Elation Prepares to Announce “Revolutionary” Moving Light

The product announcements just keep rolling in, LDI must be right around the corner. Elation Lighting is preparing to announce a “revolutionary” spot/wash moving light this year at the LDI Show. Elation is calling it the Platinum Spot 5R. What you cannot tell from the picture is that the Platinum is the size of a 250w fixture. Here’s the kicker, Elation says that the fixture is comparable to a 575w fixture! Not only that, but the fixture uses 25% less energy and weighs 50% less then a comparable 250w fixture and still measures 2/3 the size.

Not only is the fixture smaller, lighter and brighter, Elation says that the fixture moves much faster on pan and tilt as well as color and gobos changes. So how did they do that? All Elation would mention is that the Platinum Spot 5R utilizes a brand new and advanced light source technology.

Since we cannot find any additional information on the fixture, we’ll just have to visit the Elation Lighting booth, #703 at the LDI Show later this week. The Platinum Spot 5R is just one of 20 new products Elation will be introducing at LDI. To learn more about Elation’s products, visit their website at www.elationlighting.com.

Martin LDI Special

Just in time for LDI, Martin Professional is offering two Brighter Bargin deals on not only fixtures, but also control devices. Lighting and Sound America (LSA) just sent out an email blast with the image below.

Looks like if you buy 4 of any Smart MAC, MAC 250 Entour, Mac 250 Krypton, MAC 250 Wash, MAC 301 Wash, MAC 401 Dual or the MAC 575 Krypton, you get a FREE Martin LightJockey or Maxxyz PC Universal USB/DMX interface, a value of $1600 USD!

The other Brighter Bargain is if you buy any 6 of the previously mentioned fixtures, you get a FREE Maxxyz PC, (MaxModule Submaster), a $3700 value!

How do you take advantage of this Brighter Bargain?  Contact your local Martin Sales Rep or Authorized US Martin Dealer. Offer ends 12/23/2009 and is only valid for US customers.

Thanks LSA!

Barco Announces Cyberlight Version 2.0

Barco/High End Systems just announced the release of the new Cyberlight version 2.0.

The Cyberlight 2.0 is a full-featured automated luminaire with a 2000 watt short arc lamp, producing over 30,000 lumens of output from a new electronic ballast. As the newest version of High End Systems’ classic Cyberlight, the Cyberlight 2.0 offers increased output, updated software capabilities and stunningly fast mirror movements. In terms of control, the fixture includes new RDM and DMX protocol and addressing, 5-pin DMX connectors, and an intuitive LED menu for DMX addressing. In addition to cosmetic changes, the Cyberlight 2.0 also offers a high degree of creativity, with tools such as electronic strobing, TriColor effects and dramatic new Lithopatterns.

The new Cyberlight 2.0 retains the popular feature set of the original Cyberlight including remotely variable focus and zoom, motorized iris, variable frost and smooth dimming. The color system consists of CMY color mixing and an eight position fixed color wheel while many images are available via the eight position Litho wheel and four position rotating Litho wheel. In addition, the unique eight position effects wheel provides amazing imagery, prisms, lens options, and more.

For more information on the Cyberlight version 2.0, visit High Ends Sytems website at www.highend.com.

PLASA09: Martin Professional New Lighting Solutions

We just received a press release from Martin Professionals regarding some of the things they plan on announcing and showing off at the PLASA Show next week at Earls Court.  More from the official Press Release:

Martin Professional heads to PLASA 2009 at Earl’s Court in London (September 13-16) armed with a new and rapidly expanding range of LED lighting solutions. On display at stand 1-F44 will be Martin’s first LED moving heads, new LED video solutions, and new LED luminaires for indoor and outdoor use.  A new compact beam fixture in the MAC family will also feature. Also on display will be a host of lighting and video control solutions, as well as updates in the Jem and Magnum line of fog and haze machines.

MAC 401 Dual™: The MAC 401 Dual is a creatively fresh and versatile LED moving head washlight with an innovative double-sided design that gives it flexible dual functionality, for example as a double washlight or beam reflective mirror. The 401 Dual’s innovative color mixing system fully blends colors at the source before they leave each lens, eliminating the problem of rainbow shadows and the messy multi-color lens looks of traditional LED fixtures. The 401 Dual’s advanced wash characteristics combine with a host of other useful features like fast zoom, new broad beam look and individual LED segment control to add a new and inventive element to a host of applications.

