New Fresnels

[Strand77]

Hi all

Looking to upgrade Lighting system in our Local Hall which is currently made up of Patt 803 and a couple of Patt 223.

Which is the best option to go for ? Don't want to go to Expensive. Thought about Selecon Acclaims or what about

New Strand Quartets though we have some older ones and the Barndoors are difficult to rotate. What about CCT

Fresnels ? Will 650w do or should I look at 1kw ?

 

Thanks

JB

[smalljoshua]

The Acclaims are great little lights, I wouldn't hesitate to use them. I would hire in some 650w and 1k units and see which you think fit the room better.

 

Josh

[tom_the_LD]

We have some acclaims at school - I believe they're only 500W though and they are indeed great little lights. The one thing to watch if you go for 1kw is the power, as village halls don't usually have huge amounts of it. It depends on the size of the stage really!

[J Pearce]

Theres nothing much wrong with the 223s.

If uplamped to a 1kW lamp (might need a lamp base change, might not do) they become the 743, and many professional venues still regularly use them, and many pro LDs still specify them.

 

The large lens and large zoom range make them a great versatile soft fresnel.

 

The 803s need binning as they are horrendously inefficient due to not having a reflector, I'd suggest going for minuettes/acclaims/quartets. Lamp these at 650W and use them for facial frontlight, then re-lamp the 223s to 1kW and they'll be great for colour washes and backlight.

[gareth]

Theres nothing much wrong with the 223s.

If uplamped to a 1kW lamp (might need a lamp base change, might not do) they become the 743, and many professional venues still regularly use them, and many pro LDs still specify them.

Almost, but not quite!

 

Patt.223 is a 1000w lantern, with a P28s prefocus cap lamp-base, which took a regular tungsten lamp. In the early seventies they moved to a GX9.5 bi-pin lamp base for the new-fangled tungsten halogen lamps that had just started to appear - and the Patt.743 was born. There's a very loose transitional numbering scheme used for Strand lanterns of around that period, where many of the existing models were redesigned, some more radically than others, for TH lamps and gained a '7' prefix to their pattern number instead of the old '2' prefix. The 223 became the 743 ... there were redesigned TH versions of the 263 and 264 called, surprisingly, the 763 and 764 (it also spawned a narrow-angle, long throw version called the 774, four of which we still have in our stock, although they're not used much these days!) ... the 293 followspot became the 793 ... even the humble Pattern 49 flood got a look-in in the shape of the 749 variant with a T11 lamp (has anyone ever actually seen one of these?!).

 

And yes, many professional venues - us included - still use the Patt.743 in their everyday lantern stock ... although they're more and more being supplemented (and creepingly replaced) by other units (in our case, Cantatas and ADBs).

[mark_s]

We have some acclaims at school - I believe they're only 500W though and they are indeed great little lights.

 

Acclaim fresnels are 650W, but they are efficient little units - they'll give a few 1kW fresnels a run for their money in terms of output.

[GridGirl]

I'd be going for Selecon Acclaims - they're 650w units and you'll find them a whole lot brighter than your 803s! By the bye, the 803s do have a reflector, it's the 833 that doesn't - we still have some 803s in use (they're slowly being replaced by Acclaims) and there's no way we'd be using a reflector-less unit! I've never liked Quartet fresnels, they're just not quite up to the Acclaims, IMO. Keep your 223s but re-lamp them to 1kw - we've got several which are still doing sterling service and comparing well with the Selecon fresnels which make up the bulk of our stock!

[jon_roache]

Ive has experience of all 3 types as we have them at school (Minuettes in hall, Quartets in drama 1, Acclaims in drama 2)

 

Although I use minuettes the most there are some problems with them - I have found that lamp holders keep going on them, don't know if anyone else has found this?

 

Strands Quartets are OK, in preference I use the old 123 because I find them better than them in most cases.

 

My favourites are definatley the Selecon Acclaims - Good build quality, generally more robust, they give out more light supoesedly as well. They generally feel a lot expensize than the minuettes and quartets.

 

Others may have other prefeerences but those are mine :up:

[sleah]

We have some acclaims at school - I believe they're only 500W though and they are indeed great little lights.

 

Acclaim fresnels are 650W, but they are efficient little units - they'll give a few 1kW fresnels a run for their money in terms of output.

 

Another :up: for Acclaims from here :)

 

Agree 100% with the comment above. We have several accross three rooms.

