OK, I have erected the flak barrier to guard against all of the flak that I am going to get from all of you.
I volunteer as an ME at a
community theatre that does 12 productions a year and we have just started our 39th season. Our method of focus is a
bit simpler than most suggested. We use an American DJ "Dr
DMX". It comes with a three pin
XLR, which I have replaced with a 5 pin
XLR. The suggested list price is $50 and to find the only
connector that fits correctly another $7. I have purchased 4 of the units so far at $35 to $42 with shipping. The shipping on the
connector from mouser.com is about $5, so I usually make it a larger order and
purchase a number of other items I need to make the shipping more viable. I
purchase Belden digital audio cable for 8 to 10 cents a
foot at a great surplus store in Orlando. I
purchase Pomona 5 pin XLRs from mouser for less than $3 each. All told, I have less than $60 invested for a quasi focus remote with cable.
I focus from the genie with the LD on the floor checking the
plot and pushing the genie. Some of the LDs would rther be in the genie with me on the floor doing the
plot and pushing.
Each of the 5 LDs that we use have first commented on what a crappy method it is. By the second time that we have used this method, they prefer it, when given a choice of using more people with someone at the board. If we can find a third person, they push the genie and run for things needed. In matter of fact, two of the designers have had me
purchase and modify the "Dr
DMX" for them to have for their personal use.
Now the "Dr
DMX" can do up to 12
dimmer channels at various levels in the hold mode, so that you can check
instrument to
instrument focus. It is not a great device for calibrating scrollers as the "full"
intensity is not full. But for focus who cares, and when the
LCD display dies after being dropped for the fourth time or some scenic painter spashes it with paint, it is only $40 something to replace. It is so cheap that we keep a spare just in case it gets killed. Oh it also has a lazer pointer built in which is more fun than useful, and can operate in IR, if you can find a receiver for it. Also the instructions which were translated by a chinaman that thought he knew English, are less than wonderful. I wrote my own instructions and made many copies.
OK, now you can all tell me how using AMDJ crap is bad and how you would only buy a focus remotes that cost multi hundreds of dollars if not thousand, plus but what I save buys me more lighting instruments, and most of our lighting assistants are teenagers that the second a member of the opposite sex enters the
theatre during focus, they will
drop the remote focus device and proceed to move their attention towards the entering party.
