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    Tech Talk: Right Fixture in Your Design

    Written by David on . Posted in Uncategorized.

    Mike Graham looking pensive in front of MVP panels.

    Written by Mike Graham, product manager for CHAUVET Professional

    So here we are, LEDs are everywhere: RGB, RGBW, RGBWA, tri-colored, quad-colored, color temperature control. And what do we do with it all? Is there a standard for all of these colors and lensing combinations across the industry? Absolutely!….not. So, how is a designer or specifier supposed to know what to use with this vast sea of gear that is out there? Is there a shining beacon of hope, and if there is indeed, how many LEDs are in it and what wattage are they? A common question that I get is, “How do I get the incandescent crowd to understand and use LED fixtures?” That, my friends, is a really hard question to answer. I usually start with another question: “What is their design goal?” The suggestions below come after years of experience, so read them carefully:

    COLORado 1-Quad Tour is a compact, solid wash light equipped with 7 10-watt RGBW quad-colored LEDs.

    1. Tricks for front lighting. If I am looking to do front light, then I need to be able to blend colors easily.  For this, I am going to use tri-colored LEDs from a shorter throw distance. COLORado 1-Tri Tour is a great light for the first electric. The 25-degree beam angle lends itself nicely to about a 20-foot throw—distance from the light source to the object being lit—and will create a perfectly homogenized color blend. For a longer throw, I would look towards the COLORado 1-Quad Tour. Featuring RGBW LEDs, and an 11-degree beam angle, it is good for the house electric and can easily have a throw distance of 35 to 40 feet.

    COLORado 2 Zoom Tour impresses with its brightness, wide range zoom and flexibility.

    2. Know how to maintain flexibility. If I need something that is more flexible, I am going to switch up to the COLORado Zoom fixtures. COLORado Zoom Tour is great for distances of about 30 feet or less. Having the ability to adjust the beam angle by DMX, it allows the designer to use this as a utility fixture. Because of the zooming feature, the pool of light is really even, so it can be used as anything—from a side light, to front light, to downlight. With the zooming feature, you can even use it as an effect light from behind, to fake an iris effect. If you are shooting from a longer distance, then grab the COLORado 2 Zoom Tour. Same DMX layouts and field characteristics as the COLORado Zoom Tour, but a lot more output.

    COLORado Batten 72 Tour linear wash fixture includes 72 1-watt LEDs with RGBWA color mixing.

    3. Cyc lighting is easy! If you are trying to light a cyc or your have to replace border lights, then take a look at the COLORado Batten 72 Tour and COLORado Batten 144 Tour linear wash lights. COLORado Batten 72 Tour makes a great downlight, as well as a foot light. Having the standard 30-degree beam and RGBWA LEDs, it can mix to any hue or saturation that a designer may wish to create. If you need to have a combined power of 15- and 30-degree lensing, the COLORado Batten 144 Tour will fit the bill. This guy came from a customer suggestion to double the power of the COLORado Batten 72 Tour, thus able to do higher cycs of 40 or more feet evenly. In this case, mission accomplished.

    COLORado Zoom CW Tour has 37 3-watt cool and warm white LEDs for powerful output.

    4. Ideas for studio lighting. For the studio crowd, we have just unleashed the latest COLORado fixtures. COLORado Zoom CW Tour and COLORado Zoom WW Tour are just what the director of photography needs. These lights are designed with the limitations of binning in mind, giving off the perfect blend of color temperatures for both daylight and tungsten applications. Depending on what your environment is, we have you covered. Because of the zooming functionality, both of these fixtures are hands-down winners for the studio scene. Combining the zoom and the ability to get a higher output of either warm or cool color temperatures offers the most flexibility possible to lower the amount of fixtures needed to light a set. Perfect for indoor or outdoor applications, these lights are well worth taking a look at.

    So, next time a designer asks you why they should take a look at LED lighting, you have a solid answer: “I can show you any color you like! Oh, and what beam angle where you looking for?”

    California trip: Set of The Bachelor

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    Our own John Dunn, business development manager for the west coast, had the opportunity to perform some product demos of our COLORado 1-Quad Tour and COLORdash Batten Tri wash lights on the set of The Bachelor. Check out the shots below. Stay tuned for future posts as Dunn will return to set for an HD camera test.

    The blue light is the COLORado 1-Quad Tour shooting across the set, with COLORdash Batten Tri fixtures in the rig.

    COLORdash Batten Tri downlight the stage in purple.

    COLORado Batten 144 Tour on JimonLightTV

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    We are thrilled to be in the premiere episode of JimonLightTV. Already an industry favorite, Jim Huthinson’s JimonLight blog has recently branched out into webisodes. These online sojourns will allow the blogger to spend some quality time with subjects like the in-depth review of the CHAUVET Professional COLORado Batten 144 Tour. Below is the teaser for the first episode. Enjoy!

    MotionDrape LED Dresses Daddy Yankee

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    Reggaeton recording artist Daddy Yankee wore an eye-catching jacket made of MotionDrape LED backdrop drape (from our CHAUVET DJ line) during the opening musical performance for the Latin music awards show “Premio Lo Nuestro” held at the AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami. Lighting Designer David Ayala created and programmed the captivating jacket. Daddy Yankee wore the MotionDrape LED controller on his lower back in a pocket made out of the material of the jacket. On the top part of his back another pocket was made to house one D-Fi 2.4GHz receiver, while the transmitter was controlled by Ayala from one of the sides of the stage.

