Newer lights vs Older Lights

[DoctorStar]

Evening all,

 

We have 4 Strand T84 (1000W) in school which have been replaced/augmented by 4 Selecon Axial Zoom Profiles (650W).

 

Side by side, the Selecons seem rather brighter then the Strands despite the 400W advantage that the T84 carries. Now I'm sure the Strands would benefit from a clean but will this be enough or has the technology of lighting moved at such a pace that a modern 600W fixture can really outgun a older 1000W fixture?

 

 

I a kooky way I quite like the T84s.....despite needing a small truck to move one....and would like to use them more FOH if I could get them to match the Selecons more closely.

 

BW

 

Ian

[paulears]

We've got a couple of FOH bars with T-spots still on. A clean will increase the output, but optically, axial Selecons are brighter. Source 4's even more so. Optics in the T-spots are pretty basic, as you've seen. The larger lamps have greater filament area, so the reflectors, which are not the mirror finish so many modern ones have, collects some but not all of the light. The lamps tend to be lower colour temperature too, so again, don't appear so bright.

 

However, the bifocal shutters are well worth the lower output in usability - easy onstage blending, hard shuttered edges for the pros - nice!

 

Loads of people moan about them, but despite being rusty, dust riddled and heavy, after all these years they still work!

[StevieR]

Personally, I've always found the old "T Pots" to be rather dim and as you've found out - heavy. A good clean will help a bit but the optics just aren't that well designed. And yes, there are many lower powered modern fixtures which can outperform older, higher wattage fixtures. This is a good thing though, both it terms of power consumption and heat output.

 

Steve

[DoctorStar]

Thanks Paul and Stevie,

 

I will give these venerable fixtures a quick polish, safe in the knowledge that I know where the pain vs gain threshold is.

 

BW

 

Ian

[andy_s]

Just to note, don't go looking for bifocal shutters on your T84s - this feature was found on T64s and patt 264s....

 

other differences were that the T64 was a fixed beam profile, and the T84 a zoom, and the T84 appeared to be much brighter than the T64, despite both using 1000W lamps.

 

rather disturbing to think these were what populated the three FOH lighting bridges on my first "professional" focussing session over twenty-five years ago. Replacing the T84s with Cadenzas (2kW, twice as big, twice as heavy) was when my back made its first protest about my chosen lifestyle...

[RoyJ]

:) There simply is no comparison, you have an axially mounted lamp in a highly efficient reflector with heat management, on the accliams,however, as has been said with maintainance the T84 will give good service.The biggest problem with using the older lighting equipment is the need for extensive maintainance,and care in lamp adjustment.We have a varied collection of lights from patt50a's through to a collection of Major equipment,patt 23's, 123's,803's,spr's, sfr's,T spots,acclaim condensor profiles and strand sl's and starlette fresnels.And if I currently tell you, we are negotiating to get a pair of T84's, you can see we have a range of lanterns that span various decades,and are all opperational as well as some being in the historically interesting collection.I recently worked with a guest lighting designer who was unformilular with bifocal shuttered spots and surprisingly a lantern employing a p28 cap.My addvice is clean and fully service the T84's, and do a shoot out between the two lamps,you may still find the Acclaims beat the T84, but that does not mean the T84's have not got their place.Hope this helps, Roy

p.s, I have spent hours at Derby's Guildhall theatre in years gone by,servicing and stripping down lanterns.The difference in light out never ceased to amaze, it is very easy to fit and forget.

[Don Allen]

The Selecon Axial Acclaim zoom profile has a 600W lamp, so it does better that you thought.

 

The Selecon Acclaim zoom profile has a base down 650W lamp and does not have the same light output.