart people working over there. Their ellipsoidal is slick with how it uses the dichroic mirror to reflect light forward while allowing heat to pass up into a massive heat sink. Want to focus the lamp, no problem, pop the heat sink off and look directly into the instrument through the dichroic filter, you can do a very accuarate focus in seconds. From what I am told they really aren't that much more expensive than the S4 or SL too.

While I loved their ellipsoidal and their fresnel was slick, I was most interested in the Selecon "RAMA PC". It's a great hybrid instrument. It's sort of a cross between a zoomable S4 par and an ellipsoidal with a really nice even frost gel. It's got a really great even distribution of light with almost no hot spot. While it has very soft edges for great blending, it has a well defined edge and doesn't fade off forever like a Fresnel. I can see it being amazingly useful... in a lot of smaller theater applications. I'm definitely going to pick up a few the first chance I get.

Here's the link to the Selecon RAMA PC:
http://www.seleconlight.com/index.p...&category_id=17&option=com_phpshop&Itemid=117

 

[koncept]

i was looking on thier site, it would be nice have cool light and instruments that remain somwhat cooler while focusing. if i get a chance, im gonna give them a try

 

[kingfisher1]

90degrees! thats right i forgot about that!
yeah teh pacificas really do look nice. If i'm not mistaken all s4s have a dicronic reflector for heat reduction, (not as much as selecons')

that hybrid sound very impressive

 

[MircleWorker]

Also, the gate has thumb screws rather than phillips allowing for faster access.

Thats is a very good pro.

 

[ship]

90degrees! thats right i forgot about that!
yeah teh pacificas really do look nice. If i'm not mistaken all s4s have a dicronic reflector for heat reduction, (not as much as selecons')

that hybrid sound very impressive

Depends upon which reflector type you are buying to some extent on the S-4 to truely get this cool light effect verses that of just a improved optics type of effect.


Less base one's choice upon a cool beam of light in actuality verses that of what by way of new concept in lamp design and optipically refined fixture for efficiency for what might on stage seem cool in beam.

The S-4 is a very good fixture, so is the S-6, SL and Selcon. Heat out of the beam will probably not be noticed as end result as opposed to color temperature and what seems to be a cooler beam of light.

 

[Radman]

Nook just did a review of the RAMA PC's in PLSN, he likes 'em too it seems.

 

[Lightingguy32]

I asked these same questions when I heard about our new facility. We have both strand SL ellipsoidals and altman 360Q's. I like both fixtures. The strands can do more (like projection... I've found that altman 360-Q's don't project as well), but the Altmans are more within my theater budget range as well. I buy them from Vincent Lighting for a reasonable price.

I do remember an old acquaintence from the Cleveland Ohio area who supplied local schools/businesses with lights... He wrote up a quote that had nothing but altman fixtures. His reason... and I'll never forget the quote to this day...

"The Altman fixture is industry wide and highly serviceable. Why be STRANDed for centuries waiting for parts."

When asked... he told me that Strand was a tad slow with its replacement parts.

This was four years ago and things might have changed since... AND... his business might have been the exception to the rule.

Acutally... Source 4s no matter what category you put them under are literally the industry standard ellipsoidal, not the 360Q, a matter of fact, the 360Q was NEVER an industry standard light

 

[Lightingguy32]

Actually, I'm kind of embarassed that it's taken me this long to realize this, but I've only worked in one very outdated theater with outdated equipment, so yeah. Only way to learn is to ask, eh?

Anyways, my high school's line of ellipsoidals is actually...all zooms. Not full-feature zooms, as they don't have pattern slots; but each ellipsoidal has a variable field angle/lens angle. I've been cursing the lot for years because I knew how outdated it was. Now that I finally got around to researching the 350Q...I found that regular ellipsoidals can only really focus, not change the beam spread. Huh.

So this brings me to my real question. Is the cool beam, high intensity, and crisp edges/projection the only real difference between the newer S-4's and older fixtures? Because I think I might have been blinded by the onslaught of accolades (big words!) for the S-4's into thinking that they were the coolest things since sliced bread...but is their main step up just intensity, effectiveness, and crispness? (Besides the ease of use that they bring to service/change).

Because if that is...then I think I'm dissapointed.

One other question though. I've only worked in one venue; all of our lights are extremely outdated Lekos with no ability to bench focus and a terrible light output, but they're all zooms (not full-featured, they don't have pattern slots). So now that I've been "spoiled" by the ability to change the field angle, I'm curious--is the lack of this ability a big problem in other theaters? Do you just uses irises instead? (Sorry for all of the questions, but I've only now realized this stuff and now I'm confused.)

No, ETC source fours also allow you to swap different field angle lenstubes in and out, so you can own, say 12 Source 4s and own a variety of lense tubes (including the new EDLT, and 5°,10°,14°,19°,26°,36°,50°,70°,and,90°)
and also inlcude a gel frame retaining clip

 

[Lightingguy32]

So ship, when do we get chapter two? was there an index for that, i might have missed it. -sorry-

Etc still makes a zoom but i've heard that its has lots of draw backs, the weight, poorer optics, then again i've never used one.
As far as your (DarSax) dissapoint meant, i thikn you'd grow to love the nice even, cool (as in color) beam. gobos are a snap, focusing is a breeze and servicings not to hard either.

as far a beam angles go, you may have to comprimise a bit on your design but it'll helpo you think out side the box, or let you get friendly with a rental company.

Actually the Source Four Zoom has improved except for weight, but is much brighter, crisper and easier to use than all other competitors (strand, Selecon, Altman)

 

[kingfisher1]

cool! does it still have shortcoming when compared to fixed beam angles?