MAC 301 Wash™: The MAC 301 Wash is an LED moving head washlight that features a powerfully fast zoom with an impressive zoom range. It is capable of producing a wide range of exceptional colors from rich saturated shades to uniform pastels through the entire zoom range. The fixture’s 108 high-power LEDs produce a bright and well-defined beam and its compact, lightweight design makes it ideal for rental applications, television use, night-time venues and more. Appropriately quiet for noise sensitive environments, it offers all the reliability, energy and cost benefits of a highly efficient LED luminaire.

LC Plus™ Series: The LC Plus is a modular system of semi-transparent LED video panels with new generation technology that closely integrates light, video and set design for all new possibilities in indoor and outdoor staging. Designed for the demanding rental and staging market, yet equally suitable for fixed installations such as retail environments and outdoor architecture, the LC Plus is an easy-to-use, all-in-one video solution. It offers several key advantages over other types of LED panels including an innovative P3 technology platform for no-hassle processing and signal distribution, low weight, superior color and brightness uniformity, and true IP65 protection.

P3-100 System Controller: The LC Plus is driven by Martin’s innovative P3-100 System Controller, an ultra robust unit for advanced video signal processing and integration with lighting control. It includes built in scaling and de-interlacing, supports multiple video protocols and resolutions, and allows for direct DMX control of brightness, color, pixelmapping and more. It also includes a built-in graphical user interface and other innovative features.

FlexDOT™: FlexDOT is a lightweight yet bright string of LED pixels that allows designers to break free from the flat, rectangular format of conventional LED displays and create customized video solutions with maximum artistic flexibility and a minimum of effort. Easy to handle and simple to use, FlexDOT is made up of individually controllable, intelligent, full color pixels mounted on a flexible cable to provide unlimited options for enhancing interior and exterior spaces.

Martin MEL™: Martin MEL are the first fixtures in a new Martin line of IP65 rated outdoor LED luminaries. These attractively designed striplights are the first architectural fixtures from Martin to use tricolor LEDs for superior color mixing directly at the lens resulting in an absence of color shadows and a broader range of color choices. The MEL range also incorporates a new custom-designed lens system for very narrow beam angles that have been difficult to achieve with tricolor LED fixtures in the past. The MEL range installs in minutes.

Martin MSL™: Martin MSL is a simple yet highly capable plug-and-play LED striplight designed to enhance interior spaces in a wide variety of applications. Built for ultimate ease-of-use with full spectrum RGB color mixing, a choice of diffuser lenses and an exceptionally easy means of installation, Martin MSL is ideal for color enhancement in clubs, bars and restaurants or anywhere a low maintenance, decorative color effect is required.

MAC 250 Beam™: This new member of the industry’s most popular 250 watt series is an extremely punchy and compact beam fixture that generates variably sized pencil beams as well as wash effects via a motorized frost filter. It is available as an easy and inexpensive upgrade that installs in only 5 minutes on any existing MAC 250 Wash™ fixture.

Maxxyz™ Modules: Based on the modular design of the Maxxyz Compact™ lighting console, a new range of stand alone modules has been developed for the Maxxyz system that allows users to design their own console. These new modules allow for customization around the user and the specific control demands of a show. Five innovative modules are available to build a custom console or to be used with Maxxyz PC™, Maxxyz™ or Maxxyz Compact™ and all of them can be used table-top, mounted in a 19” rack system or in the new Maxxyz Module Frame.

Maxedia 4™: This new version of Martin’s Maxedia media server is optimized to play H.264 MOV encoded video files using a state-of-the-art H.264 video decoder. This latest broadcast hardware is capable of playing eight 1080p Full-HD video files, encoded in H.264. The Maxedia 4 engine is capable of playing pixel-accurate Full HD resolution.

ColorFox VX01™: Martin’s ColorFox VX01 is the first lighting controller specifically designed for architectural use with dynamic color changing fixtures. This incredibly simple control solution allows users to customize and personalize a variety of architectural lighting settings. It allows for easy playback of static and dynamic scenes and provides a simple-to-use interface for users to alter the hue, saturation and intensity of their surroundings.

