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ETC PROFILE LIGHTS


mediaforgod

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Hi Louis,

 

Could you elaborate a little on your question - it's not very clear exactly what information you're looking for.

 

ETC make Source 4 lanterns that are available in a variety of angles - 10, 19, 26, 36 and 50 degrees - which ones you need depends entirely on the application. If you're referring to the angles at which the light hits the subject, it again depends entirely on the application but the manufacturer is of little relevance in that case.

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You do not believe in them?? What do you mean by that?

 

They're crap and it's safer just to forget that they exist...

Er, sorry?

You're basing that statement on what exactly?

S4 profiles in either fxed or zoom beam angles are a staple in pretty much every pro design these days. And whilst (like ANY instrument) they may have flaws or foibles that some may not like, I'd hazard that they are FAR from 'crap'....

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You do not believe in them?? What do you mean by that?

 

They're crap and it's safer just to forget that they exist...

 

That is it exactly...

 

 

Perhaps you could fill us in on the details of why we're making a big mistake to even acknowledge the S4 zoom models, then, instead of simply declaring ex cathedra?

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15/30 too nose heavy, double clutched variants with balance yoke are the only alternative. Even then, a scroller on the front of the unit wants to make it drop.

 

15/30's with balance yoke attachments cannot do all positions, i.e. any thing from about 30-0 degrees from vertical.

 

Focus mechanism not easy for a lot of people to understand.

 

Focus mechanism can jam easily and then destroy itself.

 

Lenses fall out of lens tube with little provocation.

 

Not as bright compared angle for angle with fixed beam variants.

 

Dont get me wrong, I don't think that there has been anything in the last twenty years that has come close to the Source 4, it's just that I would much rather use a fixed beam unit, rather than a zoom. As there are nine lens tube variants, that can all fit onto the standard lamp house, is there any need for a zoom?

 

We used to use fixed beam profiles, just like the Yanks, but after, I think, the Patt. 264, Strand went to manufacturing zoom profiles, and we lost that type of unit.

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I've been using S4 zooms for many years and would state as follows:

 

 

15/30 too nose heavy, double clutched variants with balance yoke are the only alternative. Even then, a scroller on the front of the unit wants to make it drop. No problem with balnced yoke, though obviously a scroller will throw out the balance of anything it's attached to hence variants like Scroller Cans instead of oridnary Par 64s.

 

15/30's with balance yoke attachments cannot do all positions, i.e. any thing from about 30-0 degrees from vertical. Not tried them, but taking the Scroller cans as an example then that's just to do with how they work - it's a design compromise that has to be made

 

Focus mechanism not easy for a lot of people to understand. Once you get used to it (takes about 2 minutes) it's very easy and utterly ingenious. To be able to focus both lenses at the same time with one hand is a work of genius for those of us who remember what it was like before that system was invented.

 

Focus mechanism can jam easily and then destroy itself. Never known one jam. Harmonies and Sil 30s were often jamming though!

 

Lenses fall out of lens tube with little provocation. Never known it.

 

Not as bright compared angle for angle with fixed beam variants. Er, obviously, as with all zooms there are 2 bits of glass to hold back the light instead of one.

 

Dont get me wrong, I don't think that there has been anything in the last twenty years that has come close to the Source 4, it's just that I would much rather use a fixed beam unit, rather than a zoom. As there are nine lens tube variants, that can all fit onto the standard lamp house, is there any need for a zoom? Yes. Venues that have one-day or one-week shows in don't have time to be constantly changing lenses. We find that we're using 575w lamps on our FOH units so we don't need that extra brightness you'd get from a fixed angle unit. Thus, a zoom can be a 15deg lantern today and a 30deg lantern tomorrow without anything other than a quick refocus. So for us, they're perfect.

 

We used to use fixed beam profiles, just like the Yanks, but after, I think, the Patt. 264, Strand went to manufacturing zoom profiles, and we lost that type of unit.

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