Where you place your
cyc lights depends on whether your using a double ended (T3) type
fixture (
Altman Ground Cyc and Sky
Cyc as example) or a
unit using
MR16 lamps, with a note that recent
LED type strips -
Selador, Chroma-Q
etc.. function somewhat like
MR16's. Typical
MR16 strips are the Lighting & Electronics
MR16 strips and the
Altman Zip Strip and come in a varied selection using
MR16 as well as MR11 lamps.
Strand made
MR16 units at one
point but has since discontinued them. Older methods of lighting
cyc's and backdrops have seen PAR56 and 64 strips, as well as "borderlights" using A lamps and PAR38 or
R40 type lamps.
IMO, neither PAR56 nor borderlights are good choices to light a
cyc.
The T3 type fixtures work best when you have distance from the
cyc or whatever you choose to light.
IMO, a white
cyc is the toughest to light well, as the surface reflects all the imperfections in the fixtures chosen, in terms of distance between lamps/cells that cause poor blending and poor color transitions, as well as showing difficulties in the spread of the light, common to
MR16 strip type fixtures. A glance at the
Altman website shows the cut sheet for the
ground cyc and clearly shows the coverage of the
fixture as well as general illumination from a 1000w lamp. T3's provide the best coverage
IMO, as long as you get the
fixture placed far enough away from the
cyc to allow for proper spread and coverage. 6-8 ft. is desirable, with the closer you get, the worse the vertical coverage.
MR16's using 75w, 12v lamps, were invented (EDIT: From my memory) by L&E for a Jules Fisher requirement (Dancin' ?, Will Rodgers Follies ? if memory serves- it was early 80's) on a tour for a show with a lot of flying backdrops needing to be lit. The
MR16 fit the bill as it was significantly smaller then the typical PAR56 strip that might have been used in that application. PAR56 & PAR64 strips seem to be no longer manufactured by either
Altman nor L&E, as a BTW. In any event the
MR16 used a lot less space as well as less
power.
In my experience, T3/double ended units provide for the most even coverage with the smoothest field, but are often not used well due to insufficient
throw to the
cyc. Thus poor vertical coverage is the result, with a center horizontal band of
drop off in light
intensity that going to a higher wattage lamp doesn't solve. T3's also are huge energy hogs.
MR16's make very good
cyc lights when the
throw distance is limited. The attached photo (which won't upload - I 'll tray again as an edit) shows a 30' high x 50' wide white
cyc lit with 12 L&E
MR16 strips, 6 tops with
MR16, 75w flood lamps, 6 lower strips with 75w spot lamps. The color is
Rosco R124 diffusion, but similar results can be obtained using R104 or
Lee 228. The distance of the
MR16's to the
cyc in this case is 3ft-8in. Total
power is 27,000 watts for a 3 color
wash. The strip
electric is approx. +32 to +33ft above
deck. There's also a black sharkstooh
scrim DS of
cyc and lights.
When needing a
ground row on the
cyc, I stay away from
MR16's as they have poor coverage for the first 3 vertical feet or so, even when using diffusion. The choice at that
point is a T3 typ
fixture and I just recently specified for
purchase a complete set of
Altman Econo-Cyc fixtures as
ground rows.
P.S. Repeated attempt to upload a 807kb .jpg photo, fails. Not sure why.
So here's a Flikr link
http://www.flickr.com/photos/54042690@N02/5267097219/