GLP Volkslicht Spot. Photo by GLP.
GLP has been known as an industry leader in moving head LED fixtures and with the release of their Volkslicht Spot they don't disappoint.
Complementing the larger Impression Spot and Wash One line, the GLP (German Lighting Products) Volkslicht Spot brings a smaller and more economical LED-powered hard edge fixture to the market that can replace a 575-watt arc-lamped, moving-head spot fixture.
What's most notable about this fixture is that it's powered by a 300-watt RGB LED color mixing engine, making it every bit as bright as a 575-watt arc-lamped fixture, especially in color, but with lower energy consumption. Also because of its LED source it has a beautiful flat field with the brightness of the beam from edge to edge being even.
The LED engine is rated for 20,000 hours, which is the equivalent life of 10 standard arc lamps or about 12 years of use, running the fixture an average of 30 hours a week. The LED unit is fan-cooled, which produces some noise, but it's actually less then many similar output arc-lamped fixtures. Additionally, the LED engine is made to be easily replaced if the need arises.
The color mixing is excellent and offers you the ability to get a nice range of colors from the fixture, including reds and ambers that you normally don’t get with an arc-lamped fixture.
Greg Persinger
Reviewer.
The color mixing is excellent and offers you the ability to get a nice range of colors from the fixture, including reds and ambers that you normally don't get with an arc-lamped fixture. However, as with most LED color mixing fixtures, you don't get the deep UV colors from this unit, but it does mix some rich dark blues.
While the unit is a full color mixing fixture with all of the color being generated by the LED engine, the designers at GLP added a “color wheel” function that gives you 15 basic preset colors, similar to a color wheel in a typical arc-lamped fixture, and the ability to “spin” those colors to mimic a physical spinning color wheel like that in an arc-lamped fixture. In addition, there is a color correction feature that allows you to tune the base color temperature of the fixture from 2,500 degrees K to 10,000 degrees K, allowing you to match the LED source of the Volkslicht Spot to any other lamp source you may have in your lighting rig.
More noteworthy specs
Because of the LED light source in the Volkslicht Spot, the dimming is electronic, as is the shutter function. The dimming is smooth through the full range of the fixture regardless of being in open white or color, and the shutter is fast—much faster than a mechanical shutter system.
The Volkslicht Spot has two gobo wheels, one fixed and one rotating. The fixed wheel has nine gobos while the rotating wheel has seven gobos. The gobo load has a nice selection of patterns, as well. You can also have custom gobos made and add them to the fixture if you so desire. The unit also has a three-way rotating prism, an iris, and a motorized focus.
Weighing in at 33 pounds and measuring 11.25 inches long, 12.5 inches wide, and 21.2 inches tall, the Volkslicht Spot is lightweight, compact, and easy enough for one person to hang. The unit features Neutrik PowerCon in and outs for power, and since it only consumes 330 watts of power you can easily chain six units on a 20-amp, 120-volt circuit. Data connections are via the three-pin and five-pin XLR in and outs while setup is via an LCD-backlit display on the unit's base.
During my week of demo'ing the unit I found the Volkslicht Spot to be a great looking, full-featured LED spot fixture—definitely worth taking the time to look at if you are in the market for a low-maintenance, feature-rich moving light.