    COLORdash Batten-Tri Colors Paris Trade Show

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    Spreading the prettiest deep pink, 22 COLORdash Batten Tri linear wash lights were the stars in Paris, France, at the popular SIEL trade show – the Professional Trade Show of Staging and Event Solutions. Rental company Stars installed the fixtures in the center of the trade show, where they also lit an awards ceremony and amazed visitor with their intense pink color. A diffuser was placed on each batten to produce homogeneous shades of color.





     

     

    CHAUVET Lights TV Show in Panama

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    CHAUVET made it all the way to Panama to the set of the TV show “Mi Papa Es Mejor Que Tu Papa” [“My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad”], which airs every Sunday on the popular TV station TVN Panamá. Specified by lighting designer Humberto Barrera, four LEDrain 64C narrow beam wash lights warm the upper truss. Barrera placed two COLORado 3p IP lights inside each of five small plastic wooden houses built for the set, while about 60 of the same powerful COLORado 3p IP fixtures light the set from behind in vertical rows. Barrera, who is sales manager for Distribuidora Musical (also called Compañia Alfaro) in Panama, sold the equipment to rental company Meeting and Show, which rented it to TVN Panama.





    CHAUVET visits SLS

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    Sound & Lighting Solutions (SLS) moved to a new Fort Lauderdale location with more space and a showroom dedicated to CHAUVET fixtures. The highly anticipated open house, which turned out to be a mobile DJ and club installers dream, gave attendees the chance to get hands-on with the latest CHAUVET lighting gear and atmospheric products. During the event, Jay Krause, owner of SLS Solutions, walked attendees around the showroom and gave live demos.

    Beams from Mega Trix flooded the main showroom as gobos from Q-Spot 560-LED spanned the walls and ceiling. SlimPAR PRO RGBA wash lights and the 100% TRUE wireless Freedom series saturated the room with blue and red hues. Krause gave a live demo of the powerful Nimbus dry-ice machine in the CHAUVET showroom as Intimidator  scanners and movers, Rotosphere LED, Cubix, Orb, Scorpion lasers, and numerous other fixtures created a light show.

    “This is our eighth year in business and we needed a more spacious showroom for all our architectural and DJ products, Krause said. “CHAUVET offers the best products and has the most versatile product line — there is a full spectrum DJ and Pro products at my disposal for any type of application and installation.”

    In the back of the building, a crowd of lighting enthusiasts gathered outside for a wash light demo. The lineup included PiXPar 12, PiXPar 24, COLORado 1 IP, Legend 412 VW, Q-Wash 560Z-LED, WELL, SlimPAR Pro Tri, SlimPAR Pro RGBA and COLORado Batten 144 Tour.  One open house attendee, Sean Paul Powell, found the performance of Q-Wash 560Z-LED particularly impressive.

    “The Q-Wash 560Z-LED is a very impressive light,” Powell said. “I can wash a stage or open the beam and double its size. I’m buying two!”

    LD Profile: Paul Efron

    Written by David on . Posted in Uncategorized.

    Six questions with Paul Efron. Owner and lighting designer of Seeing Eye Lighting Design.

    1. How did you get into this field?
    My dancer girlfriend asked me to run a spot for a show she was in. No seriously, I started acting in community theatre back in high school while living overseas, and then took an interest in technical theatre.
    I started working as an IA stagehand while attending college, and then went to work for FM Productions in San Francisco as a production electrician. Then I worked under several lighting designers doing corporate theatre in between working as an scenic automation motion control technician on several major rock & roll tours during the 80’s and mid 90’s. I founded Seeing Eye Lighting design in 1992.

    2. What do you think is the next big thing in the lighting industry?
    Quality and powerful LED spill-controllable lighting fixtures capable of delivering video broadcast acceptable color temperature (or LED spotlights with shutters). Real warm tungsten-like household LED bulbs that will revolutionize household lighting worldwide.

    3. Do you have a favorite fixture?
    Several. CHAUVET SlimPAR 38, of course. The full line of Chroma-Q Color Force LED fixtures. Martin Mac 101- 301, and now Aura, LED moving head family. Vari-Lite 3500 spot. Martin’s MAC 2000 wash XB series. [Edit: Perhaps CHAUVET COLORado 1-Tri Tour has made this list after Dreamforce event.]

    4. What has been your favorite design/project?
    Most recently, Apple Retails Sales meeting at the Chicago Theatre.

    5. What was the biggest unforeseen obstacle that you’ve faced in one of your designs, and how did you overcome it?
    Time, space, content and talent changes. Many of the clients I work with depend on keeping their launches and new products under wraps, which often includes not disclosing what their product is, or will look like or how it will be revealed until I get on-site. Many of these events also include surprise celebrity guest appearances that we are often not told about until right before the event. Added to these unforeseen challenges, come the others like limited trim heights and sets that tend to try to exceed them. These are some of my biggest challenges.

    One of Efron’s hand -picked crews.

    My most useful tool to help with this and compressed load in time—aside from hand picking the best crews available—is to use pre-visualization services like those provided by Prelite. Prelite provides systems that can be used on-site prior to or during load in that can model both scenic and lighting rigs into a virtual environment that the LD and programmers can then use to focus, isolate airspace challenges and preprogram much of the show before the actual rig is ever fired up.

    6. Complete this thought: A show without light is like…Is like a planet without water.