Small Fresnels

[Bryson]

A theatre I occasionally design at is revamping it's lantern stock. They're looking for a small 500/650w fresnel for general stage washes. I naturally recommended the acclaims, but apparently they're rather expensive at the moment (to do with the relative strength of the Canadian vs American vs New Zealand dollar). Aside from buying more of the Altman 65Qs that they're replacing (mainly due to build quality issues), is there another option? I can't actually think of another 650W fresnel that I can remember seeing around, now that there's no Strand option anymore. Is there a (preferably American) manufacturer I'm overlooking?

 

Oh, and ETC; please make Fresnels. We'll buy them, honest. The PARnel does not count.

[themadhippy]

cct minuette? not sure how available over there though

[Bryson]

I should have added: "Not woefully bad."

 

[jexjexjex]

Oh, and ETC; please make Fresnels. We'll buy them, honest. The PARnel does not count.

 

+1 for that!

 

They're not American, but Spotlight do several ranges of 500/650W fresnels. I've go some of their "Combi" (Mid range) items, but you'd probably want to go fior their "Sintesi"

 

They're rugged enough, but I don't know how they'd compare with anything else in terms of light output.

 

AC Lighting supply them in th UK, so I'd assume that their US arm will do the same for North America.

 

www.spotlight.it

[church]

A theatre I occasionally design at is revamping it's lantern stock. They're looking for a small 500/650w fresnel for general stage washes. I naturally recommended the acclaims, but apparently they're rather expensive at the moment (to do with the relative strength of the Canadian vs American vs New Zealand dollar). Aside from buying more of the Altman 65Qs that they're replacing (mainly due to build quality issues), is there another option? I can't actually think of another 650W fresnel that I can remember seeing around, now that there's no Strand option anymore. Is there a (preferably American) manufacturer I'm overlooking?

 

Oh, and ETC; please make Fresnels. We'll buy them, honest. The PARnel does not count.

 

as you are in Vancouver you could check out MCLights in Barrie, Ontario theit website is

 

http://www.mclights.com

 

their fresnels are clones of the ones made by FE Lighting which were a better build quality than the Altman 65Q and performed well. The last time I checked these were priced sensibly in the sub $200 each range. PM me and I can put you in touch with someone who can supply them.

[dbuckley]

I suspect you need to ask this question in a North American forum.

 

Or, tell them to bite the bullet and buy the acclaims, as they will remember how good they are years after they've forgotten the cost.

[csg]

I really like the spotlight range, they seem very well built, having lead screw focus unlike most 500w lanterns, and the barndoors are of a decent size.

 

focus range is good, and beam quality is good, with an even field and a "not too soft" edge unlike most 4" fresnels that can be too full of scatter.

 

one of the event companies I freelance for has a good stock of the 500w / 650w fresnels and they are leaps and bounds better than the acclaim / quartet / minuette in my opinion

[RoyJ]

Hi Bryson, at the risk of getting shouted at, I would suggest showtec stagebeam fresnels, I have the pc version and I find them very good, and cheap, and barndoors dont cost a fortune.I dont know what the problem is with the minuette fresnels as we have them and I've never had any problems with them, there is a lot of lantern sonbbery about.My thought is if it aint broke dont fix it,and as a company we haven't the money to be snobby.Hope this helps and by the way, if we had the money, I would have acclaim f's, but alas we dont.Keep it illuminated Roy

[WiLL]

I was recently looking for cheap in price but not in quality fresnels myself and bought a pair of second hand LDR Notas, which I'm rather chuffed with, nice, even output, no sign of frustrating barn door or focus knob design and a satisfying shape. The Nota is a 1200w but LDR also make the Tempos or the SUona which are 650w models, maybe worth a look?

[Trunker]

Someone aught to re-invent the Patt 743 with a 750 HPL lamp in it. This would sell thousands, if at the right price, surely?

 

Anybody got any 743 shells they are looking to get rid of, I'll modify them myself. :-)

[Bryson]

Someone aught to re-invent the Patt 743 with a 750 HPL lamp in it. This would sell thousands, if at the right price, surely?

You mean, just like Robert Juliat? Beautiful bits of kit, cost the earth.... *

 

I think the Acclaims are the right product, but he's getting quoted CAD$450 each - which translates to about UKP275! I think it's a consequence of importing them twice, once from NZ to the USA and then again from the USA to Canada.

 

 

*=Ok, maybe not a 750W HPL (which wouldn't really work anyway, requiring an axial reflector...) but that case design is pretty familiar.

[paulears]

I've become a bit of a fan of Arris - An LD I work with from time to time keeps specifying them in his rigs and light wise, they're rather nice - plus the barn doors are nice and big - and they have a lead screw focus like the 743s. The 1K and 650W are my favourites. The 650 is quite small and I'm considering buying another half a dozen to replace the 223s (not 743s) in the rig, as it's only rust holding them together now. They're not particularly cheap, but worth looking at.

[Bryson]

In the end it turns out that the supplier accidentally quoted on Ramas, not Acclaims. Acclaims are more like CAD$250, so they're going with them.

 

Interesting to note the lack of choice in this end of the market. Strand's demise has left a big hole.

 

I still want ETC fresnels, mind.

[gareth]

I still want ETC fresnels, mind.

There's a gap in the market, that's for sure ...

[Trunker]

Someone aught to re-invent the Patt 743 with a 750 HPL lamp in it. This would sell thousands, if at the right price, surely?

You mean, just like Robert Juliat? Beautiful bits of kit, cost the earth.... *

 

I think the Acclaims are the right product, but he's getting quoted CAD$450 each - which translates to about UKP275! I think it's a consequence of importing them twice, once from NZ to the USA and then again from the USA to Canada.

 

 

*=Ok, maybe not a 750W HPL (which wouldn't really work anyway, requiring an axial reflector...) but that case design is pretty familiar.

 

Not quite the same, because of the 'high' wattage lamps. Freedom Eco Fresnel's from CCT seem to be closer to what I had in mind, although I haven't tried one to see what the output is like. Is it close on a Source 4 output?