Thanks Mike - fair enough about only stocking to the 85%
level. I know that everyone has to draw the
line somewhere on the buy vs. rent trade - I'm just trying to figure out exactly where mine is! I'm to the
point that I need to
stock something for longer throws, but it's starting to sound like a mover may not be a reasonable way to go about doing this, or at least not one to own.
I agree that a fixed angle S4 would need to have a few
lens barrels for different applications, but I'm okay with that seeing as S4s are relatively cheap and need far less TLC over that of a mover. I have no shortage of Pars for short throws and the dimmers to go with them, so adding some S4s to the lineup wouldn't need much other support equipment to go with it. In truth, I'd prefer to
stock S4s since they're lower cost and much easier to maintain. The reason I started looking to movers is that my
power and trussing real-estate can be very limited in some situations to the
point I can't
gel S4s or Pars in every color I need for every angle I need, so I was hoping a handful of
CMY mixers can help maximize the bang for buck in these situations. If
ETC made a
CMY mixer for S4s I wouldn't even question adding them and we'd be done! Seeing as they don't (and I'm not aware of anyone that does), my attention turned to units such as the Studio Color 575 since it's sort of somewhat similar in at least being more of a
stage light that can color mix.
I mean
wash out as in fill the gaps/holes that exist in installed systems. Some lighter color will of course be necessary, but having an even facial light is the goal more so than having deeply saturated colors. It's be nice to have a
zoom or
iris on the
fixture to highlight individual people/locations on
stage, but I'd take an even
wash over the entire
stage as the priority. Of course I know one light can't do this - it'd be many working together. Heights on the
truss locations vary from 12ft to about 35ft depending on the location. I usually try to get the lights up as high as possible and avoid 'headlights' to minimize
spill on the
CYC, but I don't always get too much control over that sort of thing. I know to most this scenario screams high output LEDs, though for facial light I really prefer the warmness of
halogen lamps or
CTO discharge. I still wouldn't mind seeing a demo of the Chauvet Rogue Series mentioned above though...
So gathering what you and others have said, it looks like if I go the moving light route
Mac 700s,
Mac 2ks, or VL3000s would be the most capable option, though of course I'm taking my chances with buying used old
stock that will be expensive to maintain. Alternatively, S4s can work and are cheaper though I lose my color mixing. Anything else such as a Studio Color wouldn't have the long-throw range and would still be a gamble on reliability/maintainability - I get what I pay for. I appreciate the input!
-Jeff