RevEAL LED Color Wash Fixtures

MNicolai

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I've been working on this project to add a lighting position directly over our apron; the project's been mentioned here a few times already so some of you already know about it. with 18' of apron downstage of the 1st electric, we ended up with no good way to light our apron, where almost every show wants to have a lot of action happen. Some shows want to use only the apron with the main drape closed. That makes lighting a problem.

The solution that we reached as to have two masts of truss, one on either side of the stage that are 28' tall, with a 68' cross-member, probably of 20.5" box truss, and then in the middle a couple lift lines would be used to take some of the force off of the center point of the truss. The riggers decided the best idea is to set the lift lines up so that they are supporting no weight when the truss is empty, but when fixtures are on hung in the middle, the lift lines would support that weight and prevent deflection over such a wide span.

For electrical, we have 16 circuits that are unused. They are terminated in our torm positions, which are useless to us given their location in the house. So the plan was to take those circuits and terminate them in connector strips across the trusses, and then leave for expansion so that we could add a dimmer rack later on to give us a usable amount of circuits up there.

The problem is that wiring costs money. Dimmer racks -- they cost a lot of money. Enough money that we could never really put a solid estimate on when we'd be able to add in the additional circuits in years to come.

Wednesday of last week I met with a design consultant to discuss the project. Him and I have been talking about this project for 2 months now, and we've been working together since last August. He's heard about a lot of problems since then and has somehow kept in the back of his head all of the different issues we face. So last week he showed up to the meeting with a toy. I knew he was going to have it with him, but I didn't know whatit actually was. First we spent about an hour and a half wandering around the theatre talking about all of the different aspects of our project. Then he started opening the large boxes he had with him. The first one -- relatively unamazing. The box was even labeled "ETC Smartfade ML," and because we already own a Smartfade, that wasn't anything jaw-dropping for me. Then he opened up the other box...

He had a demo unit with him from Prism Projection, one of their RevEAL Color Wash fixtures. It looked pretty interesting. The fixture is technically a PC spot, but it looks like a profile. Weighing in at only 18 lbs, the fixture has no glass. The lens is made of plastic. Normally that'd be a boring selling point, but then he told me that one of the manufacturer's employees was carrying one around and accidentally dropped it down a flight of stairs, and because there was no glass he was able to plug it in without having sustained any damage at all. If you really bounce it around, you can probably cause some dents to the metal body, but short of dropping it off of a catwalk it'll take just about anything that might be thrown at it during regular use.

The fixture is LED based and has five different color LED's in it, and like all LED fixtures, has problems with the LED's aging and fading as time goes on. However, it combats that with a built-in sensor to detect problems in the color temperatures, and then auto-corrects to compensate for the difference, so that when you pull up that color you loved when you bought the fixture a few years later, it'll be exactly the same color despite the LED's aging.

We turned off the lights and I stood in the beam, and it even did a really good job rendering on flesh tones. It was also very bright, even at quite a distance. As is the case with LED's typically, this fixture probably won't be cutting through incandescent sources anytime soon for unsaturated colors, it'll rip through any incandescent when it hits the saturated ones. We saw colors out of that light that a 1kw incandescent with a gel in front of it would have no chance of reproducing.

As we talked more and more about this, I had an epiphany which was that if we bought a bunch of these for our project and only used the 16 circuits we already had with no intention of adding more on a later date, we could probably save ourselves a ton of money. We could run 10 of these on a single 20A circuit, so if our apron electric had 16 dimmable circuits for incandescents, and 2 standard 20A circuits, we would be able to do everything we would ever want to be able to do with that position and more.

The retail price for the fixture is about $1800. We plan on buying about 10. Maybe not all at once, but maybe handful each year for the next few years. We probably couldn't even get a new dimmer rack for $18k, not including the wiring or new connector strips.

We can still hang incandescents for general use and maybe a gobo special occasionally, but these fixtures can do all of our colored, and even some of our white/amber washes. They're certainly worth looking into, except the company is pretty new and right now the fixtures are in high demand. Just for our rep to get a hold of one, he had to beg Prisim Projection, and then once he had it he had to weasel his way into keeping it a week longer than he was supposed to.

I'd suggest that everyone keep an eye on this company and their fixtures.
 
I got a demo of that fixture right after LDI put on by BMI and Prism Projections. We did a shoot out between it and a Seachanger. Overall, it is the best LED fixture I have seen. It renders saturated colors much better then the seachanger did and had great output. The hesitation I have is they are using a different color mixing model then most consoles output. As of right now, they don't have the profiles built for consoles to use the fixture to its full potential without having to dig our a recipe book.