Jem ZR44 Hi-Mass™: The Jem ZR33 Hi-Mass™ has undergone a thorough makeover that preserves its reputation as a reliable and highly efficient fogger. The new Jem ZR44 Hi-Mass features improvements in overall performance and fluid type, as well as advances in digital functionality such as RDM compatibility.

Magnum Wireless: The newly introduced Magnum range of fog and haze machines is now even more accessible thanks to new wireless control capability.

Be sure to stop by the Martin Professional booth to see all of these great products in action.  For more information before hand, visit Martin’s website at www.martin.com.

PLASA09: RSC LightLock

Looking ahead towards the PLASA Show next week at Earls Court in London England, We have a preview of what the Royal Shakespeare Company has been working on, the RSC LightLock.

Imagine this, you need to hang a moving light in a place where there is no pipe or truss hung.  In comes the RSC LightLock, a free floating rig to suspend a moving light from that counter acts the pan of said moving light. Until now, it has been next to impossible to hang a moving light from a lightweight automated bar or truss and not have the entire rig swing or swag due to movement of the moving light.

Each RSC LightLock unit is equipped with on board sensors to constantly monitor the units movement as well as servos to counteract and generate sufficient inertia to eliminate un-wanted movement.

The Royal Shakespeare Company is better known for it’s interpretations of works by William Shakespeare, The head of lighting at RSC, Vince Herbert found a need for such a device and developed the LightLock for use in the recently renovation of the RSC’s lighting system.

More information about the RSC’s LightLock is still a little hard to come by.  We are expecting more information to be released at the PLASA Show next week at Earls Court.  Check out the video of the RSC LightLock in action in a YouTube video hosted by Patrick Stweart.

UPDATE: Rob from onstagelighting.co.uk informed us that the RSC LightLock was actually introduced LAST year at PLASA. From the RSC’s press release, they are planning on re-introducing it at PLASA again this year. So everyone forget what you heard about it last year as this year’s introduction will be much better!  But as Rob points out, “it is a solution looking for a problem“.

Webinar: Choosing Consoles and Moving Lights: The Latest Trends in the Marketplace

We received a message from Kevin Loretto of Creative Stage Lighting about their latest webinar coming up on May 28th, Choosing Consoles and Moving Lights: the Latest Trends in the Marketplace.  The webinar will be moderated by Kevin Loretto and Michael Nevitt, both with Creative Stage Lighting.

Topics Include:

• What does your production require?
• Planning for future growth
• Networking your venue or production
• Green or not green? (LEDs vs. Conventional lighting)

Be sure to sign up for the webinar hosted through GoToMeeting.com.  It takes place on May 28, 2009 from 3:30pm – 4:30pm EST.

About the Presenter:

Michael Nevitt is a veteran of the lighting industry and serves as Product Manager at Creative Stage Lighting.

Nevitt’s design and automated lighting programming experience includes work he’s done for feature films such as The Grinch, Batman & Robin, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, and Miss Congeniality. In addition, he has worked on top sporting events like the Salt Lake Olympics, Super Bowl Half-time show and the Ryder Cup Opening Ceremonies.

Nevitt also brings Product Management experience from Martin where he worked on the development of Martin’s Maxxyz Console and Maxedia Media Server.

Rumor CONFIRMED: Vari-Lite VLX LED Moving Light

While visiting the Vari-Lite booth here at SETC, we noticed an interesting banner in the booth.  Vari-lite has a blown up ad of their new VLX LED moving light that we hinted about a month ago.  Out contact says that this ad will be running in the March issue of Live Design.

What is interesting is the verbiage on the bottom.  It mentions that,

the VLX is equipped with 630 watts of LED’s yielding 3 times the lumen efficiency of equivalent tungsten sources.  It’s revolutionary modular design provides for easy swap out  of optical and mechanical components.  VLX has a removable zoom system giving users the freedom to configure the luminarie with a fixed focal length of 22 degrees or a variable 3:1 zoom.  The VLX produces perfect color mixing without any distracting color shadows.  The luminarie has an extensive color gambit that offers designers color choices not previously possible with other conventional subtractive or additive systems.  The color temperature is variable and can be seamlessly adjusted between 3200k and 6000k.  Color shifts and strobing are stunningly quick.

We were not able to find our when the VLX may start shipping, but it was hinted at sometime this summer. We were not able to find out much more then what the poster said, but well keep after it for more information.

