The range of lanterns available to today's practitioners

[MrBThatsMe]

Hi, I'm new here :D

 

Basically, I've recently started a college course (Advanced Stage Management & Technical Production) and as part of our lighting assignment we need to collate as much info as possible on "the range of lanterns available to today's practitioners". Everyone seems confused as to what this means exactly, including me. Someone on our course said that all of this info can be found on the Strand website, however it isn't making much sense to me. From using the key/legend on a mock-lighting design of a theatre, I see the following:

 

Mac 2000 Profile

VL2000 Spot w/top hat

Mac600 w/ spill rings

Alpha Halo Wash

VL1000 TS

S4 Zoom 750W

Source 4 750W

Source 4 10° 750W

Par 64 1kW

Par 64 S/N 1kW

Scroller 8°

M16 Birdie 75W

5kW Fresnel w/ scroller

Coda 4-cell 500W

L&E Batten 3-cell

Dimmable Flourescent

Full / Half Top Hat

Molefay 8 lite 2x4

Molefay 4 lite 1x4

 

Sorry for the long list, but could someone explain this to me? Is a Par, Source 4, Fresnel, PC, a category of lantern whereby the name determines the 'stuff inside'. Ie. Par 64 1kW, and par 64 S/N 1kW.

 

I've missed some time from college because of a bad illness but nobody else on the course seems to have much idea either ** laughs out loud **. Other people from another site have pointed me in the direction of a couple of websites but all the names of lights seems to be as random as motherboard names are for computers if you don't know what you're looking for.

 

Is there a list of the lights you find on a lighting stencil? or all the possible lights you could find on a legend on a lighting plan?

 

Sorry to ask so many questions but I am keen to learn but as of yeat I'm still in the dark here and I'm hoping some of you can help me out.

 

Thanks, Colin

 

I'll reply to myself with another brief question ** laughs out loud ** :P An example of my confusion is this - I hear people talking about a Mac 2000. Ok, I assume 'that's a lantern in itself' but on the lighting plan I have, it's a Mac 2000 Profile. Can you get a Mac 2000 Fresnel? Or Source 4?

 

That's basically what I'm confused about. I'm not sure if I should be listing any name of a lantern that I ahven't already listed, or just be identifying the different groups.

 

Thanks for a second time ;)

[JimWebber]

Hi There,

 

Yet another poorly written brief I suspect...

 

To my mind you are being asked to describe for example Fresnels, Parcans, Movers etc, along with there uses, limitations and accessories?

 

 

Sorry to ask so many questions but I am keen to learn but as of yeat I'm still in the dark here and I'm hoping some of you can help me out.

 

All good Technicians are usually in the dark...

 

Jim

[AndrewR]

Firstly have a trawl through the Wiki.

 

Yes, PAR, fresnel and PC are all names for types of lantern. (Source 4 is just a very popular model range by ETC)

 

PAR refers to the type of reflector (but has come to mean anything that even looks like a parcan) So a par 64 S/N 1k = The largest size of PAR lamp (thats the 64 bit) in a Short Nose housing. And its a 1 kw lamp.

 

You may find it productive to either buy a book or two (or ask a lecturer at your college to lend you something) Its kind of a massive open-ended question.

 

Mac2000= Martins biggest moving head range.

 

Mac2000 profile= hard edge, projects patterns. The source 4 is a type of generic (i.e. non-moving) profile.

 

They also do the Mac2000 wash. Which does a similar thing to freznels.

[MrBThatsMe]

Thanks! I'm understanding it a bit more now.. when I asked my lecturer he just said 'all the lanterns you can use'. It seems there are the same types of lights available but with totally different names because of the manufacturer and I'm so confused trying to sort them into relevant groups. A book will help me so I'm going to the library later.

 

On a site I was refered to, there's a list for spot lights with a load of things including the following:

 

Alpha Profile 1200

Alpha Spot 1200

ColorSpot 1200AT

ColorSpot 1200E AT

Golden Spot 1200

VL1000A

VL1000AS

VL1000T

 

From a guess I'd say the ones with 1200 are the same type of light? But then again they're possibly a mixture of Fresnels or profiles..

 

How are you lot still alive after dealing with this ** laughs out loud **!

[niall]

the number after a moving head, sometimes refers to the power of its lamp, whereas other companies, its just the range. The first 5 on your list are made by Clay Paky, the last 3 are by Vari*lite.

 

If those 8 lights were under "spot" then they are all spots, but these are all types of moving head and not your generic lamp/lens combination.

