Quick question about traditional cyc lighting

[Uncle Dirtnap]

I'm trying to get the cyc working well at the local school. I've dug a bunch of old fixture out of dressing rooms and closets, and I'm trying to piece it all together into a coherent smooth wash, hopefully with color mixing. Think of it like a puzzle!

You have:

standard ~ 40x20 Cyc

5 3 cell altman sky cycs, currently on the 4th electric about 5 feet away from the Cyc

5 dusty sets of r40 borderlights with a number of R/G/B glass lenses, but not enough. Each one has 3 circuits-

10 Altman FC-1 focusing cycs, purchased before finding the borderlights behind a rack in the girls dressing room.

How would you mix that up into an awesome, intense color wash with some vivid purples and rich reds?

Thanks! I'm having trouble finding FSR and BSR numbers for cycs. I must have been sick on cyc day in lighting design class - wherever I worked the cycs were already lit with 3 color mixes and you just never changed it.

-rj

 

[RickR]

• Do a top and bottom row, probably with the strips b/c they are smaller.
• Avoid deep blue gell unless you are eready to replace it every day.
• Rosco has some booklets with color suggestions, and some silk like gells that are intended to smooth out less than ideal washes.

I dont have a cyc fav, but I'm sure others will mention theirs. The modern style is to try to match primaries for LED like mixing. Just as with LEDs it never works quite as well as you hope. Is it really just purple ranges? If so I'd do R127, R125, R68 or maybe R65 for brightness.

 

[tdtastic]

If your space and set design allow for it, put your r40's on the floor. You can mask them with a groundrow of some kind, even a 8" tall black strip of luan can be a clean look. A two-toned cyc can give you great sunset/sky effects. Can you throw out the colored glass lenses and somehow use gel? If not that, give the r40's to a museum --they're almost not worth the bulbs they eat.

As for the FC-1's, I would put one on each side of your sky cycs. Maybe stick to an RGB option for the sky cycs and use the FC-1's to supplement your red and blue to give you the rich purples and reds you want. Amber can also be a useful addition to RGB.

 

[RonHebbard]

I'm trying to get the cyc working well at the local school. I've dug a bunch of old fixture out of dressing rooms and closets, and I'm trying to piece it all together into a coherent smooth wash, hopefully with color mixing. Think of it like a puzzle!

You have:

standard ~ 40x20 Cyc

5 3 cell altman sky cycs, currently on the 4th electric about 5 feet away from the Cyc

5 dusty sets of r40 borderlights with a number of R/G/B glass lenses, but not enough. Each one has 3 circuits-

10 Altman FC-1 focusing cycs, purchased before finding the borderlights behind a rack in the girls dressing room.

How would you mix that up into an awesome, intense color wash with some vivid purples and rich reds?

Thanks! I'm having trouble finding FSR and BSR numbers for cycs. I must have been sick on cyc day in lighting design class - wherever I worked, the cycs were already lit with 3 color mixes and you just never changed it.

-rj

@Uncle Dirtnap Decades ago in the 1950's and 60's when R40 strips were popular for ground rows, it was common to use 300 Watt R40 floods for blue and green with 150 Watt R40 floods for amber and red. Ground rows facing up eat gels of all flavors, including Roscolar and other high heat formulations, for snacks and require regular "feeding" with replacements. Air-space is your friend. Using larger cuts and spacing the gel higher from the heat source helps with longevity along with supporting the gel "invisibly" to minimize sagging. This sounds easy when you type it fast but the problem becomes anything that won't melt due to the heat quickly becomes hot itself and is soon melting your gels and / or cutting them into halves or quarters. There are many, many reasons R40 ground rows were abandoned to antiquity. Only your power provider was truly enamored of them.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard

 

[Uncle Dirtnap]

I would assume that the FC-1 cyc lights are superior, but I can't figure out their spread or how many i will need. With 10 of them I'm afraid I'm short-

I think the 5 sky cycs on the top are a good start-

-rj

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

My general rule with far cycs is 1:1. So at 5' from drop you get about 25' of width. Even stretching 6' doesn't get all the way across. Try them on 8' centers but "d expect fall of between and generally not too even. Try trimming far cys higher if you can. And/or use 3 FC-1s in place of another far cyc - like tdtastic suggested.

You need 12 or 14 ColorSource Cycs - much better lighting, much less electricity, lamp, and gel costs, and the fire/burn hazards go away. $20K? Sorry -I understand that asking for $20Kis probably less than unrealistic - but you certainly won't ever get things if you don't ask. Get the booster club parents involved.

 

[microstar]

Maybe there is a huge difference in cyc lights, but the Altman EconoCyc and Focusing Cyc lights have a 13' horizontal spread at 5' throw but of course there needs to be some overlap. Certainly agree that LED cyc lights are the way to go.... better color and no lamp/gel replacement, way less heat and power consumption.

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

Maybe there is a huge difference in cyc lights, but the Altman EconoCyc and Focusing Cyc lights have a 13' horizontal spread at 5' throw but of course there needs to be some overlap. Certainly agree that LED cyc lights are the way to go.... better color and no lamp/gel replacement, way less heat and power consumption.

Spread but at what intensity in what color? I just find when you go to those maxes that it looks a little pale and washed out by normal front light and front light bounce.

 

[ship]

If short on lenses, the roundel frames are reversible (the slightly smaller ones will invert in the outer frame) to hold a gel. Due to heat - gel should be towards the outside ends of the cycs - much hotter towards the center of the fixture especially if saturated gel. Check your lamp sockets (all type of cyc) for arching - a quick clean up with Dremmel/fiber wheel & contact cleaner. Ensure your jumpers between fixtures is not dry rotted. Minimum standards. If frosting, you might be able to convert to PAR, otherwise if your R-40 cycs have reflectors, you might be able to do A-Lamp - possibly with the need of a lot of lamp socket extenders dependent on lamp type.