Review: Elktralite LXE700 Spot and Wash Unit

Around the time of LDI this past year, Elektralite announced the release of their newest line of moving lights, the LXE700 Spot and Wash unit. Elektralite has started shipping units with in the US through their distributor, Group One Limited. Elektralite has been kind enough to drop off one of each unit for iSquint to do a review.

Features

Both the Spot and Wash unit use an HSR 700/70 lamp that is running 7000 kelvin and has a lamp hour rating of 1000. Both fixtures are able to operate in either 8 or 16 bit mode which is selected via the on board menu system. But fixtures have 0 – 100% dimming through the use of a shutter that is independent of the strobing effect. This makes it possible to dim the fixture while still strobing, not a feature found in a lot of fixtures.

Both the Spot and Profile fixture feature full CMY color mixing as well as a rotating bi-directional color wheel with 7 colors plus open white. The color wheel is able to produce split colors to create interesting color effects. The colors for the color wheel were chosen by a group of leading Lighting Designers in order to give those who use the fixture some of the common colors required in a moving light.

The fixtures an on board menu system found on many moving lights. From the menu system you can address the fixture, check lamp hours used on the fixture, how many hours the fixture has been on, reset the fixture and home the fixture as well as many more common features.

The Spot fixture has a step zoom from 24, 28 and 35 degrees. The spot fixture utilizes lens that are made from a solid piece of glass rather then the traditional layed lens that are glued together. Using these types of lens, the spot fixture does not lose the typical 15% or more light lose due to glued together lens but only loses 5-7%.

While both fixtures sport a frost wheel. What is interesting to note is that the wash unit is able to produce a “PAR Can” light beam with is Beam Shaper . The zoom optics on the wash fixture is also something to note as they use Fresnel lens with a glass reflector and are able to produce a field angle from 7 degree to 28 degrees

One of the Elektralite engineers mentioned that the the profile of the unit is set up to where the course pan and tilt are at the beginning of the profile while the fine pan and tilt are located near the end of the profile. This could cause a few headaches when controlled by an ETC lighting console as they like to see course and fine pan and tilt next to each other. Elektralite is able to send a custom profile for units purchased that will be controlled by ETC consoles.

Both the Wash and Profile units are well priced in the market at $4,499.00 and $5,499.00 respectively. With the features packed into both fixtures they are well suited to attack the 700 line up of movers in the current market. Visit www.myelektralite.com for more information on the LXE700 series of fixtures and to locate a dealer near you.

Rumor Mill Update: Vari-Lite LED Fixture

Just a few weeks ago, we reported a rumor that Vari-lite is in the process of developing an LED moving head. Many of the top lighting designers and dealers were able to view the fixture in a private room at LDI this past year in Las Vegas, at half power (because of limitations of the off the shelf power supplies) and reports were that they were all blown away. Today we have learned more details of the mysterious LED fixture called VLX. The VLX is rumored to be about the same body shape and size of the current VL500 fixture with close to the same weight, 43 lbs. (19.5kg). The VLX is heard to be as bright if not brighter then the VL2500 wash unit with an output of about 13,000 lumens. The fixture does not look like an LED fixture or perform like one, it works and looks, even from the front, like a standard fixture except the colors really pop and are completely homogenized when mixed.   

While we were not able to determine what type of LEDs the VLX uses, it does use RGB (Red, Blue, Green) plus White LED’s. An amber LED may be added in at a later time, but as many people in the industry know, amber LEDs are not quite as bright yet. What is truly amazing about these LEDs is that they are developed exclusively for Vari-Lite and does not use Color Kinetics or Philips brand LEDs. The VLX will also utilize a 3:1 zoom lens (LED zoom?) without the use of any sort of frost diffusion.  

While information is scarce about the VLX right now, we can guesstimate that the fixture will be a little more than the price of a VL2500 Wash. Considering the cost of a moving light that still uses Metal Halide lamps and the VLX uses LED’s, the fixture housing may die long before the LEDs do. We haven’t heard anything about a release date, but chances are something will hit the market before the 2nd quarter of 2009. We also hear that the plan is to release an entire range of fixtures using this technology with par cans, cyc lights and exterior wash fixtures supposedly in the works.

To learn more about the entire line up of moving lights from Vari-Lite, visit their website at www.vari-lite.com.

Please note, the image in this post is a Photochop and NOT the actual image of the VLX.

