Automated Fixtures If you had to choose: Framing Shutters or Iris?

[carllib]

Hello Everyone,

We have just completed a massive renovation to the auditorium that I work in. We upgraded seats, lobby, carpet, paint, sound, acoustics, and lighting. That being said, we were originally going to purchase Mac700s for a new FOH position, located about 8-10 feet away from the lip of the stage, but we were forced to make some cuts due to budgetary constraints. We were able to get some more funding for around $12,000-$13,000. It was suggested that we look into Vari-Lite VL1100s. It is my thought to purchase two of these units, which would cost around $11,000, but also leave some room for accessories and shipping. The two options are: VL1100TS or VL1100TI. The questions is: if you had to choose would you prefer the framing shutters or an iris?


Also, if there is any other moving light that you would suggest that could fit into our budget, I would gladly take the suggestions.


Thank you in advance for your responses.

 

[xander]

What kind of shows do you do? Are these going up in a rep plot, likely never to come down again? Looks like you have another $1-2k left in that budget, buy both modules so you can switch them out as needed?

-Tim

 

[BobHealey]

Needs more context on their intended use. Also depends if they have a zoom or not. For some types of uses, I'd prefer irises, for others, I'd want the shutters. Am I lighting drama, or live music? Different needs/feature sets.

 

[carllib]

We generally do about 2-3 full-length plays, 1 musical, and 16 one-act plays. We are a rental house as well, so we have any number of trios, quartets, symphonies, folk bands, operas, lectures, and dance. It is my thought that these would stay in that FOH position and not be moved. I am going to look in to how much the individual modules would cost.

 

[Pie4Weebl]

What are you using to control them? working with an iris is sooo much faster than framing shutters on most consoles, so that would make me lean to an iris.

 

[carllib]

What are you using to control them? working with an iris is sooo much faster than framing shutters on most consoles, so that would make me lean to an iris.

We have an ETC Ion 1000 to control the lights.

 

[derekleffew]

... buy both modules so you can switch them out as needed?

Unlike the ETC Revolution, I'm pretty sure it's not that easy (if possible at all) on the VL1000 series.

Consider the conventional, non-moving ERS. They used to be available with only ONE of shutters, template slot, or iris. Now that one can have all three at once, no one would accept a Leko without shutters, particularly in an FOH position. Pie4Weebl has a good point however; shutters do take forever to program, and add at least nine channels to the footprint / fixture personality, compared the the iris unit's one (two if 16bit). On the other hand, shutters can create some very interesting effects in their own right.

 

[Jonice]

Make them shove out the extra cash for the Mac700s, cheap bastards.

 

[tyler.martin]

The framing shutters and Iris are not modular and cannot easily be swapped out. Me I'd go for the shutters

 

[rochem]

Fundamentally, it depends entirely on the application. However, speaking specifically about the VL1000, I would definitely go with the Shutters rather than the Iris. You can easily throw the shutters out of focus and essentially use them as an iris, and I've done this many times. Additionally, since these are FOH lights, there will be many times you'll want to just cut off one piece of scenery or masking leg. What many designers do is, when getting a Shutter fixture, spec a small circle gobo, and when getting an Iris fixture, spec a shutter gobo such as 1/4 Shutter.

That said, I would strongly urge you to consider looking into the VL1000AS over the TS. I completely understand the appeal of wanting a tungsten-based source, but to be frank, the TS is not bright enough for most applications, especially once you start putting color into it. I've had far more success hanging a VL1KAS and putting a light CTO gel in front of the light (it has a standard 7.5" color frame) rather than trying to get enough output out of a TS unit. The only downside is that it does add another significant point of failure, and you should absolutely have a spare ballast on hand at all times, but having used both of these units extensively, I would always opt for the Arc unit. Just something to consider.

 

[DELO72]

One of each. That's what we did at UF when facing that same question. That way we were covered for any singular situation.

 

[gafftapegreenia]

Well, if they really were going to live there forever, and never move, I'd want shutters.

However if they might ever be used for other purposes (and once you have movers you will be tempted to do more than just specials with them), I'd want irises.

One point towards getting shutters: An aperture reducing gobo can always be used to achieve the desired affect of a tight iris.