Look What I Found!
- Thread starterDCATTechie
- Start date
Hughesie
Well-Known Member
RedmonwantsEOS
Member
I wasn't saying that I was in posession of the fixture, I was simply stating that one of these slipped by when they upgraded our system (for the 1st time) in 2004.
Obviously it belongs to the school, but it really isn't monitored closley. I try to keep everything in good condition though. A lot of the administration this year has noticed how much me and other crew members take care of our Auditorium space.
Obviously it belongs to the school, but it really isn't monitored closley. I try to keep everything in good condition though. A lot of the administration this year has noticed how much me and other crew members take care of our Auditorium space.
DCATTechie
Active Member
I asked my director/TD what he wanted me to do with them. He said to go and throw them in the dumpster. So, in turn i asked him if i could keep them. He said it was ok and stashed them in his office until I could come get them later that day.
That's a real shame for the department. Been done before the perfect hard edge beam of light from an older fixture. Sure not the same color temperature as a modern 575w/115v lampped fixture that's more efficient but given say a fixture that would have an amber gel anyway, perfectly fine in freeing up another line or more modern fixture for something else. Can never have enough fixtures and old in good shape to supplement is a great idea or a really poor and short sited idea to get rid of by the staff. Hmm, if like a few hours and even $50.00 in parts to fix up an old light so it works properly verses what's retail on a S-4? Yep, really poor planning, let your teacher know my thoughts in being short sited and not apriciating the use of the equipment that's there and available or meant to be held in reserve. This much less your educational value in learning say three eras worth of Lekos instead of just coming out of school expecting that all gear is modern and once you get into the real world in not experienced other gear becoming a primidana instead of an optimist. Many postings in the past about primidana's getting stuck with ancient crappy lights that they just can't function with. Now how did they ever make magic on Broadway with West Side Story or Camelot with such ancient gear type of concept.
Best in my opinion to experience if even if having only one to play test while in school so you can get used to it.... throw it out or give it away... This granted my old high school teacher gave me like six banks of A-lamp strip light and a Kliegl Dyna Beam. That's a bit different in that there were other strip lights in use and these needed an overhaul. Marginal but a strip light is different than a Leko. On the follow spot with gel and working 3Kw incandescent lamp worth a few hundred $ these days, ok, they don't have a museum and it was fairly useless for them while in a prop room given they had newere follow spots in use. Far different than a Leko or fresnel. Cyc lights eventually found their way to the Bog Theater in Desplains IL where I think they still make good use of them, the follow spot is in the front lobby at work along with another antique fixture in excellent condition.
I like the colortran zoom it is a useful fixture - I own some that I bought after trying them. I did the post about a side by side comparison with a S4 that Derek referred to. we were surprised by the results both fixtures were clean and correctly bench focused. The S4 was easier to bench focus than the zoom.
I own S4s - including the 15-30 zooms - and a number of other fixtures by Strand and Colortran and I like to try fixtures out side by side from time to time just to see how they have developed over the years. I agree with Ship that we consign too many workable fixtures to the dumpster when they are able to give good service.
I recently had four Strand Patt 23s in for service the light output was awful and did not match my memory of how these things actually worked. When I stripped them down the optics were filthy there was so much dirt the glass in the lens felt rough and was brown. Worse still someone had removed the HALO filters. This guarantees poor light output and the inability to focus.
Cleaning and installing new HALO filters plus a modern lamp and the fixtures work again. So with your "find" of old fixtures you will always be surprised at what you can get by a thorough clean, bench focus, a modern lamp and replacing missing parts. I also know from experimentation of a couple of minor mods to colortrans that significantly improve the light output but that is another story.
Just to provoke some discussion the brightness of a fixture is often confussed by two things a) the colour temperature and b) the sharpness of the beam edge particularly if the optics produce a blue halionation around the circumfrence. The human eye perceives these as brighter light output than would be measured with a light meter. I am not saying that this is good or bad it is a bit like listening to loudspeakers and trying to say which is better.
I own S4s - including the 15-30 zooms - and a number of other fixtures by Strand and Colortran and I like to try fixtures out side by side from time to time just to see how they have developed over the years. I agree with Ship that we consign too many workable fixtures to the dumpster when they are able to give good service.
I recently had four Strand Patt 23s in for service the light output was awful and did not match my memory of how these things actually worked. When I stripped them down the optics were filthy there was so much dirt the glass in the lens felt rough and was brown. Worse still someone had removed the HALO filters. This guarantees poor light output and the inability to focus.
Cleaning and installing new HALO filters plus a modern lamp and the fixtures work again. So with your "find" of old fixtures you will always be surprised at what you can get by a thorough clean, bench focus, a modern lamp and replacing missing parts. I also know from experimentation of a couple of minor mods to colortrans that significantly improve the light output but that is another story.
Just to provoke some discussion the brightness of a fixture is often confussed by two things a) the colour temperature and b) the sharpness of the beam edge particularly if the optics produce a blue halionation around the circumfrence. The human eye perceives these as brighter light output than would be measured with a light meter. I am not saying that this is good or bad it is a bit like listening to loudspeakers and trying to say which is better.
DCATTechie
Active Member
I understand completely and I agree with you ship! A poor decision by the staff led to a great experience for me though. My intention was to take these home,take them apart, learn all about them, then re-assemble then once I've finished. I took these fixtures so they would not scrapped and destroyed, in hopes of refurbishing them so other people can learn about them also, and hopefully put them tp practical use elsewhere.
