If you have been to any big rock and roll show using followspots, there is a better than average chance they were manufactured by Lycian Stage Lighting, a leader in the followspot industry for the last forty years. Recently I had the pleasure of trying out Lycian Stage Lighting’s newest creation, the Midget II Quartz followspot, and found that for a small incandescent lamped followspot it has some nice features.
One of the first things I noticed as I pulled the unit out of the box is how light weight this spot is. Although it is a bit awkward because of its size, I was able to set the followspot up myself.
Setup consists of putting together a two-piece stand, and then placing the followspot on the stand and securing it with a bolt. Required tools for setup consisted of a standard crescent type adjustable wrench to tighten the bolt.
Lamping the Midget II Quartz was safe, quick, and easy via the lamp door on the back of the unit. Once the lamp door is open, two thumbscrews are loosened and the lamp housing slides out the back. All that’s necessary is to insert the lamp, reinstall the lamp housing, tighten the thumbscrews and close the lamp door. It took me about three minutes to install the 750Watt Phillips lamp and no tools are required.
The Midget II lets you pick your choice of lamps, either a 575-watt FLK or a 750-watt Phillips 6981P lamp. My demo followspot had the 750-watt Phillips lamp supplied with it, and although it was bright compared with other spots in its class, I couldn’t imagine dropping down to the 575-watt lamp. I guess if you had a very short throw distance and the 750-watt lamp was too bright, the 575-watt lamp would be an option to pursue.
For advanced users there are three Allen head screws used to adjust the field of the lamp. I am glad this feature is included in the fixture, as maximum light output of the spot depends on the lamp being properly aligned in the reflector. I wish Lycian would have used a Phillips head screw instead of the Allen heads. I can always find a Phillips screwdriver but I don’t always have my Allen wrenches. Fortunately, my spot came from the factory with the lamp perfectly aligned.
Once I got the Midget II quartz lamped up and turned on I immediately discovered the best feature of this followspot: its beam characteristics. In addition to being bright, this followspot has one of the flattest fields I have ever seen. If you wanted to peak the field up a bit, you can by using the lamp adjustment screws.
One thing that I need to mention is that Lycian rates the Midget II Quartz for around an 80 foot to 100 foot maximum throw distance. I probably wouldn’t want to use it for a longer throw than that but it all depends on your application. As with all followspots your results will be highly dependent on the combination of your throw distance, amount of ambient light in the room, and the saturation of the colors you are using in the followspot.
In my tests I was using it at a distance of 65 feet in a room with a lot of ambient light and was very pleased at the brightness in both open white and with colors.
Another nice feature of this followspot is the mechanical dimmer. The Midget II quartz is designed to have the lamp on all the time the followspot is in use. Since the lamp is always on, a mechanical dimmer is used to dim the lamp from full off to full on. The dimming, which is lever operated from the top of the fixture, is extremely smooth and easy to use. Another benefit of the mechanical dimmer is that there is no shift in color temperature as the fixture is dimmed.
Focus for the fixture is achieved with a moveable lens, which is adjusted by a slide on the top of the followspot. Although it did a great job focusing, providing a hard, soft, or any edge in between, I didn’t like the slide’s placement. I felt if you weren’t careful while using the color boomerang to change color, you could knock the spot out of focus since the boomerang handles are adjacent to the focus slide.
I also didn’t like having the glass focus lens on the color boomerang assembly because it meant that when I pull the assembly to change the gels, I am pulling out the primary glass lens as well. I see this as increasing the risk of breaking the lens, as I know how many times I have dropped color boomerangs while changing out the gels. On the other hand, a benefit you do get from this is an easy way to clean the lens.
The Midget II features a six-color boomerang which accepts any standard colored gel media. All of the boomerang handles are color coded and are easy to use. They are operated from the top of the fixture. Also on top of the fixture is a gobo slot in case you want to use it to project patterns. Located on the rear of the followspot is an iris control which allows you to adjust the size of the beam. Like the dimmer, the iris is a mechanical assembly with a nice, smooth action. It kept an even, round beam through the full travel of the assembly.
One of Lycian’s innovations on the Midget II Quartz is the addition of a new cam-operated braking system for the pan and tilt. This assures smooth movement and easy adjustments of height, pan clutch pressure and tilt clutch pressure all without tools. Because Lycian has eliminated all of the knobs and screws, there are no parts to lose.
Overall, the Lycian Midget II Quartz would be a good choice for churches that are looking for a followspot that performs well in shorter throw situations, and is easy to set up and operate. If this fits your needs then you should give Lycian’s Midget II Quartz a serious look. While not as powerful and full-featured as higher-end Lycian products, the manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $985, and using lamps that cost less than $30, make this an affordable new entry from a well-known professional-quality brand name.
Greg Persinger is a lighting consultant based in Nashville, TN. He is also a clinician for the T3 Technical Training Tour and can be contacted at greg@vividillumination.com.
