Moving lights have come a long way since the beginning of remotely panning and tilting a fixture. They began life with limitations in functionality and, more importantly, the lamp source. Towards the end of the 20th century and into the beginning of the 21st, more and more options became available in terms of lamp choices for various fixtures. When the Light Emitting Diode (LED) came into mainstream for the lighting industry, it was just a wait-and-see game for when they would be incorporated into a moving light.
The first introduction of the LED in a moving light came as a wash fixture. In order to achieve the output of a metal halide lamp that we became accustomed to, multiple LEDs would have to be used within the fixture and, thus, multiple light sources in a fixture. The inherent downfall was multiple shadows produced on stage. Okay for a wash fixture, but not so much for a profile fixture. The LED technology needed to “grow up” a bit before we could have a unified beam that would produce a single shade and still have close to the output we require.
German Light Products accepted the challenge and introduced the Impression Spot One. GLP may not be the first to introduce a profile moving light with an LED light source, but they sure are turning heads in the industry. Inside is a 400W RGB LED chipset rather than an all-white LED source. The price, features, size and overall performance may not seem that game-changing when considered individually. When added all together, however, the Spot One is definitely setting the new standard for LED profile moving heads.
Hardware
The physical size of the Spot One is fairly small. They are just 25 inches from the base of the unit to the lens, and each fixture weighs in at just under 50 lbs. One significantly different aspect to the fixture’s physical appearance is the base. Since the fixture uses LEDs as the lamp source, there is no need for a square-shaped base to hold massive power supplies and ballast. Instead, the round base holds the DMX In & Out in both 5- and 3-pin connectors, an etherCON connection for Art-Net, a powerCON connector for power, main power switch, fuse holder and ring for a safety cable. That is it.
Since the fixture comes in such a small package, less space is needed in a flight case, and a smaller case also means less room on a truck. More room on the truck, more equipment or, perhaps, maybe even one less truck on the road. The savings the fixture is offering is not limited to the fixture alone.
The menu system has been moved to the yoke of the fixture. If you are a fan of the iPod classic, as I am, you will love the controls for the menu system. Moving through the menu system is just like working an iPod Classic. Don’t let the center button fool you, at the time of this review, its function is still to be determined. Above the scroll wheel are two buttons — to confirm and cancel. The LCD panel is clear and easy to read and understand. Working through the menu system is easy — that is, if you are able to reach the panel. I can already see a tech hanging on for dear life trying to access the menu system, since the panel is on the side of the yoke. Something to think about when hanging and positioning the fixture in less-than-accessible places. Whether the fixture is hung or floor-mounted, the LCD menu system automatically inverts for easier reading.
Inside
GLP has managed to pack as many features as they can in such a small package. Starting off with the light source, there is a 400W RGB LED chipset inside offering almost any color under the rainbow. Since the Spot One offers color mixing at the LED source, gone are the color wheel and CMY mixing flags. Filling their spot is the rotating and indexable effects wheel. The wavy lines disc, which can create as many simulated effects as the designer can imagine, comes standard. Other effect wheels are offered separately. And the list of additional features is competitive with that offered by any number of today’s larger moving light fixtures — motorized zoom from 9°-32°, motorized focus, two fully indexable and rotating gobo wheels with seven gobos slots per each wheel, high-speed iris, 3-facet prism, electrical dimming and high-speed shutter.
Output
The output of the Spot One was impressive. At times, I had to keep reminding myself that this was an LED fixture. Its similarity to the output and field kept throwing me off and making me think it was a 700W metal halide fixture. The beam is clean and even through the entire field.
The Spot One was able to produce some amazing pastel and saturated colors that would have been troublesome for comparable moving lights to produce. Even so, the pastels seemed to have less intensity due to additive mixing. Snapping and scrolling through specific colors was a breeze — again, thanks to color mixing at the source and not by means of color flags or wheels.
The optics on the Spot One are just as impressive as everything mentioned so far. I was able to take any of the 14 gobos and the effect wheel in to a sharp focus to where I was able to see the rough edge of the gobo being projected. Don’t get me started on morphing between the two gobo wheels and the effect wheel. I’ll keep it short. Soft focusing the fixture at one end then sending the focus to the other end, I was able to have a diffuse beam, then sharp on the effect wheel, then into gobo wheel one, on to gobo wheel two and, finally, to another diffuse-looking beam. Too many hours were spent playing with gobo selection and running the focus to watch some neat morphs happen.
GLP Impression Spot One
Pros: 20,000 lamp hours, user replaceable LED engine
Cons: Yoke side menu system
Price: $10,995
