PR Lighting is the market leader in entertainment lighting in China. They have been around since 1984, and their professionally designed, quality gear is among some of the best fixtures in the world. They have been working on their XLED series of fixtures suited for the entertainment market for a few years and recently released their top-of-the-line wash light — the XLED 4022RZ. While this is the 12th fixture to be included in this series, it offers more punch and effects than the other LED pancake style models previously released.
Sexy Looks, Pinpoint Timing
The physical footprint of the fixture is large, but not huge. It weighs about 50 pounds and can easily be lifted by one person and moved around by the side handles that do not stick out from the base. The fixture is physically sexy, with plenty of curves all around. The first thing I notice before even turning it on is that the face of the fixture holding the LEDs in place is going to do something special.
I turn this fixture on by plugging the PowerCON connector into a wall outlet, feeding it 110V. I see there is a power out option for daisy chaining multiple fixtures. This is fine since the overall wattage of this fixture will never exceed 900 watts. I plug in DMX via a typical XLR connector, but note the fixture can take in 3 or 5 pin connectors. They suggest the user utilize a terminator with the last fixture in line.
After a quick homing of the fixture, I address it to its full 103-channel extended mode. I notice that there are several operating modes to choose from, starting with a basic 14-channel one. Addressing the fixture was easy with no manual. I point it over at a wall, and the first thing I notice is that the unit moves quickly, as you would expect from a small yoke fixture, but this light is just under two feet tall and measures only 18.5 inches wide. It can pan 540° while tilting 240°. It executes some quick moves and can stop on a dime, so to speak. I place the fixture in a circle ballyhoo, which it executes well at a high speed. I snap it into a set position and it flies into place in half a second to park in the precise predefined position.
A Bright Beam
The fixture is utilizing 22 40W RGBW multichip 4-in-1 LEDs from Osram with the typical 50,000-hour lamp life. Holy cow, is this baby bright. For a competitive example, each of these cells is over double the wattage of a Claypaky B-Eye K20 cell. I walk 30 feet away with my meter to measure the light output in its smallest aperture. With this fixture zoomed down to 5°, I meter an incredible 875 footcandles with all four colors at full. I zoom the beam angle out to its maximum 38° (field angle of 60°) and measure 23 footcandles, which is plenty to light a cyclorama from up close.
I put some fast and slow time fades on the fixture and see a linear dimming curve. They offer the user four different modes, but I was happy with the default mode being smooth and kept it there. The dimmer curve can be set with a DMX channel as opposed to in the personality menu settings. This allows users to change the mode as needed for any type of scenario at any point in a show. Great feature. The strobe channel offers various rates of sync, random and either-way pulse effects at any speed your heart desires. They do not offer individual dimming control of each cell, however. The user must do that by turning the color to black in a cell. This saves DMX channels, but I would rather have this option available.
Color Me Blue
The fixture has a channel for color temperature settings. When at zero, the fixture will emit 10,000° Kelvin as its default color temperature in my library. With such a high setting, it will be hard to mix saturated colors, but great if you are trying to achieve the closest pure white hue. I notice that I cannot mix a great red color until I lower the color temperature down to 3200 or so. Then it is acceptable, though not as bright. Many users will opt to keep the brightness up and settle for a fire-orange color for their red looks. I do get a nice yellow out of the fixture with a minimal green halo surrounding the beam by adding some white color and messing around with the color temperature.
I am quite impressed when I check out the color blue. I am usually unsatisfied with the lack of saturated blue hues in all these pancake lights. But I’m pleased to announce that I was able to mix a beautiful sexy deep blue color to shine out of this fixture by playing with the colors. The beam actually had Indigo hues around the circumference of the beam that were noticeable when shined on a white surface.
I have complete control over the color in each cell while in extended mode, and notice that the fixture has numbered the cells 1-22 individually from the center LED, outward in separate rings. Why everyone doesn’t do this by default is beyond me, but thanks for getting this right for this programmer.
The fixture comes with 32 different color macro effects and auto sound activated effects. A separate channel adjusts the speed. I test this out with a series of hand claps and am pleasantly surprised.
The EFX
One of the first things I noticed with this fixture was that the face was separated from the head by a small space. This allows the face to retract or expand to change the size of the zoom. But besides the minimum zoom size, this fixture offers something quite spectacular. If you zoom it all the way to zero, it surpasses the regular homogenized beam output and presents the user with a 16-point star-looking output. It appears as if someone has put a gobo besides a typical breakup in a pancake light, and I like this feature. They have coined this look, “the Vortex Function.”
On top of this, the entire face spins continuously in either direction at any speed the user chooses. This creates a kaleidoscope effect that can make the light have a rotating gobo. Mix this effect in and out with the Vortex, add some color macros, and one can create all kinds of kaleidoscope and psychedelic looks.
At a Glance:
Medium Size, XL Output
This fixture is a nice addition to the XLED series from PR Lighting. It fills a niche for a medium-sized LED wash light that delivers large-scale beam intensity, with quality color and great eye candy effects.
PROS: Individual cell control, fast movement, bright output with individual cell control of color. Great kaleidoscope and vortex effects.
CONS: No individual dimming channels for each cell.
FEATURES
- 2500-10000K CTO
- 0-100% Linear Electronic Dimmer
- 1-25 FPS Strobe
- Rotating Front Lens (Bi-Directional, Continuous)
- Light Source Rated for 50,000 Hours of Use
- IP20 Rated
- SPECS:
- Light Source: 22 40W Osram RGBW LEDs
- Size: 22.9” x 18.5” (HxW)
- Weight: 49.5/52 lbs.
- Power: 900W max
- Motorized zoom: 5°-38°
- Pan/Tilt: 540°/240°
- MSRP: $3,249
- Manufacturer: PR Lighting
- More Info: www.pr-lighting.com, www.megasystemsinc.com
