Ode to the Selecon Pacific

metti

Active Member
Oh Selecon Pacific, why are you so wonderful? Your beautiful light, your shutters which never ever ever jam, your awesome ability to use transparencies as gobos for short runs/one-offs, your surprisingly durable yet relatively lightweight plastic barrel construction, your convenient bench focusing mechanism, your ability to lamp up to 1000 watts of blazing glory on occasion. These reasons, and so many more, are why I would happily use you as replacements for every S4, Shakespeare, etc that ever crosses my path if only you weren't almost twice as expensive as these lights. More importantly, why are you so hard to rent? I mean really, I actually have to own a bunch of you because I want to use you on shows and I can't find any local companies who rent you. That said, I did manage to buy a bunch of your zoom siblings in like new condition for $180 on GearSource so that makes it alright I guess. Anyway, Selecon Pacific, I guess what I am trying to say is that, in my opinion, you are the most godly conventional luminaire to grace the surface of this fine planet (pending the release of something better). Why are you so darn rare?
 
Let us ignore the kill switch on the bases that gives out with time....let us ignore your bulk which requires more space and more weight on the arbor and makes it hard to hang you in FOH posistions and impossible to hang on booms, watch as you burn through any transparencies darker than pastel blue faster than a 6x9 360Q burns through R26.

For every instrument out there, there is a person who has had a good expierence and a bad expierence with it. I'm sure someone out there refuses to use ETC products because they dropped a barrell by loosening the screw too much.
 
Fine, the bulk isn't ideal but I have yet to have any issues with the kill switches, even on my older units which are probably about four years old at this point. That said, four years isn't that old for a conventional so I suppose these issues could start to crop up down the road. Not that this necessarily applies to you, but I will say that, in my experience, people who have problems with transparency burn-through tend to have neglected to follow the instructions on properly bench focusing the unit for use with transparencies. Also, using the UV filter they offer as an accessory makes a big difference too and is relatively inexpensive. Also, in case it came off as seeming that I am against S4s, that is not the case. I still use them extensively and I think they are an awesome fixture but, except perhaps for tight booms, I would rather use Pacifics if I could.
 
I love the Pacific optics I have 8 that I use just for gobos and other specials. The rest of my rig is mostly S4 fixed beam with a few S4 zooms. I just had a problem this week with a touchy Pacific kill switch. Took me 3 or 4 tries to squeeze the fixture together just right before it would work. The transparencies are good if you are projecting on a light background without a lot of ambient light, but they won't work just anywhere and they aren't the same as a nice high quality glass gobo or a video projection. The size of a Pacific Zoom vs, a standard S4 can be a real problem in a tightly packed rig. As I've posted in the past, I'm definitely a Selecon fan. I'd take a Pacific Zoom over an S4 Zoom any day, but I wouldn't swap all my S4 fixed beams for Pacifics. A good artist keeps a variety of tools and knows when to use the right one to create the right art.
 
The transparencies are good if you are projecting on a light background without a lot of ambient light, but they won't work just anywhere and they aren't the same as a nice high quality glass gobo or a video projection.

While the transparencies certainly aren't on par with a glass gobo, they are also a tiny fraction of the cost of something like a full color custom gobo. I would also say that when you are comparing them to video projection it is important to specify that they are being compared to a high quality video projector. I have found them to be vastly superior to your run of the mill Staples quality LCD projector.
 
Oh Selecon Pacific, why are you so wonderful? Your beautiful light, your shutters which never ever ever jam, your awesome ability to use transparencies as gobos for short runs/one-offs, your surprisingly durable yet relatively lightweight plastic barrel construction, your convenient bench focusing mechanism, your ability to lamp up to 1000 watts of blazing glory on occasion. These reasons, and so many more, are why I would happily use you as replacements for every S4, Shakespeare, etc that ever crosses my path if only you weren't almost twice as expensive as these lights. More importantly, why are you so hard to rent? I mean really, I actually have to own a bunch of you because I want to use you on shows and I can't find any local companies who rent you. That said, I did manage to buy a bunch of your zoom siblings in like new condition for $180 on GearSource so that makes it alright I guess. Anyway, Selecon Pacific, I guess what I am trying to say is that, in my opinion, you are the most godly conventional luminaire to grace the surface of this fine planet (pending the release of something better). Why are you so darn rare?

Field lumens?

ST
 

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