That being said, does anyone have any starting places where I should begin refurbishing these fixtures? Where can I buy the lamp housings for the two zooms? What all can I do to make these fixtures like new?
you can get spares from Leviton - they still have these fixtures available new - although the price rivals the price of a S4 - so I wouldn't buy them new. The GY9.5 lamp holder is available from a number of sources I usually get them from USHIO but a number of suppliers should keep them. If I remember correctly they usually retail for around $16 each - at least here in Canada.
Les
Well-Known Member
Well Honda makes me sad... I like Ferari's better. We gotta work with what we have sometimes! They all do their job, some just do it better and with more style.
tngillette
Member
That's the sickest lamp I've ever seen
Overall I hope everyone realizes that older fixtures like in comparison to Honda to Farari are different in efficiency, the Honda still no matter the age gets the job done in getting you to work very often - I drive one and it fits both 10' conduit and 8' 2x4 though such capacity was other than intent when buying.
Still it worries me this next generation as with all next generations of "lighting professionals" that not just don't own a C-wrench to their name (in my shop tools drawer being missing tools again) thus don't think it important to return a borrowed tool such as a cordless drill they personally borrow - second day in a row nobody returned such a thing after yelling at them today about as soon as done or at the end of the day returning what's borrowed by way of your personal pride in saying you are responsible for it, that they didn't return it again when not physically working with it at the end of the day and after explaining such a concept today to them - a whole crew of people using one cordless tool yet not one returned the drill, this much less missing C-Wrenches bolts multi-meters etc. that don't seem to be important any longer for a professional to provide for their personal tools....
None the less, overall concepts are that those that intend to do the trade should be trained in all new and old forms of it, easier to learn new than old, and that no gear is really obsolete and useless. This beyond the going to have to re-jack up and yell at the new "professionals" about returning tools and in that it's not their's their importance to return them for reasons of not theirs and perhaps someone else might need them.
Anyway off subject... just hope those that would wish to throw out anything without S-4 label or a moving light sign onto a show off campus or after college without viewing the theater as often the case. Than they get to the theater and those of the if not S-4 or moving light only concept suddenly get stuck with a bunch of clip lights and fixtures that are ancient and 10 years past their last maintinence call. Yep... most of us have been stuck with one extreme or both. That's if nothing else where understanding making your magic with almost anything and even apriciation the light one can get out of a clip light with say 100w R-lamp this with a six channel Dove board one can even still make. Yep, lots easier to make magic when trained in older stuff even given newer stuff. Much harder when given newer stuff to make magic with older stuff. Now how do you bench focus a Century Leko Light again? And such a concept is what often one will get in making your magic right out of school. Prove you can and you advance. Po Po what's given to you - even clip lights and not make magic in a show you signed onto and good luck getting the next gig.
Make it hard for yourself learn all gear and make magic as per a concept but with all gear being considered a paint brush not a media. Be a professional as it were in buying tools you need to borrow more than once say, this much less mastering your field that is very broad in dating like 40x years of gear still currently still in use.
Side note... my 8x9 Century Lekos (really more 8x16 Lekos) were just found today. Only missing two years. Yey they are back... Just a question of what to do with them, they won't fit in my garage's lighting grid. Just have to store them away I suppose, but yep, only just a few years ago I was using these Century 1560 2Kw Lekos for a show's design.
Still it worries me this next generation as with all next generations of "lighting professionals" that not just don't own a C-wrench to their name (in my shop tools drawer being missing tools again) thus don't think it important to return a borrowed tool such as a cordless drill they personally borrow - second day in a row nobody returned such a thing after yelling at them today about as soon as done or at the end of the day returning what's borrowed by way of your personal pride in saying you are responsible for it, that they didn't return it again when not physically working with it at the end of the day and after explaining such a concept today to them - a whole crew of people using one cordless tool yet not one returned the drill, this much less missing C-Wrenches bolts multi-meters etc. that don't seem to be important any longer for a professional to provide for their personal tools....
None the less, overall concepts are that those that intend to do the trade should be trained in all new and old forms of it, easier to learn new than old, and that no gear is really obsolete and useless. This beyond the going to have to re-jack up and yell at the new "professionals" about returning tools and in that it's not their's their importance to return them for reasons of not theirs and perhaps someone else might need them.
Anyway off subject... just hope those that would wish to throw out anything without S-4 label or a moving light sign onto a show off campus or after college without viewing the theater as often the case. Than they get to the theater and those of the if not S-4 or moving light only concept suddenly get stuck with a bunch of clip lights and fixtures that are ancient and 10 years past their last maintinence call. Yep... most of us have been stuck with one extreme or both. That's if nothing else where understanding making your magic with almost anything and even apriciation the light one can get out of a clip light with say 100w R-lamp this with a six channel Dove board one can even still make. Yep, lots easier to make magic when trained in older stuff even given newer stuff. Much harder when given newer stuff to make magic with older stuff. Now how do you bench focus a Century Leko Light again? And such a concept is what often one will get in making your magic right out of school. Prove you can and you advance. Po Po what's given to you - even clip lights and not make magic in a show you signed onto and good luck getting the next gig.
Make it hard for yourself learn all gear and make magic as per a concept but with all gear being considered a paint brush not a media. Be a professional as it were in buying tools you need to borrow more than once say, this much less mastering your field that is very broad in dating like 40x years of gear still currently still in use.
Side note... my 8x9 Century Lekos (really more 8x16 Lekos) were just found today. Only missing two years. Yey they are back... Just a question of what to do with them, they won't fit in my garage's lighting grid. Just have to store them away I suppose, but yep, only just a few years ago I was using these Century 1560 2Kw Lekos for a show's design.
DCATTechie
Active Member
Can you provide a link to the new fixtures as well as a link to just the lamp housing??(i think thats what it's called...I mean the thing that the lamp sits in and has the cable and connector attached to it)
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