Suggestions for LED Cyc units and new follow spots?

[techieman33]

Yeah, I've used the colorblaze 72s, and they were great, but I've basically heard color forces are better in every way.

What's better than a source 4 as far as conventional spots go? I'm seriously asking, not being a jerk. The only bad thing about their Ellipsoidals is the bench focusing. There's not really another contender out there, is there? I've used strand stuff and did not like it at all.

The selecon pacific is a much nicer fixture, it's also a lot more expensive. I would put the altman pheonix a little ahead of it as well since it's basically a source 4 with some nice extras.

 

[rochem]

Just because most rental shops have them doesn't make them great, that's something you should always remember. The colorblaze were some of the first LED strip units that really had enough punch to be useful so some of the big shops bought a bunch of them. Once they happens they start popping up all over the place since LD's that have used them in the past spec them since they are familiar with how they operate. So more people buy them to fill riders, and it goes on and on until nearly everyone has them. It's the same with Mac 2000's, JBL vertec, source 4's, etc. Once a fixture, speaker, whatever hits that point of critical mass it becomes hard to replace. Tech's are happy since they know what they have to work with when they walk in the door, and the shops are happy to keep renting the same fixture, and not having to buy something new. Mac 2000's, JBL vertec boxes, and source 4's (I know I'm going to take some flack over that one) aren't the best things out either, but they're known quantities. When your renting gear for shows, especially one off's it's always nice to be able to just go in and get to work, and not have to waste time figuring out all the little quirks of a new piece of gear.

The best and most recent example of this is Wybron Coloram scrollers. Over the past few decades, rental shops have bought tens of thousands of Wybron Coloram IIs, and those basically became the workhorse of the industry. Before LEDs and even widespread moving lights, Broadway shows and tours would have well over 100 scrollers without breaking a sweat. So the shops invested heavily in all this proprietary equipment, such as the RAM II line. The IT product line did solve a lot of the problems of the RAM IIs, but those scrollers can pretty much be maintained indefinitely, and no shop was gonna invest heavily in a completely new product that was incompatible with the tens of thousands of pieces of equipment they already owned. According to someone I know who was close to the issue, this is one of the big reasons why Wybron went out of business - the IT's were super popular with people who were buying new scrollers, but anyone who already had a stock of II's wasn't gonna overhaul their system for a few minor advantages - and with LEDs, people aren't investing in new scroller technology as much as they used to.

And now back to your regularly scheduled thread.

 

[KLM]

The selecon pacific is a much nicer fixture, it's also a lot more expensive. I would put the altman pheonix a little ahead of it as well since it's basically a source 4 with some nice extras.

Wow, today I learned! Those do seem pretty nice. Thanks!

 

[josh88]

I've yet to see a Phoenix out in use at a theatre, but I've seen all the videos including one done by Dave somewhere and was definitely impressed. Huge improvement over the old Shakespeare's.


Via tapatalk

 

[mcdork]

I'm noticing that all the followspots being mentioned seem to be tungsten or discharge lamps of one flavor or another. Are there no LED followspots that can meet the requirements that the original poster is looking for?

I ask because we are in the market with similar requirements.. Outdoor space, 130' throw to center stage. Our one remaining spot has serious problems due to redneck engineering.

By my predecessor, not me.

 

[techieman33]

I'm noticing that all the followspots being mentioned seem to be tungsten or discharge lamps of one flavor or another. Are there no LED followspots that can meet the requirements that the original poster is looking for?

I ask because we are in the market with similar requirements.. Outdoor space, 130' throw to center stage. Our one remaining spot has serious problems due to redneck engineering.

By my predecessor, not me.

There are some low end LED spots, but nothing that comes even close to having that kind of a throw. I don't know how well they would look on a person either.

 

[mcdork]

Good to know, thanks. I'll adjust the owners' expectations accordingly.

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

The best you could probably do - at least based on what I have seen up to LDI last fall - is a Robert Juliat profile unit. They had actually mocked up their Cricket (I think) with their LED lamp house - and they only do white LED units - and it was pretty amazing. Reportedly management did not see enough market for it. Practically, probably better than a good 1000 Q followspot - which is really, really anemic for 130' IMHO - but then I'm looking for a minimum of 150 fc and would like 200+. The Cricket should be around 100 fc at 50' I think.

 

[techieman33]

Another problem with LED spots is gel. Gel in an LED will give you a totally different color then what you get from a normal tungsten source. If it's just your company in the venue that might be ok, since you can play with gel and find stuff you like. No one coming into the venue from the outside will be happy about it though, and would have to rent or get you to rent them more traditional spots.

 

[JChenault]

I'm noticing that all the followspots being mentioned seem to be tungsten or discharge lamps of one flavor or another. Are there no LED followspots that can meet the requirements that the original poster is looking for?

I ask because we are in the market with similar requirements.. Outdoor space, 130' throw to center stage. Our one remaining spot has serious problems due to redneck engineering.

By my predecessor, not me.

When I was at LDI i noticed an LED follow spot by CANTO. I do not see it on the CantoUsa.com website however. It actually looked interesting.

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

Another problem with LED spots is gel. Gel in an LED will give you a totally different color then what you get from a normal tungsten source. If it's just your company in the venue that might be ok, since you can play with gel and find stuff you like. No one coming into the venue from the outside will be happy about it though, and would have to rent or get you to rent them more traditional spots.

Have you tried that with the Juliat units which are designed for using color media?