They are very bright in the drama room (2.5m highish). In the smaller hall, a 1950's typical hall approx 4.5m high they are spot on (pun intended ).

In the bigger hall, approx 6m high they manage OK, although may only just cut it if they had dark filters such as deep reds, blues or browns.

 

Nice and light to rig, easy to position and focus and can even have barn doors if that's what floats your boat

[mark_s]

I've never liked Quartet fresnels, they're just not quite up to the Acclaims, IMO.

 

I'll second that. I'm not a huge fan of the entire Quartet range however - the profiles are the work of Satan. The fresnels, in comparison with Acclaims, are larger, generally more awkward, and don't put out as much light. And if they have much in common with their profile brethren, you'll find doing anything other than cleaning or relamping them a pain.

[boatman]

.

.

Acclaim fresnels are 650W, but they are efficient little units - they'll give a few 1kW fresnels a run for their money in terms of output.

 

Errrm, if you fit T18s or T25s they aren't.

 

One thing to watch out for with Acclaims fresnels is that the earth bond can get trapped under the focussing slide. You need to look at the rear of the slide and orientate the tag so that the earth braid comes away from the base and not towards it.

[RockElectrics]

We have some acclaims at school - I believe they're only 500W though and they are indeed great little lights.

 

Acclaim fresnels are 650W, but they are efficient little units - they'll give a few 1kW fresnels a run for their money in terms of output.

 

Another :up: for Acclaims from here

 

Agree 100% with the comment above. We have several accross three rooms.

They are very bright in the drama room (2.5m highish). In the smaller hall, a 1950's typical hall approx 4.5m high they are spot on (pun intended ).

In the bigger hall, approx 6m high they manage OK, although may only just cut it if they had dark filters such as deep reds, blues or browns.

 

Nice and light to rig, easy to position and focus and can even have barn doors if that's what floats your boat ;)

 

at 6m being used as a wash I would definitely recommend using the next model up from Acclaims, the Rama.

 

Selecon Rama Fresnel

 

Ramas are shipped standard as 1200W fixtures, but 1000W lamps can be used....

 

....of course, all depends on what height you're actually shooting from!

 

Regards,

 

Abby

[Strand77]

We have some acclaims at school - I believe they're only 500W though and they are indeed great little lights.

 

Acclaim fresnels are 650W, but they are efficient little units - they'll give a few 1kW fresnels a run for their money in terms of output.

 

Another :up: for Acclaims from here

 

Agree 100% with the comment above. We have several accross three rooms.

They are very bright in the drama room (2.5m highish). In the smaller hall, a 1950's typical hall approx 4.5m high they are spot on (pun intended ).

In the bigger hall, approx 6m high they manage OK, although may only just cut it if they had dark filters such as deep reds, blues or browns.

 

Nice and light to rig, easy to position and focus and can even have barn doors if that's what floats your boat ;)

 

at 6m being used as a wash I would definitely recommend using the next model up from Acclaims, the Rama.

 

Selecon Rama Fresnel

 

Ramas are shipped standard as 1200W fixtures, but 1000W lamps can be used....

 

....of course, all depends on what height you're actually shooting from!

 

Regards,

 

Abby

 

Thanks All just to add our lighting bars are 4.1 metres high so I assume acclaims should be fine ?

[gareth]

our lighting bars are 4.1 metres high

Almost as high as the excessive untrimmed quotes in that last post! ;)

 

To actually answer the question - why not look at getting some of each? Concentrate on the lower-wattage fixtures (more for your money, and pokey enough for most purposes in a space with a shorter throw), but add a few 1k or 1.2k units into the mix to bring a bit of punch to the light when required.

[Neil Hampson]

Having used all of the options, I am even the not-so-proud owner of some Pat883 and 803's.

 

On a side by side comparison, I think the best overall lantern is the Selecon, the integral safety bond, nice beam angles etc. Looking at the lantern the Quartet 'should' perform better than it does due to the larger lens, but even the CCT seems to give a better throw. The only negative side I can find with the Selecons is the wire lens mesh guard, it sits in the gel frame runners, and with barn doors in as well it's a bit of a squeeze. also the gel seems to burn out very quickly when used at full flood (especially if the gell ever touches the wire lens guard).

Asothers have said, try to get hold of one of each on hire and judge for yourself, using hire stock is a good test as it shows you what the lantern will be like after a few good years of service, rather than the new out-of-the box experiance of a demo unit.