What is this thing and what is it for?
QotD for 02/07/11: Pancan
- Thread starterderekleffew
- Start date
techieman33
Well-Known Member
that's an easy one
Is it something like this?
[video]http://www.precosafety.com/files/Videos/LED-Amber-Compact.wmv[/video]
Preco Safety Products - Safety Lighting - Rotator Models
[video]http://www.precosafety.com/files/Videos/LED-Amber-Compact.wmv[/video]
Preco Safety Products - Safety Lighting - Rotator Models
That really does look a lot like a ghost light. But considering the fact that SLD doesn't seem to sell Ghost lights, and that control booth had a post about ghost lights this morning, I'm gonna go with it being an old DJ light because the DIN suggests MIDI, the color and shape suggest wash light, and the build suggests consumer project. Oh, and SLD sells a lot of DJ stuff.
Since it's been a week, question is now open to all. techieman33, other old timers, what is it?
The device pictured is called the Pancan and is an ancestor of Rosco's I-Cue.
From Welcome | Peter Wynne-Willson :
Some may know Mr. Wynne-Wilson better as the inventor of Catalyst and VersaTube, among other lighting innovations. While not an original idea (George Izenour at Yale had experimented with moving mirrors in the 1930s), Pancan was the first mass-market moving light product.
In the mid-1980's the product was imported from the UK to the US by Stage Lighting Distributors.
Advertisement from Lighting Dimensions magazine:
The device used three 0-10VDC analog channels for pan, tilt, and color respectively. Implementation of color-change was interesting to say the least, in that one made a cylinder out of four colors that attached to the inner cage with wires and springs. When moving the pan channel, one also had to move the color channel, or the light would change colors as the beam moved! Rotating the inner cage at the same time solved this, sort of, except for the fact that they moved at slightly different speeds.
I bought eight of these and used them extensively on corporate shows, not as specials but as effects lights. I usually put them on 1K-PAR64-VNSPs for maximum impact. Ran them off a Prestige 1000, which had an AMX192 card installed, into a "magic box" DAC, and then ran eight 5-pin DIN cables to each unit. Pshaw to those who say "you can't run moving lights on an Express."
More cutsheets here, Vintage and Unique NightClub Lighting:
From Welcome | Peter Wynne-Willson :
Some may know Mr. Wynne-Wilson better as the inventor of Catalyst and VersaTube, among other lighting innovations. While not an original idea (George Izenour at Yale had experimented with moving mirrors in the 1930s), Pancan was the first mass-market moving light product.
In the mid-1980's the product was imported from the UK to the US by Stage Lighting Distributors.
Advertisement from Lighting Dimensions magazine:
The device used three 0-10VDC analog channels for pan, tilt, and color respectively. Implementation of color-change was interesting to say the least, in that one made a cylinder out of four colors that attached to the inner cage with wires and springs. When moving the pan channel, one also had to move the color channel, or the light would change colors as the beam moved! Rotating the inner cage at the same time solved this, sort of, except for the fact that they moved at slightly different speeds.
I bought eight of these and used them extensively on corporate shows, not as specials but as effects lights. I usually put them on 1K-PAR64-VNSPs for maximum impact. Ran them off a Prestige 1000, which had an AMX192 card installed, into a "magic box" DAC, and then ran eight 5-pin DIN cables to each unit. Pshaw to those who say "you can't run moving lights on an Express."
More cutsheets here, Vintage and Unique NightClub Lighting:
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