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Post edited 00:50 – Saturday, 2010-01-23 by admin

Hi,

It had been my intention to write a long post in reply to this telling you everything you'd need to do. I was going to finish it off by posting a link to City Theatrical who make a conversion kit you can buy that has everything you need.

However, when I went to their website to find the link to the product page I discovered they have made a couple of videos that cover the subject in much more detail than I could have given you. My adivse is to watch these and if budget allows purchase a kit.

Then there is this video as well which covers many of the same things but is worth watching anyway as it describes the process of removing the shutters if you aren't too familiar with the Source Four.

Once you've seen these check out their website and see if you can afford to buy a kit:

http://www.citytheatrical.com/….._spot_yoke

If not, then you'll have to improvise with what ever you have. You can use a boom base or tripod stand to mount the Source Four on, but make sure it suitably weighted so it won't topple over. Use a spigot to mount the lantern and don't overtighten it, however it's improtant that it's not so loose it will fall out! Always use a safety chain!

If you don't have handles then you'll need some gloves, the instrument will get very hot during operation. If you don't have a dimmer then you can use a gel frame with some black wrap in it. Drop that in the holder to use as a dowser. It's far from easy doing it like that though!

Good luck, let me know how you get on.

That depends on what you're using it for really, I've certainly known followspots to be controlled from the desk before. When I was on a tour a few years ago I actually operated a followspot when the dimmer was controlled by the lx op. To be honest, I hated not being in control of the douser myself.

If you think about it, how does the lx op know to bring up the spot? If you don't have your pick up in the sights you'll end up with a horrible mess as the spot swings across the stage to find the target. The only practical way is for the followspot op to give a cue to the lx op to make the spot live. But that can get confussing on cans, plus there's a delay between the spot op requesting the spot on and the lx op making it live. I also hate having more than one person giving cues on cans, the DSM sould be the only person doing that except in exceptional circumstances.

If you have no option but to do it this way then I would advise you to run the spots from a submaster rather than programming them into lighting cues. If you have them programmed at fixed points then you have no flexibility. If for example someone is late on stage, the cue will put the followspot on, but the op will have nobody to point it at!

I would urge you to either rig a dimmer to the spot, or create a homemade douser. Using a gel frame, some black wrap and a bit of initiative you should be able make something suitable up.

Well the dimmer switch would depend on the lamp you're using, you don't want to be using a domesic 250w dimmer on a HPL575 for example! But as long as it's rated to the correct level you'll be fine. Here's one example that would be okay, it's a bit pricey but ideal. You could probably find something cheaper though:

http://www.terralec.co.uk/dimm…..013_p.html

As for the degree, that sort of depends on the throw distance really! With a larger degree you'll get a much bigger beam so if you are close you'll want something like a 26 degree.

There's no point using a 26/36 degree with a long throw though, you might think you can just use the iris to make the spot smaller and this is true. But you'll be wasting a load of light output and your brightness will suffer as a result.

How far will the followspots be from the stage? That's the distance from the lens, not just a straight line along the floor, becuase height increases the throw!

At that distance you should be okay with a 26 degree. I think you'll find a 10 degree too narrow, if you have them I'd probably try a 19 degree though.