iSolution iMove 5S?

[laurencerussell2006]

Hi, I was hoping to get some adive about Moving heads, more specifically the iSolution iMove 5S?

 

I am the general lighting and sound technician for my local College and we currently have a fairly small rig of about 30 fixtures in total, (mainly 500-650W lanters, combined with about 6 1kw Par64's). We are looking into getting some inteligent lighting and I know absolutely nothing about it. We have very very little funding for this. 

 

I've been looking on various websites and found the iMove series to have quite good reviews, I've found a 5s for £245 ( http://www.westenddj.co.uk/product.asp?mod=ISIM03 )  and this is around about the price we are wanting to pay per fixture (we're looking for 2-4). 

 

Mainly we want it to add some interesting effects to our chases and dance numbers (the college puts on about 5 productions a term, from small drama plays to dance showcases). 

 

Firstly, I'm a bit concerned about the 250w lamp in them, is it just going to be washed out by the rest of the lighting? 

 

Secondly, Would one of these be powerful enough to light someone directly below them as a kind of moving spot light (i.e. for a solo). They will be about 3-4m above the actors and we would be controlling them via the built in joystick of the iSolution Controller. 

 

Will these be good enough or are they just going to be a waste of money?

 

Any advice is very welcome as I know very little about this area and so might be completely wrong about them.

 

Thanks in advance

 

Laurence

 

P.S. This is my first post so hopefully I've done it in the right format  :** laughs out loud **:

[Aaron-Hill07]

Hi Laurence, Firstly welcome to the forum!

 

I own 4 Isolution IM5S (& Copies of!) I would say that generally they will be washed out by the lighting you have listed there, although they would be fine if they were almost the only thing on, you can probably get away with having a few fresnels on at the same time but if you have say 6 Par64 1K's on it will completely kill the beam and the projected gobo.

 

Also, I strongly suggest doing a lot of research around the forum and also reading books etc about DMX and intelligent lighting as it's a lot different than simply putting a fader up to make the light come on!

There really is no point in buying intelligent lighting if you don't know how to use it!

 

Again, the 250w lamp in the lights will be fine in the situation spotting a soloist/duet, providing that there isn't much more light on (Frontlight to see faces is fine).

 

If you are intending on using the fixtures for 'followspotting' such as moving the light to follow the person, then I strongly suggest against it! For a start they are 8 bit fixtures, so unless they are linked to a high quality controller the movements will be juddery! Also, it is very difficult to accurately follow someone with a moving head at the best of times, but with a joystick on a £100 controller, it makes life even more difficult!

 

They may be good enough in the situations I've talked about, but on bigger things with lots of other 'stage light' then I suggest something more powerful and also Discharge lamps.

[smalljoshua]

First of all, hello and welcome to the Blue-Room.

 

The first thing you say is you have very little funding for getting Intelligent Fixtures. If there is little budget don't get movers. Especially not cheap disco ones. The ones in question don't have a dimmer. They wont be bright enough and there will not be anywhere near enough control from any Joystick to use them as automated followspots. Movers also have the added cost of complexity where if something breaks you will probably have to pay more to fix it than with a Generic.

 

If you want to spend some money, buy more generics. Perhaps profiles as you don't say you have any.

 

IMO movers in a college environment are a bad idea unless there is a true need for them.

 

Josh

[laurencerussell2006]

Hi, thanks both of you for the advice.

 

We do have about 15-20 profiles but we're starting to get requests for shows that we just can't do with the lights we have in the positions we can put them (we would upgrade our rigging but we don't have the money to do it) which is the reason for wanting / needing movable lighting.

 

Are there any moving heads that you would recomend for us?

 

In the past we have hired in Mac 500's, and they went down a big success with the drama and dance teachers which are now after our own, is there a cheaper alternative to the Mac 500?

 

Thanks Again

Laurence

[Aaron-Hill07]

To put it simply, no there isn't a cheaper alternative to the Mac 500. Martin Mac 500's are a well established lighting effect and Martin themself are basically the leading manufacturer in the industry.

