It seems like every month there is a new LED lighting fixture that comes to market, and while I know that LED lamp technology is being constantly improved, not every fixture that is released does something new and earth shattering or even different than other products already on the market. So, when a fixture comes along that makes major improvements to an existing technology, I get excited.
So, what is worth getting excited about with the new Chroma-Q Color Force range of fixtures? Well, there are three things; its dimming, range of color, and coverage.
Technical Highlights
The Chroma-Q Color Force is a DMX-controlled LED fixture that is made to hang or sit on the floor. The range comes in three different models. The Color Force 72 and Color Force 48 are batten-length versions, and the new Color Force 12 is billed as a multi-purpose fixture. Six-foot, four-foot and one-foot versions respectively, each model varies only in length and the total number of LED's used.
Each Color Force unit is made from extruded aluminum, giving the units a nice solid frame and they are built with flat end plates, so they can be connected in such a way that they can seamlessly make one continuous fixture.
The electronics feature both power and data input at one end of the fixture and power and data output at the other end to facilitate daisy chaining the fixtures together in one large run. The electronics are also fan-cooled, but the fans are very quiet.
Each fixture can run on as few as three or up to 49 channels of DMX, depending on which of the eleven operating modes you choose.
Since power consumption is low, you can easily run twelve feet of fixture on one 20-Amp circuit. This means you could do a 50-foot-wide continuous cyc wash on four 20-Amp circuits. Compare that with sixteen 20-Amp circuits to do the same 50-foot wide continuous cyc wash with conventional 1000-Watt, four-cell cyc boxes.
Dimming
Upon use, the first thing I noticed was how beautiful the dimming of the Color Force was. Chroma-Q calls the Color Force dimming "Theatrical Grade" and I tend to agree with them. They have a dimming curve that approximates an incandescent fixture, all the way down to the filament delay when the console fader hits zero. There isn't any appreciable stepping at the bottom of the dimming curve and the fixture doesn't pop on or off when it dims up from, or down to zero.
Raving over the Color Force dimming may seem like a trivial thing, but readers should note that while most LED fixtures dim, most of them do not dim as well as the Color Force. Most pop on when dimming up from zero and you see stepping in the bottom 20 percent of the dimming curve, but this is not the case with the Color Force. Additionally the quality of the dimming has a direct effect on the quality of the color mixing of an LED fixture.
Range of Color
The Color Force has a tremendous range of color for an LED fixture. While most LED manufacturers will tell you that you can mix "millions" of colors with their fixture, the reality is that not every color you can mix is a useable color. Inexpensive LED's tend to only make a handful of good useable colors, midline LED's will make a dozen, while a more expensive LED fixture will easily mix many more.
With the Color Force I was able to mix over thirty useable colors and stopped because I didn't really need any more, but I could have made some more if I needed them.
The Color Force made a wonderful set of reds, blues, greens, magentas, and deep purples with great saturation. The addition of the amber LED's in the Color Force allows for great warm colors such as ambers, red ambers, and yellows, but also aids in the creation of beautiful pastels, making the Color Force great at providing rich saturated colors for worship events, while at the same time being able to provide an extensive pastel pallet for dramas or concerts
Coverage
Having used Color Force for several days in a live-show situation, as well as spending time with the fixture in a demo situation, I can say that I am truly impressed with the product. The Color Force Units provide excellent coverage in a show situation on a 20-foot high cyc. Chroma-Q rates them for a 26-foot throw and my review testing showed you could easily get that distance out of them and maybe a bit more.
For my show, I had the units all placed side by side with the stock lens creating a seamless cyc unit. Doing so creates a beautiful looking cyc with a lot of versatility but it also required more fixtures. If you wanted to use fewer fixtures, Chroma-Q makes an optional cyc-optic lens that allows you to space the fixtures out but slightly cuts down on the throw distance.
Traditionally spacing out cyc boxes in the theater is pretty common but that doesn't take into account the additional versatility of LED fixtures. One of the features I like about the using the Color Force in a seamless configuration is being able to fan the color from one side of the cyc to the other side and have the color change every six inches across the width of the cyc. This is something you just can't do with traditional cyc boxes.
But the Color Force isn't just for cyc washes. Chroma-Q offers an optional border lens for the Color Force, if you want to use it for general wash purposes such as downlight, backlight and lighting scenic pieces. They will soon launch a white LED version of all models in the Color Force range, specifically designed for broadcast and studio lighting applications needing higher output white lighting.
Buying Advice
This is one of those fixtures that if you are in the market for a great cyc fixture you should give it some serious consideration. With a list price of $4,910 for the Color Force 72, $3,910 for the Color Force 48, and $1,280 for the Color Force 12, they aren't cheap, but like most lighting gear you get what you pay for and in this instance you are paying for an excellent lighting fixture.
