A fresnel gives you a soft-edged cone of light that blends with the next lantern into one even wash, which is why it sits at the centre of almost every stage rig. The Selecon Rama 150 is the one we hold for that job: a 1000W or 1200W tungsten fresnel with a 150mm lens, focusing from a 7 degree spot to a 50 degree flood, with barn doors to keep the light where you want it. It hires at £5.50 per day, dry hire or with a technician.
A fresnel is the workhorse of a stage rig. It makes a soft-edged cone of light that you widen or narrow by sliding the lamp behind the lens, and because the edge is soft, two fresnels side by side merge into one even cover with no line between them. Profiles are for hard edges and gobos, moving heads are for colour and movement; fresnels do the plain, essential job of making performers visible, evenly, from one side of the stage to the other.
The Selecon Rama 150 is built for exactly that. Behind its 150mm lens sits a 1000W or 1200W tungsten halogen lamp, and the focus runs from a 7 degree spot to a 50 degree flood on a smooth slide, no tools involved. At the spot end it puts 4,600 lux on a performer 6 metres away. Opened to full flood at the same distance, the beam is about five and a half metres across, which covers most of a school stage from a single overhead bar.
The soft edge is shaped, when it needs shaping, by a rotatable barn door on the front: four hinged flaps that fold in to keep light off the proscenium, the masking or the front row. A frame ahead of the lens takes standard 186 by 190 millimetre colour gel. And the light itself is tungsten, which matters more than it sounds. It is warm, it flatters faces, and as you fade it down it grows warmer still, the way firelight does. A hall lit by dimming tungsten still looks like theatre.
Practicalities. To fade, the lantern plugs into a dimmer channel rather than a wall socket, and each one draws 1000 or 1200 watts. It weighs 5.3kg and hangs from a standard bar on a hook clamp, with the safety bond built into the fixture rather than supplied as a loose extra. The lamp access door disconnects mains power as it opens, and the focus knob and rear handle are heat-insulated, which is part of why schools have trusted this range for years. Like all tungsten lanterns it runs hot, so it rigs out of reach and clear of curtains.
Hire is by the day. Take lanterns on their own, or ask us to design, rig and focus the whole wash as part of a larger package.
What you get
The lantern, lamped and tested, with its colour frame and lens safety mesh
The safety bond, which on a Rama is built into the fixture rather than a separate item
A rotatable four-leaf barn door. An eight-leaf set exists for finer control, so ask if you need one
A hook clamp for a standard bar — tell us what you are rigging to and we will confirm the fitting
Colour gel is not included as standard: the frame takes 186 x 190mm gel, so give us the colour numbers when you book and we will cut them to size
Not included: dimming, a lighting desk, cabling, stands or bars. All can be added to the same hire
Plugs fitted to suit your venue — most theatre dimmers take 15 amp, so check your outlets and tell us
Good for
School productions where the acting area needs one even, warm cover rather than visible pools of light
Dance school showcases: overhead and side washes the dancers can cross without dipping in and out of light
Am-dram plays, as the general cover that lets your profiles concentrate on specials and gobos
Carol concerts, church services and choir performances, where warm tungsten light suits the building
Village hall stages with short throws, where the 50 degree flood covers the acting area from close range
Extending or matching an existing tungsten rig, since most halls with older lanterns already have fresnels much like this one
What you need to know
What it does
A soft-edged wash light: a cone of warm light you widen or tighten, blending with the next lantern so the stage reads as one even cover.
Beam
Focus slides from a 7 degree spot to a 50 degree flood, so the same lantern does a tight pool close in or a wide slice of stage.
Barn doors
Four hinged flaps on the front fold in to keep light off the proscenium, the masking or the front row.
Power
A 1000 or 1200 watt tungsten lamp. It dims from a standard dimmer channel and warms as it fades, the look older halls were built around.
Where it goes
5.3 kg, so it hangs on a standard bar with a hook clamp, and the safety bond is built into the lantern.
Check availability
See whether this is free for your dates. This is an indication from our current bookings, not a reservation.
Alternatives
ETC Source Four — the profile — a hard, shuttered edge and gobos where the fresnel gives a soft wash.
Peak 165,600 candela at 7 degree spot; 17,640 candela at 50 degree flood (T/29 1200W lamp at 230V)
Illuminance
4,600 lux at 6 m in spot focus; flood beam diameter 5.6 m at the same throw
Dimming
Tungsten lamp, dims on a standard dimmer channel; no electronics in the fixture
Weight
5.3 kg (6.2 kg packed)
Dimensions
290 wide x 370 deep x 405 high, with yoke
Colour frame size
186 mm x 190 mm
Barn doors
Rotatable four-leaf barndoor (20BDRA); an eight-leaf version (20BDRA8) is also made
Safety
Integrated safety bond rated for the fitting, maximum free length 670 mm; lens safety mesh; swing-down lamp access door disconnects mains power on opening
Construction
Aluminium extrusion and moulded engineering plastics, with heat-insulated focus knob and a rear grab-handle that stores the 1 m mains cable
Approvals
CE compliant
Common questions
When you are covering people rather than cutting shapes. The fresnel's soft edge means adjacent beams merge into one even wash, and focusing one takes moments: slide to the beam size you want, fold in the barn doors, done. A profile gives a hard edge that can be shuttered and can carry a gobo, which is exactly what you want for a special and exactly what you do not want for a general cover, because hard edges show as lines on the stage. Most rigs use both: fresnels for the wash, profiles for the edges.
To fade it, yes. This is a tungsten lantern, so it takes its level from the power you feed it. Plugged into a dimmer channel it fades smoothly from the desk; plugged into a wall socket it is simply on at full. Each lamp draws 1000 or 1200 watts, so a standard dimmer channel runs one or two. If your hall has no dimming we can supply a dimmer pack and a small desk with the lanterns, and we will fit whichever plugs your outlets take.
In full flood one Rama covers a circle about five and a half metres across from 6 metres away, and washes are built from overlapping pools, so allow roughly one lantern for every 2.5 to 3 metres of stage width, per colour. A small school stage usually wants three or four for a single warm cover, and the same again if you add a second colour. Send us the stage width and the throw distance and we will work it out properly.
It needs respect rather than fear. The body and barn doors get hot in use, so the lantern rigs out of reach, clear of curtains and drapes, and cools before it comes down. The design helps: the focus knob and handle are heat-insulated, the lens has a safety mesh, the safety bond is built in, and opening the lamp door cuts the mains automatically. Rigged sensibly on a bar, this is the same lantern schools and theatres have used safely for decades.