The Prism Projections rep said an ERS type fixture is in the works. The technology used is pretty amazing and clean. There is no pixelation or any weird effects like you get with standard LED fixtures. The lens thing is pretty cool as well. Its also completely American made if you are into that type of thing.

Anyone who did the LDI thing see this fixture?
 
Yes, our rep did mention they had a profile in the works. I'm surprised that as a brand new company with only a single product, this is that product and it's of such high quality. I'm not saying new companies produce junk, but this is a really cool product to see from a manufacturer who hasn't made any other products before. I'd suggest keeping an eye on Prism Projections as they grow in the next couple years.
 
Here are my issues so far with the Reveal. Hopefully these get fixed (shouldn't take much).

Yoke is flimsy. If you focus too "hard" you can easily bend the yoke.
DMX does not pass through when fixture is powered off! This is a biggie for me. I don't always use all of my fixtures and if it's off, it won't pass data.

Other than that, so far, I really like the fixtures. I've seen the prototype for the ERS and seeing a cardboard gobo put in the fixture with a sharp focus with no issues was incredible for me. Also, using a color ink-jet transparency sheet for a "full color gobo" that didn't cost me $300 was nice too!
 
There was some very important information left out of this shoot out. The Seachanger that was used was a "classic" which is a 95% color saturation with a HPL 750w lamp run at 80%. Lets put it up against the Seachanger Nemo, then we have a shoot out.
 
Looks kind of cool. Haven't seen them in person. The lack of data pass-thru would be an issue for a lot of people.

As for buying a few every year, seems logical, except that LED products are being developed like crazy, and a newer, better product may be out in 6 weeks or less.

Can you get a hard focus on those?

I'm wondering also if you wouldn't be better off with some cmy moving lights. Some used 575 watt units should be available for that price range, and give you the additional flexibility of not having to re-focus.
 
There was some very important information left out of this shoot out. The Seachanger that was used was a "classic" which is a 95% color saturation with a HPL 750w lamp run at 80%. Lets put it up against the Seachanger Nemo, then we have a shoot out.

Oh come on Tom...I thought you wanted it FAIR. :p The Nemo BLOWS it out of the water. And, if you're lucky, you get crepes.
 
For my purposes, used movers would be a step in the wrong direction. They require an exponentially greater amount of maintenance, more electrical infrastructure, and while they may work well for a year or two, the RevEAL fixtures are about as long-lasting and maintenance-proof as you get. There's really nothing in them to break or become faulty except the CRI sensor and after some thousands of hours, the LED's might lose a little intensity.

Right now, the fixtures are only PC-spots. They are hard or soft focus depending on what degree you have at what distance, but they are not to be confused with profiles. Prism does have a profile LED fixture on the way, but it's still in R&D.

And I don't know that DMX pass-thru is a big deal. I know it's not for me. We'd be hanging these lights in a location that we would not be able to easily get to them (also making the maintenance-free part particularly awesome), so every time I leave for the night I'd just turn the LED's off via the console. If it was a really big deal to shut them off, I'd do it via a circuit breaker in our mechanical room, but even then that would shut off all of them. Now should one spontaneously faulter, short-circuit, and die, killing not only itself, but the rest of the chain, then that would be an issue. I have no reason to believe that would ever happen, though, and if it did, it would be an especially rare circumstance.
 
All this talk about the Nemo, I looked it up. SeaChanger's website specs the Tungsten Profile at 9500 lumens with the HPL750w and the Nemo Profile at 10,000 lumens. What's the big deal? Yes it uses less than half the power to accomplish it, but you guys are talking about it like it's a gift from god. Like it's as bright as a SuperTrouper or something. Five hundred more lumens is nothing to write home about, and when LEDs use 1/10 the power (of the T-H) and last 4-6 times as long as the LIFI, I feel like the plasma is an intermediary step only useful until they come out with the LED Profile.

Commence civilized discussion ;)

-Tim
 
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I got a demo of this (thanks to Chicago Spotlight) and I think it's a real step forward in LED technology. They're way better than the typical Pacific rim low budget stuff, and there was no multi-shadow that you get with a lot of led products. While I don't know much about which colors get used in theater, for my likely applications (events where there's a real lack of power and little time to play around with gels) it would be a huge leap forward. The replacement lenses are kind of pricey, but they also have the benefit of the rectangular lens, which would be awesome for stage and runway applications.

