Urr, how many of the people stating the opinions expressed here have used both
fixture in direct comparison by way of shoot out when stating stuff like “
Hand’s Down?” A shoot out and
play test is the best way to judge a
fixture and very subjective in what one likes about a
fixture over another.
I admit that I have never used the SL
zoom, and beyond asking “what’s this piece of crap someone left in front of my work table doing here” about the S-4
fixture, I don’t remember even bench focusing it either.
In general and more on fixed focus fixtures, the
Strand SL
line is known for it’s optics, and I have had instances where on a fix focus S-4, you can’t get it to
bench focus sufficient to save your life beyond slop with a hard
edge. Not always but also not unusual given a few hundred in the inventory. On the other
hand, if the SL is anything like it’s 1990's predecessor had problems with lenses shooting out of should it’s
lens train when gravity slams it into flood position by accident. The SL in quality of materials used on the older
line might still be a problem here. Again not having used the more modern
fixture, I can’t tell. The S-4 has it’s own maintenance and quality control problems unique and in general similar to all fixtures. All brands have things people like and dislike about them. The S-4
fixture for instance will not take a standard 7.1/2"
gel frame the rest of the inventory will be using thus constantly cutting gels and you need extra frames if you want to do a
quick change.
In a question of
fixture lamps on the other
hand, while the
HPL lamp is a good and rugged design, for output, much less standardization to what other fixtures already in
stock are able to use, you can’t
beat a
fixture lampped with the more standardized
base and HPR lamp. A
HPL will be more efficient than HX-600/FLK lamp, but not much more than the HP-600/GLC. This in addition to the 750w #6981P being also a better lamp than the
HPL 750w.
Fixture / Max. Lamp Wattage / Weight
SL-Zoom/575w, 15#
S-4 15-30
Zoom/750w, 22#
Shakespeare 15-35
Zoom/750w, 22#
Selcon
Pacific 14-35
Zoom / 1Kw, 21.6#
L&E AQ61ZM 20-40
Zoom / 750w, 19#
First there seems to be almost a intended dissimilar nature to what photomatic data is listed by each company so as to make it more difficult to compare and contrast them. In other words, short of doing the math and some Trig given even the info for calculation of the data is not standardized, there is no way to verify one
fixture in being brighter than another.
Next, and very important, the SL
fixture has a maximum wattage of 575w. This is a serious limitation for a longer
throw lighting
fixture. Due to this, I would not buy one.