 

There is no real cheap alternative if you want something the same quality that does the same things as a Mac.

Have a look at www.usedlighting.co.uk, they sell ex-hire & used lighting fixtures including moving heads, you may be able to get a good deal.

 

I would definately reccomend Martin Mac's in some shape or form for a school, simply because they are very reliable, the customer service from the company aftersale is fantastic and you can get some bargains on them used (Probably not as cheap as £250 per fixture, but spending the money is definately much better than getting cheap fixtures and having to repair them when they go wrong!)

 

hope that helps

[Richard CSL]

Hi Laurence , I see your problem. and agree with the replies you have already had.

I just wanted to suggest a better alternative to the I5move, if your budget won´t extend to Mac 500s, but you want a discharge lamp unit. these are 150 watt discharge lamp units but have a dimmer shutter. albeit a cresent moon effect, but none the less a dimmer. and UV (woods) filter and a rotating gobo all for 299 euros. (lamp a bit extra 40 euros) I have actually installed these in a venue so I can say the build quality is very good. just click on the link below. and yes they do speak english.

 

good luck.

 

 

 

http://www1.conrad.de/scripts/wgate/zcop_b...amp;navi=oben_1

[KevinE]

I agree with Aaron. You wont get them to work as a follow spot as the tiniest adjustment on the desk will have them leap around all over the place. They're reasonably bright in a dark disco but not good for a theatre. I've programmed lots of these with both disco desks and PC DMX and they're all their money and no more.

[Aaron-Hill07]

Richard, I can't seem to get anything at all from that link, just a load of stuff in German and not an actual link to a product. I tried to browse the website, but my German is far from literate!

[tokm]

Are we really going to go through all this schools/college's & Movers again :)...

 

As others have said, the long and short of it it is IM 5s's just aren't going to cut it. Now the simple thing to do is say to all these teachers: Right.. we've hired in Mac 500's before, you liked having the flexibilty of them, but unfortunately with the budget you've given us, we're not going to be able to buy anything similar/suitable. Either find a way to up the budget to allow for the purchase of some 500's or.. just accept the limitations of your current LX rig, and work around that. Its what everyone else has to do!

 

Ideally you'd want something newer than mac500's, you've got to remember, they're all getting on a bit now and will start to need constant maintainance as they get older. Thats IMO why people ELP's 500's are still going, they basically get a full service everytime they come back from a job! I'd personally look at something like a Robe CS575 AT. Reasonably cheap to buy from new, have a fairly good rep' for not being too ML Tech needy and Robe's UK support is very good these days.

 

Sorry to be blunt, but there's just no point buying some naff little movers that'll likely end up sitting doing nothing. You'll only be wasting your/the college's money!

 

HTH, T

[RobOwen]

As we're all specifying lighting that would cost the OP nearly ten times his budget per fixture...let me add another. The new MAC III is meant to be quite good...and, like the other suggestions, well out of your budget.

 

I dont think the OP is going to buy new MACs/Robe equivilent or indeed used ones on a budget of £245 per fixture inc VAT and lamp.

[Aaron-Hill07]

Rob, I haven't said that they are in his price range, but I am supplying him with a better solution if he can get the money.

The OP's original question has basically been answered, were now providing him with our opinions on what to get instead of cheap movers.

[Richard CSL]

Richard, I can't seem to get anything at all from that link, just a load of stuff in German and not an actual link to a product. I tried to browse the website, but my German is far from literate!

 

 

Sorry the link didnt work how I expected it to, so using the link follow these instructions.

in the opening blue box click on

weiter ohne cookies.

then below the word Conrad look for sound and licht. a drop down box appears click on lichteffect.

scroll down the blue tab bar on the left and click on moving heads

look for the 7th one down Scanic astute 150

after clicking on the picture on the right hand side is a little globe with mehrsprachig written underneath.

click on this for the full manual in english.

 

when you phone them they do speak english I promis.