I forgot to ask the rep if the data pass-thru is enabled when the power is disconnected, but that's kind of minor.

They do use a power-con, so that may be an issue for some.
 
PowerCon isn't an issue for anyone. Almost all PowerCon devices in use today do not plug into a distro as such, they adapt from that connector to something else, be it 2P&G, 5-15, L5-20, or otherwise. There's not much reason for anyone to unplug these devices when under load, so the fact that the PowerCon connector doesn't have a breaking capacity is also a non-issue.

For comparison, Selador uses PowerCon as well.
 
PowerCon isn't an issue for anyone. Almost all PowerCon devices in use today do not plug into a distro as such, they adapt from that connector to something else, be it 2P&G, 5-15, L5-20, or otherwise. There's not much reason for anyone to unplug these devices when under load, so the fact that the PowerCon connector doesn't have a breaking capacity is also a non-issue.

For comparison, Selador uses PowerCon as well.

Has anyone actually measured the field lumens produced by this fixture and verified the claims of the manufacturer? Just curious.

ST
 
PowerCon isn't an issue for anyone. Almost all PowerCon devices in use today do not plug into a distro as such, they adapt from that connector to something else, be it 2P&G, 5-15, L5-20, or otherwise. There's not much reason for anyone to unplug these devices when under load, so the fact that the PowerCon connector doesn't have a breaking capacity is also a non-issue.

For comparison, Selador uses PowerCon as well.

The reason I don't like PowerCon in general is that it's one more different component to worry about. That's not a big deal in a theater, where a fixture might be moved from upstage to downstage. But it is in event production, where the event is never in the same place and that place is never your warehouse. A missing power cord means the fixture doesn't function, and it's those type of niggling mistakes that drive people in my industry segment crazy. It's why I'm so anal about minimizing the different types of cords, connectors, clamps, frames, etc. The less single-purpose stuff I have the easier it is to get the job done if I forget or lose something.

Don't get me wrong, the Reveal is a good fixture, and I will probably use them, but some people will find issue with the cord, or some other feature. It's the way of the world.
 
The reason I don't like PowerCon in general is that it's one more different component to worry about. That's not a big deal in a theater, where a fixture might be moved from upstage to downstage. But it is in event production, where the event is never in the same place and that place is never your warehouse. A missing power cord means the fixture doesn't function, and it's those type of niggling mistakes that drive people in my industry segment crazy. It's why I'm so anal about minimizing the different types of cords, connectors, clamps, frames, etc. The less single-purpose stuff I have the easier it is to get the job done if I forget or lose something.

Don't get me wrong, the Reveal is a good fixture, and I will probably use them, but some people will find issue with the cord, or some other feature. It's the way of the world.

From the looks of things, powercon is going to be replacing IEC cables, which is fine with me. I have had way too many of those things fail because they were not making full contact or simple work themselves loose. The change is much farther along in the audio world and it is catching up in the lighting world. Eventually I don't think this is going to be a special cable, its going to be a standard one.
 
The fact that the PowerCon is a latching connector just makes it that much more attractive. It is frustrating when the IEC cables work themselves out of the socket. It always seems to happen at the most inopportune time.:evil:
 
I got a demo in my theatre the week after LDI. As has been said, the output was nice & the light on flesh was pleasing for an LED source. At that point however, there were two problems I noticed. There was an abrupt color shift at certain color transitions (I don't recall for sure, but believe the fixture was set for HSI). Also like many LED fixtures, it was pretty steppy at the low end of the dimming. Prism's sales manager assured me they were working on the problems & attributed the color shift to the engineers trying to gain maximum output for each color. I would guess they've addressed those problems by now, but I'd still check before placing an order.
 
They are apparently pushing firmware updates out the door rather quickly. When I saw it it had a dimmer curve that compared well to a source4 on a sensor dimmer.
 
All this talk about the Nemo, I looked it up. SeaChanger's website specs the Tungsten Profile at 9500 lumens with the HPL750w and the Nemo Profile at 10,000 lumens. What's the big deal? Yes it uses less than half the power to accomplish it, but you guys are talking about it like it's a gift from god. Like it's as bright as a SuperTrouper or something. Five hundred more lumens is nothing to write home about, and when LEDs use 1/10 the power (of the T-H) and last 4-6 times as long as the LIFI, I feel like the plasma is an intermediary step only useful until they come out with the LED Profile.

Commence civilized discussion ;)

-Tim

I have three letters for you. C R I.
 

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