Frag_Me Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 Now there's a twist! I don't want to hear about all these terrible lights any more, I want to hear the squeals of delight as you consider a rig full of your favourite lanterns. Personally: The Strand Quartet F Gets my vote http://www.stage-services.co.uk/quartetfres.jpg It's a lovely robust thing, never had any fail on me (one even survived a 6 foot drop with an intact bulb by a blundering chump helper) and the light they kick out is fantastic - always a perfect white at 100%. Very bright too, I used two as lights to bring the wash down to a central circle and they were brighter than the 1kW lights seemed (these are 650 with our current bulbs). The smashing focus on them means you can scale them down superbly. All in all a very nice light. Now, how about you? Any favourites? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 Patt 743. Fantastic lantern potentially, IMHO, Strand's best.A lovely soft beam/light quality coupled with solid engineering. An opinion I know is shared by many. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GridGirl Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 I'd have to agree with J Pearce on the 743 - love them and will use them in preference to any other fresnel when I have the option :D My favourite profile has to be the Selecon Pacific simply for the fact that it kicks out a lot of light, mechanically it's solid and I love being able to print acetate gobos :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumbles Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 Ah,... Now this I find much more difficult. With the worst, it was easy enough to choose as lanterns had those problems that made them more harder to use, but this... Favourite few lanterns. Selecon Pacific, so nice to be able to have coloured gobos, printed out at a moments notice, but haven't been using them for long so they don't have much wear yet.Source 4, purely because of when I started using them instead of cantatas (oh the light output, the lenses,... :D ).Patt 252, just because I've never found a better effects projector. But I could go on with lanterns that I like, and can't really say which of these or others I prefer because unless they have something to make them particularly unique it is just whether the lantern is useful for a particular purpose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew C Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 Niethammer followspots. Pure engineering! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian_P Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 Source Four Junior Zoom...Lovely! Loads of light, brill at gobo projections, go nice and wide on small stages, don't weigh too much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 Another vote for the 743 as the best lantern ever made. If the world only had one type of lantern ever made and thats what you had to light shows, I dont think thre is another lantern out there that would do it as well. It wouldn't be the best thing to have on your FOH bars, but it would do. Perhaps if Strand UK resurects itself it could get the 743 back into production, and a lot of people would be very happy. Perhaps some metalwork shop could get the rights to the thing from the receivers for a song and continue the legend... On a personal note, there is not a single hire house in the South Island of New Zealand that has 743s... How brain-damaged is that. The Selecon Pacific is also a cracking fixture, and certainly my favourite profile, but we'll have to wait a few years to see if it gets the same sort of "classic" reputation as the 743. Its good enough to do so though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikienorth Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 I clicked this thread only to find I was beaten to it by nearly everyone on here.The Patt 743.Easy to re-lamp, Easy to focus, great light, and just too simple to be invented in the modern world.They were known as the 'God Spots' in my first ever theatre, perhaps technically incorrect but true anyhow. Its always pleasing when they are supplied on a 'budget' hire by one of our major rental houses.There must still be a market for them, everyone I know appears to mourn the loss of this light, and that is echoed by the instant response of most people here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 P243 We had some at school and they punched through ANYTHING. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 Again, the 743 is probably my favourite. I won't repeat why but I do love the fact it goes so wide thanks to that 8" lense... God bless it. Even such simple things as a focus knob on both the front and back of the lantern. Why did Strand not put that on the Cantata F? Sometimes the extra foot or so to the rear focus knob is almost impossible, thats why the front one was so handy - or vica versa. We had 6 come in on a tour a little while back from WL - I was impressed to see that they were still out and about from a major hire company. Strand defintely never made as good a fresnel after the 2/743s. If they are well looked after then they are still the best 1kw out there IMHO (even if the original style barndoors are a pain in the backside!). Stu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SceneMaster Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 743... There still in very heavy use as the onstage fresnel at a theatre where I do casual rigging, someone mentioned trying to find a 743 replacement a while back but they just simply couldn’t find a similar spec of light in budget that was a any good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 Personally: The Strand Quartet F Gets my vote :D You've clearly never had to take one apart for re-wiring. Favourite lantern? Difficult to choose, really, although any Robert Juliat followspot is generally a piece of kit to really enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Roberts Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 Sorry to go off on a bit of a tangent here, but is there any real difference between a 743 and a 223? They look pretty much the same to me, is it just things like the bases for the lamp that make the two different? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 AFAIK, just a different lamp base. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 Sorry to go off on a bit of a tangent here, but is there any real difference between a 743 and a 223? They look pretty much the same to me, is it just things like the bases for the lamp that make the two different?Patt223 has a P28 lamp base (prefocus cap). Patt743 has a GX9.5 lamp base (two-pin). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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