Vari-Lite Approves Philips Lamp for VL3500

Vari-Lite recently approved the use of the Philips MSR Gold 1510 SA/DE 1500 watt lamp in the VL3500 fixture. There are two versions of the Philips MSR Gold 1510, the SA/DE and the SA/2/DE. Both lamps run 1500 watts each with an average lamp life 750 hours. The difference is that the SA/DE runs a color temperature of 6000k while the SA/2/DE run 7500k. There is also a slight lumen output difference between the two at 140000 for the SA/DE and 126000 for the SA/2/DE.

To learn more about the Philips MSR Gold series of lamps, download the event lighting catalog.

To see which Philips lamp correctly fits your specific Vari-Lite fixture, be sure to download the technical noticed produced by both Philips and Vari-Lite.

High End Discontinues Studio Beam & Cyberlight

The good folks over at controlbooth.com have a report out that High End Systems/Barco have discontinues the Studio Beam and Cyberlight series Luminaires. Both of these fixtures have been used and loved by the entertainment lighting industry for over 10 years. There have been rumors that High End/Barco are moving away from producing traditional moving head/mirror fixtures and heading in the direction of digital projection like such fixtures as the DL3 digital projection moving head.

With the end of these two fixtures, it further proves that rumor that High End/Barco is in the move to just produce digital media servers and moving heads.  This is a true shame as many industry professionals loved these fixtures for specific reasons.

The complete run down as controlbooth.com reports:

At Barco/High End Systems, we are committed to developing new visual technologies that will excite audiences in new ways and boost attendance at entertainment venues.

As we continue to launch innovative new products, the time has come to discontinue some old favorites:

Cyberlight Series
Studio Beam

We will only take orders for these products through Jan. 31, with full distribution by March. We will continue to warranty and support these products indefinitely.

We have launched several new products this past fall and continue the parallel development in all four product categories: Digital, Automated Luminaires, Control and LED. At LDI 2008 we introduced the DML-1200 Digital Light (shipping now), the DMX Processor 8000, SHOWGUN 2.5 (shipping now) and SHOWBEAM 2.5 (shipping in spring).

Barco/High End Systems Announces Release of ShowGun 2.5

Barco and High End Sysetms announced the release of the ShowGun 2.5.  The new version of the ShowGun offers 130,00 lumens of light, wich is 30 percent more photonic output than its predecessor.  The ShowGun is a very large and powerful automated light that can project images, change and mix dichroic colors, and switch from hard edge to soft edge all within a compact unit.

SHOWGUN’s main output uses a 2500 watt short arc metal halide lamp designed as a joint venture between Philips and High End Systems. The MSR 2500/2 lamp uses a novel fast fit socket design that allows for a more compact reflector combination. Combining the high-performance lamp, advanced reflector and revolutionary optical design.

SHOWGUN’s LED Tracking System utilizes homogenously mixed RGB LED circular array that allows the user to either match the color of the main output beam, or to project a complementary color by mixing RGB values. The LED Tracking System alone produces more than 5000 lumens of output, and works in tandem with SHOWGUN’s other features.

Features

• Proprietary Short Arc Lamp and optics produce 130,000 lumens of iight
• Variable soft-edge
• fully rotating, indexable lithos
• Variable iris
• Variable strobe, Electronic strobe
• Light Burst lamp boosting
• Zoom range from 9°-18°
• Remote focus
• Full optical dimming and fade to black
• Innovative LED Tracking Ring produces over 5000 lumens of RGB color. Homogenously mixed RGB LED circular array eliminates the multiple colored RGB look when white or mixed colors are produced.
• Smooth CMY color mixing provides and infinite palette of color
• Four indexing Litho/Gobo rotators
• Black Light projection filter
• TriColor effect supports independent color flag control
• Tracking and Independent modes selectable via DMX
• Optical encoders automatically correct the head’s position if manually moved

Operation

• 420° pan and 216° tilt movement
• Fixture Output: 130,000 Lumens
• Auto-switching power supply
• Large dot matrix display allows for 2 lines of text
• 200v-240v
• 30 DMX channels
• DMX Connector: 5-pin XLR
• Compliances: ETL, CE

To learn more about the Barco/HighEnd ShowGun 2.5, visit their website at www.highend.com.  To locate a dealer near you, contact your Reginal Sales rep by clicking here.