Hey all,

I'm wondering if anyone else has found the console lights on the 5D really dim...even with the brightest halogen bulbs we can buy (that blind us in other consoles) I find myself squinting to see things.

I'm guessing that they are using a lower voltage bus (maybe 5V, instead of 12V or 18V)? Anyone done surgery on theirs to change this? (not that I'm planning to pop open our desk, but I'm curious if anyone has done it)

Cheers,
John
Vancouver, BC, Canada

Never had any problems at all.. have you metered the lamp sockets? Also, I know this may sound a little cheeky, but have you wound the dimmer all the way up? Failing that, stuff some LED lamps in, mucho brighto!

Jon

Theres a couple of different lamp types that you commonly see kicking about.

The first is the standard dome shaped bulb which is rather dim and is reffered to in theatre circles as a "Westend" lamp (harking back to the days before consoles had built in dimmers); the second has a little nipple on the end of it and is considerably brighter and therefore much better suited to modern dimmable consoles. Have a look, make sure you've got the right type.

As Jon said the LED ones are rather nice although some theatre ops complain that they find reading a script under them for any length of time a bit fatiguing...

Thanks guys. Ya, the dimmer is all the way up and we're using the lamps with the little nipple (I think they're 5W halogens). We can take the same lamps and plug them into another console (Midas Legend, specifically) and are blinded by the amount of light.

I haven't metered the sockets, that's a good idea though...maybe there's something fishy with the supply.