The lighting market of yesterday had clear delineation between “professional” and “everyone else.” In this time, not too long ago, the technology and knowledge needed to produce high-quality moving lights was sensitive enough that dedicated company techs worked on them in restricted tents away from prying eyes. Today’s market has democratized greatly, with lots of companies making quality gear and offering a wider array of choices to consumers looking for reasonably priced workhorse fixtures. Today, we’re looking at one of these—the ADJ Hydro Profile, a powerful LED-based hard-edged fixture with a framing shutter system.
Bright and Cool
The Hydro Profile has, as its source, the now somewhat typical fly-eye array of white LEDs placed in the rear of the unit, with a slight concave shape and some lenses above that to help gather the light and send it through the optical train. The cool white LED engine is rated at 660W, and I measured an initial output of 10,700 lux from five meters at 50% zoom. After allowing the fixture to come to thermal equilibrium for 20 minutes, this figure had dropped only slightly, to 10,170 lux, a ~5% drop. This is a great figure; ADJ has clearly engineered the cooling system to be highly effective, which is doubly important for an IP65 unit that is sealed against water and dirt intrusion. I left the fixture set on the default square law dimming curve, which was slightly deepened but smooth. Some dimming interpolation in fades also seems to be present. A feature I particularly liked was the ability to change PWM and dimmer curves through DMX. Standard strobe functions are present, all electronic of course. As an IP65 rated fixture, the Hydro Profile includes environmental seals to prevent water from causing failures, although this protection is not absolute. The standard says that water that does make it in “shall have no harmful effects”, and so in practice IP65 fixtures are not waterproof, but they can withstand a certain amount of water sprayed at them from any direction from a low-pressure nozzle.
Color Mixing, Variable CTO
First in line after the LED array is the color module, which houses the color mixing flags, and the variable CTO. Color mixing is accomplished via pairs of opposing flags with an etched pattern that open and close like a pair of curtains across the beam. Color mixing was smooth and even, with no visible aberrations, as well as being quite fast. As with all subtractive color mixing systems on hard-edged fixtures, there are better and worse positions for the moving focus elements to be in when trying to make color mixes even, something to be aware of in your programming. Variable CTO smoothly adjusted the color temperature down from a cool 6,640K to a warmer 2,970K. There is also a fixed color wheel within the fixture. This has seven filters plus open, including what ADJ calls a ‘High CRI’ filter that acts like a slight minus green, smoothing the LED spectrum for applications where some additional finessing of the spectrum is called for. Adjacent filters are quite close, which could make for some nice split colors. The fixed color wheel does not smoothly index at this time, but ADJ says that this feature is scheduled to be released in a future software update.
Gobos and Effects
The fixture comes with two gobo wheels, one wheel with seven rotating and indexable patterns plus open, and one fixed wheel with eight patterns plus open. The rotating wheel has what to my eye seem to be gobos optimized for aerial projection, while the fixed wheel showcases patterns that lean more toward breakups and texture patterns. Both wheels have a variable shake function, and all gobos ride in a carriage system for easy replacement. Center-to-edge focus exhibited some variability, likely as a result of the necessary concave shape of the LED array. Pulling focus between two gobos produced a nice gobo morph effect, though as with all lights using this sort of array, out-of-focus gobos can produce an image of the individual array dies on walls or scenery if the focus moves far enough. There’s a mechanical iris here as well, for reducing the beam circle further than the zoom. For fire, water, or other organic-like effects, there’s an indexing and rotating animation wheel, which provides some lovely effects.
Closest to the output is the framing shutter module, which uses four blades on four separate planes for framing and controlling the shape of the output. Because the blades are on four separate planes, it is impossible to get a sharp focus on all four at the same time, but this is something to be aware of with all framing systems of this type. Blades move quite fast, and are able to cover much of, though not the entirety of, the projected field of light. The entire module also rotates ±60°, which is slightly more range than standard, a nice touch, and takes ~0.9 seconds to make a complete move.
Before output are a pair of prisms, a six-facet linear, and a four-facet circular prism. These are mounted on the same armature and therefore cannot be overlaid, but both provide interesting image effects, and can be indexed and rotated in either direction. The Hydro Profile also comes with two frosts, one ADJ calls a medium, and another listed as heavy. The medium frost is quite light, and does not visibly blur the edges of gobos, instead acting as a contrast reducer and adding a slight “glow” around bright areas. The heavy frost is for wash effects. Zoom is a respectable 6° to 45° and covers its range in ~1.2 seconds. Pan and tilt ranges are 540° and 270°, respectively, and both pan and tilt were smooth and extremely quiet. Full-distance moves take ~3.9 seconds for pan, and ~2.6 seconds for tilt.
The ADJ Hydro Profile stands 28.3” tall, with a base 17” wide (with included handles) and 12.5” deep. As is common for IP65 fixtures, it’s heavy, coming in at 84.9 lbs. Power input is via a Neutrik powerCON TRUE1-style, and the fixture accepts data through 5-pin XLR ins and pass-throughs. A boot from a cold start takes 1:35 and is somewhat well-behaved in that the fixture has most effects in place before coming back on, but starts outputting before pan and tilt have come to their values. Hefty pan and tilt locks are present on the head for transport, and I like that the tilt lock, located on the yoke arm, is recessed to prevent snags on cables and clothing. The fixture has integrated handles for ease of hefting it around, and a battery-powered menu system for setting options while the unit is powered off.
At a Glance
Rain and Shine
The ADJ Hydro Profile enters a busy sector of the market but comes out strong with a solid feature set for events of all types, indoors or out, in any sort of weather conditions. A strong contender in the IP65 field, it’s ideal for theme parks, outdoor stages, and events in inclement conditions.
ADJ: Hydro Profile
PROS: Excellent output, fast color mixing, good selection of gobos
CONS: Reset could be better-behaved
SPECS
- Rating: IP65
- Source: 660W LED Engine
- Zoom Range: 6°~ 45°
- Color: CMY + Color Wheel, Variable CTO
- Gobos: Seven Rotating, Eight Static Gobos
- Shutters: Framing, +/-60° Rotation
- Other Effects: Two Frost Filters, Iris, Animation Wheel, Two Prisms
- Pan/Tilt: 540° / 270°
- Control: Wired DMX + RDM
- Weight: 84.9 lbs.
- MSRP: $7,999.99
Manufacturer: ADJ
More Info: www.adj.com