[JimWebber]

Certainly the first two, refer to the power of the lamp fitted, Other instances of numbers may just be a model number, for example a Strand pattern 45 fresnel never had a 45 Watt lamp fitted (Although the light output looked like it had).

 

have you tried manufacturers web-sites?

 

Jim

 

EDIT- Or the Blue Room Wiki???

 

ANOTHER EDIT - Beaten to it! Damn... ;)

[Jonny DMX]

The clue to most of these fixtures is in the name... most have the word "spot" or "profile" in it! I would suggest reading through a number of good lighting books which will explain what the different lighting fixtures are and how they work. You will than be able to look at the fixtures or look at their spec and know what type of fixture it is.

 

I am not going to tell you the names of the books as the Blue Room is not here to do your work for you. A good look through your college library will give you the answers you need.

[MrBThatsMe]

I spent hours documenting each light on the Strand website.. but because of the manufacturer-specific names for types of lights I ended up scratching my head about whether or not the Strand site only caters for a small fraction of available lanterns. Then I made the awful discovery of all the problems I mentioned above whereby I dunno what I've actually documented ** laughs out loud **

 

Thanks for the advice.. I definately don't want anyone to do the work for me because I can tell that if I don't find things out for myself, and understand them completely then I'm going to be as much use as a glass hammer. I just feel that after spending about 4 or 5 hours collating 2 pages per light from the Strand site, then realising I may have got the wrong end of the stick I should ask some people who have experience. ;)

[the kid]

I read the question the OP has been given as:

 

"What are the different styles of lanterns available to today's practitioners?"

 

I see this is what a profile is, what is a par etc

 

You can then list a select number of different styles/makes of each.

 

Profiles for example the ETC source 4 and a Strand Cantata are 2 very different lanterns and although you get different sizes/makes etc will be the 2 stark differences that you get in profiles.

 

Then moving lights are different as you have found out you get all number of different versions with quieter fans, brighter lamps, more fancy things etc you can then say something about moving lights and there differences but I defiantly wouldn't go in to the differences between a VL1000A, VL1000AS, VL1000T.

 

I hope I have made sense of it because I'm now getting confused.

[Ryote]

There are a number of different types of lamps but they all break down into groups then subgroups. i.e. Generics (standard non moving fixtures) and Movers (so called intelligent fixtures) then you have subgroups of Generics>>PAR, Profile, Fresnel, PC etc and Movers>>Profile, Wash etc. Don't get manafacturers names confused as being a lamp type, even though ocassionally manafacturers lamps brand name gets generically added for all lamps of that type. i.e. Source 4 or Mac's. Try using the Blue Room Wiki and also try using the manafacturers websites (as people have already suggested) as most manafacturers (ETC, CCT, Strand etc) have good educational sections clearly explaining the different types of lamps and their purposes.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[Colin]

I could be wrong here but I would have thought from reading your brief they are asking the type of light so that you encompass all of the type light such as fresnels, PCs, profiles etc. Then breaking it down to what you would use it for and how it works. But then to take this onto moving lights I would suggest grouping various types together like wash, spot, scanners etc. talk about the overall features which that type fixture uses like the form of colour mixing used and lens type.

 

As you have pointed out there are a near infinite number of lights out there and there would be no viable way to list them all but I would look at a family of moving lights such as the mac range from Martin as one company's is much like another just with minor feature changes (and of course price tags ;)).

 

I would seriously consider talking to the lecturer again and asking whether he is after each individual light or if he is after types.

[MrBThatsMe]

Thanks again, they are some great replies there.. things are beginning to seem a bit more clear to me now. I've yet to look at the wiki as I've been stuffing my face with potato and tuna for the last half hour but I'll definately take a look as it seems to havea fanbase around here ;)

 

Thanks again, much appreciated! /munching tuna..

[Roderick]

.. when I asked my lecturer he just said 'all the lanterns you can use'.

 

Personally I would consider changing college because that is the most stupid thing a 'lecturer' could have said. It is like saying 'all the cars you can drive'.

I am not surprised you are confused about this, the lists you provided are a mix between generic lantern types and specific brand names. I would like to help you sorting this out, PM if you need any help, but would really suggest you request some decent teaching from your lecturer before being send on such a broad topic.

[MrBThatsMe]

Thanks for your concern. I don't want to concentrate on brand types.. just generics.. I haven't had a chance to speak with my tutor as he wasn't in but someone else has told me they *think* it's just general types of lantern such as Frenel, PC, Parcan, Source 4? (or is that a brand-name profile?) My head is boggled after all of this.

[Colin]

Source 4 is an ETC brand name for a range of profiles with a common backend.