Does versatility inevitably entail compromise? Our conventional (pun intended) platitudes claim that it does: One can be a jack-of-all-trades, but in so doing will be a master of none.
Against this backdrop, we have the promise of so-called hybrid fixtures: a promise of versatility — of being more than just a hard-edged spot, or a Fresnel wash. We realize that this versatility is not absolute, for not every fixture can be all things to all users.
All things being somewhat equal in terms of a given physical footprint, a middle ground must be found that gets us to a place of usability. But every compromise has a rationale, and represents a decision made to advance the usefulness of these hybrid fixtures in some other area.
Small Size, Big Feature List
Today, we’re looking at one of the latest hybrid fixtures on the market — the Vizi CMY300 from ADJ Lighting. Ostensibly a fixture aimed at large clubs and stage productions, the Vizi CMY300 has a feature set that would not be out of place on much larger fixtures.
The fixture’s source is a sealed 300-watt white LED source, situated in the rear of the fixture in place of a lamp housing. The manufacturer does not plan for end users to replace this LED engine themselves, but this is unlikely to be a concern for most users.
As with most LED-based lights, a significant portion of the rear of the fixture is taken up with active and passive cooling for the LED source. This cooling performed well, and after allowing the unit to run at full power for 30 minutes, I measured an output derating of 7 percent, with 8,530 lux measured from five meters with the fixture at 50 percent zoom, down from 9,170 lux at power on.
The dimming is completely electronic — no mechanical dimmer necessary. The dimming curve followed a deep square law curve, and was smooth throughout the range, even to the last few clicks before blackout.
An option in the fixture’s menu system also allows the user to set internal fade times for the LED engine to approximate the thermal lag of an incandescent source. Expected strobe functions are here, with synchronous, random, and strobe pulses available for selection.
Pan and tilt range is 540 and 270 degrees, respectively. Pan and tilt were smooth even in slow moves, thanks to the 16-bit movement, though I did notice a bit of bounce on both axes after quick movements, particularly on the tilt. Full-range pan movements took 3.5 seconds, and tilt took 1.9 seconds.
The fixture has two modules that unlock with two large and easy-to-turn captive thumbscrews, a bit of thought technicians servicing the light will appreciate. The first of these after the LED module is the color-mixing module, with three wheels. These are of a half-circle design — the glass makes up only half of the “wheel,” with the other side being only partially taken up by a piece of steel that I suspect is there to act as a counterweight for the other half of the wheel.
The decision to use only half of the total space available for the color mixing wheels is an interesting one: It favors speed of the mix system over mid-air smoothness and results in a slightly compressed range. The mixed reds were the weakest colors and were a bit on the amber side, a decision likely made to get increased output in that range. (Reds are tricky with LED sources; there just isn’t much red to work with in the spectrum of blue-pumped phosphor-converted white LEDs.)
The second module is a fixed color wheel and gobo module. There are nine fixed color positions plus open here, including a color correction filter that knocks the color temperature down to 3,140 Kelvin. The fixed colors helped to fill in some of the gaps in the color mixing system; the deep red filter in particular is welcome here to help fill in the red part of the spectrum. Gaps between adjacent colors are small, and this system produces very usable half-colors that looked especially good with the prisms. Color filters are glued into place on their wheel and are not user-replaceable.
This module also houses both the fixed and rotating wheels. There are two gobo wheels, a rotating wheel with seven patterns plus open, and a fixed gobo wheel with nine patterns plus open. Rotating gobos ride in the familiar carriage system and snap in and out for easy user replacement. All rotating gobos are black and white glass. Included patterns are a good middle ground between good-looking aerial gobos and ones good for scenic projection; I think most would be acceptable in either usage scenario. Fixed gobos are stamped out of a metal wheel and are therefore not user-replaceable. Changes between adjacent gobos on both wheels are reasonably fast, and gobo rotation was smooth down to the slowest speeds. This module also houses the iris, which has several macros on the channel for fast programming.
Next in line are the moving lens groups for focus and zoom, and the frost and prisms. There are two prisms, a three-facet circular and a six-facet linear prism. The linear prism and frost effect are in the same plane perpendicular to the LED source, and thus cannot both be used at the same time, but both prisms can be layered on top of each other, if desired.
Both prisms provide good image separation and some interesting effects. There is some physical overlap between the ranges of the prisms and frost and moving lens groups, and the fixture will move the lenses out of the way to prioritize the prisms and frost if necessary. The zoom range is from 8 to 46 degrees and covers its range in about .9 seconds. The zoom on the Vizi CMY300 exhibits a slightly flattened bottom range — very little movement happens until the zoom channel reaches about 20 percent.
Joining these prisms is also the frost, which is variable. This frost filter is a “hard” frost; instead, it makes the projected image more “hazy” until it becomes a full wash effect at full insertion, and does not leave edges of gobos intact.
The Vizi CMY300 stands 51cm (20 inches) tall, with a base 37cm (14.5 inches) by 32.5cm (12.8 inches), and weighs 23kg (50 lbs.). Power input is via Seetronic Powerkon ins and pass-throughs, and the fixture auto-ranges its voltage input between 100-240V, and draws 398W at full tilt. Data input is via three or five-pin XLR ins and pass-throughs, or via built in WiFLY EXR wireless DMX1.
A cold start to final output look took 39 seconds, and the fixture begins outputting before it reaches in final pan and tilt position, something to be aware of when resetting during a show. The front panel has a menu system and buttons for setting fixture options and defaults, and a USB port for future software upgrades.
At a Glance
Solid Output, Compact Size
The ADJ Lighting Vizi CMY300 brings a big feature set into a light aimed at the large club and productions market. With the low wattage and high output advantages of LED, it’s perfectly suited for applications needing a solid output in a compact form factor.
PROS: Lightweight, excellent output for its wattage. Wireless DMX function
CONS: Slight bounce on the pan and tilt in fast moves.
ADJ Vizi CMY300
FEATURES
Static Gobo Wheel
Rotating Gobo Wheel
Variable Frost
CMY Mixing
Color Wheel
Iris Mechanism w/ Macro Effects
STATS
Light Source: 300W LED
Luminance: 8,530 lux at 5m
Zoom Range: 8-46°
Size: 14.5 x 12.8 x 20”
Weight: 50 lbs.
MSRP: $2,999.99
Manufacturer: ADJ
More Info: www.adj.com
