Throw issues with Colorforce 72s

Amanda

Member
I've got a roughly 28' x 60' cyc and I am having issues with getting the proper throw with both a ground and sky row that the reviews say I should be able to get with just one row. We've just dealt with the dark band in the middle, which isn't ideal. I've just now discovered that there is a wide and narrow side, and am almost certain that ours have been backwards all year.

Questions-
  1. Is the unit angled towards the cyc or does it run parallel to the cyc?
  2. How far can you spread them apart with the cyc lens options?
  3. How far is the cyc (ideally) from the units?
Our acoustical shells are up for our summer concerts which blocks access to my cyc and units.
 
Ideally there should be no space between units, and I've seen them work anywhere between right up against the cyc and 1-2 feet off of it.
 
We have a 25' by 40' cyc, which we light with Colorforce 72s on the top and bottom.
  • Lights are slightly angled toward the cyc. VERY slightly.
  • Units are 12-14" from the cyc
  • Units are almost touching each other
Also, we cut strips of R-116 tough frost and tape them on the lights. This adequately spreads the beam, and allows both the sky and ground row to light the full cyc.
 
We have a 25' by 40' cyc, which we light with Colorforce 72s on the top and bottom.
  • Lights are slightly angled toward the cyc. VERY slightly.
  • Units are 12-14" from the cyc
  • Units are almost touching each other
Also, we cut strips of R-116 tough frost and tape them on the lights. This adequately spreads the beam, and allows both the sky and ground row to light the full cyc.

You might want to look into getting the proper lenses, the frost is probably cutting a lot of output.
 
You might want to look into getting the proper lenses, the frost is probably cutting a lot of output.

I was thinking that myself. I'm sure it's cutting some output, but it completely covers the cyc and looks great, probably because of its smaller size. I think they do the whole frost thing because it's cheap and output isn't crucial.
 
you'll want to make sure that the colorforces are pointed the correct way- they're directional fixtures, with one set of lenses being long throw and one being short throw

there should be an arrow near the display screen that needs to point towards the object you're lighting, so it may be a matter of turning the fixtures arround

I would definitely suggest proper lenses
 
James is correct! The CF72s are directional fixtures. The windows in the fixture should be stage right when on the ground and guessing front lighting. Also, instead of flipping the fixture up or moving it, you can look at the top of the fixture. If you look at the picture attached, the top of the fixture has a wider band above the lenses. The lower part is considerably smaller it. The smaller side goes towards the cyc. And thirdly, if you don't even want to use energy looking at the fixture, and guessing you have them in multiple cell mode (control modes 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5), and again assuming front lighting and on the ground, fixture 1 cell 1 would be all the way on the left.

Hope it helps!
 

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I've got a roughly 28' x 60' cyc and I am having issues with getting the proper throw with both a ground and sky row that the reviews say I should be able to get with just one row. We've just dealt with the dark band in the middle, which isn't ideal. I've just now discovered that there is a wide and narrow side, and am almost certain that ours have been backwards all year.

Questions-
  1. Is the unit angled towards the cyc or does it run parallel to the cyc?
  2. How far can you spread them apart with the cyc lens options?
  3. How far is the cyc (ideally) from the units?
Our acoustical shells are up for our summer concerts which blocks access to my cyc and units.
Amanda we've just finished a demo with the Colorforce batten. HATED the dark band but then moved the fixture about 30 inches away (tilted at 3 degrees toward the cyc on the iPhone app)from the cyc and covered it with waxed paper...yes you can buy it at Albertson's. Worked really well, so well that we have decided to purchase enough to light our 46'wide x 28' hi cyc with it from now on. And yes, you need to put them end to end, the cyc lenses (about $175 each) spread only horizontally and minimize the vertical beam spread from what I've been told. I think I'm going to experiment with some TAP plastics clear pieces with waxed paper sandwiched (no pun) in between. The wide/narrow side lowers the native beam about a foot from what we discovered this week.
 

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