Rick Fisher applauds ETC’s Source Four LED CYC™

Multi-award-winning lighting designer Rick Fisher has singled out ETC's new Source Four LED CYC adapters for special praise while working on a production of Howard Brenton's Drawing the Line at the Hampstead Theatre in London. "We are using them to light through the ceiling of the beautiful set and I'm sure we have only scratched the surface of what they can do. I was really impressed," Fisher says.

He used six Source Four LED Lustr+™ luminaires alongside conventional Source Four® units, and was amazed at how well their color and intensity blended. "There were times when I almost could not tell the difference as to which was on, the conventional or LED," explains Fisher. "They are not the same, but they are pretty close and for the first time, I almost could see not missing tungsten so much."

The CYC adapter makes a lighting inventory even more flexible. Any Source Four LED™ can be transformed into a powerful tool to light cycloramas when its lens barrel is removed and a Source Four LED CYC adapter is added. Typically, a cyc light can only be used for one purpose, so when a design doesn't include a backdrop, the fixture goes unused. In contrast, if there is no cyclorama to light, the CYC adapter can be removed and the Source Four LED luminaire can be applied to other lighting tasks.

Fisher's design for Drawing the Line also uses two ETC Selador Desire D40 Ice™ luminaires and three Selador Desire D40 Fire™ units to bring extraordinary intensity to the performance. Ice adds a range of color from the cool end of the spectrum, and Fire brings a warm wash of amber, orange and red. "Ironically perhaps, after all the work ETC has done blending the beams, my set is great at separating out the colors, so we get an amazing dappled effect," he says.

"I am glad to have two of the LED engines in Hampstead as well, with regular lenses that I rigged as head-high face lighting for the actors, but my real favorites are the CYC units. They really do the job better than a traditional flood, even in the unusual way I was using them," summarizes Fisher.

Photo © Marcus Tozini