Robe BMFL

Raising the Bar

To cut to the meat and potatoes of this light is to simply explain that Robe has re- written the standard for an animation wheel, and while doing so has left the competition far behind. If you are a designer who routinely likes to apply textures to scenery, accept no substitute, as this fixture has the tools to do stuff I never thought possible without an actual projector. Robe has utilized an enhanced version of the dual graphic wheel used in their MMX Spot to replace what is now the antique animation wheel other companies have designed. This module consists of two separate wheels that have tight spirals seemingly mirroring each other. The user has the ability to rotate either wheel at any speed in any direction. As if that’s not enough, there’s another channel that offsets these graphic wheels so they are not perfectly symmetrical in the center of the light beams’ path. They now resemble gobos that can wobble.

At first I thought, “Wow, this is a cool gobo effect.” That was until I started looking at the seemingly endless amount of designer macros that are easily accessed in the fixture. This means that Robe has saved you painstaking hours of programming by giving you instant textures that move these wheels in numerous directions at variable speeds and offsets. Besides the instant look macros located on this function, they have stacks more on the color and gobo wheels.

Two Gobo Wheels

There are two gobo wheels with the usual six slots that are all indexable, variable speed rotating or shaking. It was evident to me that one wheel is filled with gobos designed to lay nice textures on a scenery. The other is more designed with breakout patterns for aerial effects. They are new gobos, the majority of which I haven’t seen before — a pleasant change from manufacturers who seemingly recycle their gobos with every new fixture they design. There are no colored gobos; they are all glass-etched black and white. What this fixture does perfectly is morph between the two gobo wheels by changing the focus function. It is possible to have two gobos recognizable at once, such as a spinning wheel laid over some stationary dots on some set piece. But by moving the focus lens through DMX, one can fully eliminate the presence of either gobo. One gobo can also be used as a “mask” to prevent light from coming out of all the openings in another gobo. You may never see the other gobo, but it can act like a set of framing shutters would on another fixture. I am able to project a perfectly rectangular beam on the wall, with or without a gobo in it.

Focus and Zoom

The focus and zoom features really show how Robe has stepped up their game. There is an auto focus feature designed to keep a gobo image sharp as the zoom lens moves back and forth. It works well at certain angles, but I believe the software on this function is still being worked out. This fixture can zoom and iris so tight that the beam coming out of the light is less than six inches wide. From a 50-foot throw, that’s like a 2° beam. The zoom angle alone can reach a slender 5°. I can zoom to a full 55° in a quarter of a second. The iris itself can tighten the beam from full all the way to zero/blackout. There are built-in macros for pulsing iris chases as well as standard ones. Of course there is a variable frost filter for the user to soften textures or hard edges on the beam.

The prism wheel contains two separate six-facet glass prisms. One will turn the projected beam into a six-way circle, the other into a linear (straight) line of six holes.

The BMFL has a cool gobo made of symmetrically placed but  different-sized holes. When placed in a circular prism with the gobo rotating in one direction and the prism in another, we get perhaps the coolest star-field break up effect I have ever seen. And this is without the animation wheel on top.

Color Mixing

The BMFL has gone in another direction with its color system. There is a CMY with Variable CTO color mixing system one can use. This color mixing is a tad limited in that the color flags never reach full saturation. For instance, mixing a deep red is not possible. The magenta and yellow flags never reach full enough color to achieve this effect, but I’m guessing there is a reason for this. With all the various gobos and effects one can put in the way of the light beam, full saturation will hurt the amount of lumens emitted from the fixture. However, I am able to mix a beautiful deep Congo blue/UV color. Robe easily makes up for this by supplying two separate color wheels. One has the deep saturated red/green/magenta/blue/orange that one would require at shows. But by using the color wheel, I can get all the lumens I need for a sharp red gobo emission of light. The other color wheel comes stock with TV filters such as CTB and minus green as well as a couple of choice designer colors. One can easily park a color correction filter in this fixture for the whole show without sacrificing the other colors on the wheel, clever thinking. Of course color filters and gobos are easily replaceable with any desired choice.

40,000K Lumens

The BMFL has some serious horsepower behind it — 40,000 lumens, to be exact. The 6,000K, very-white beam comes courtesy of the newly designed Osram HTI 1500W/60/P28 Lok-it bulb. Robe has given the user three different wattage settings that this bulb can be used with. The level of fan noise from the fixture (not really loud at all) varies with what wattage you select the fixture to run in. It is quite easy for the eye to see the difference in lumen output as I change the output wattage on the head from 1,200 to 1,500 to its brightest level, at 1,700 watts. The lamps are easily replaceable, but one must take notice of the different lamp life hours in different modes. When running in 1,700W mode, the life expectancy is 500 hours as compared to 750 hours when run at a lower wattage. I do note that this bulb is not capable of a hot restrike. The mechanical dimming is smooth as silk and perfectly linear to my eye. One can notice any slight difference between 3 percent in intensity easily. Typical strobe functions exist.

Pan and Tilt

I doubt I have ever seen a fixture that can react to pan and tilt movement like this one. I am able to put the fixture in a tight circle effect and reach fast speeds without the effect getting confused one bit. It does large and small circular effects equally smooth with zero jittering. I put the light in a tilt can-can effect where it runs in a sin wave from 0° to 270° back and forth. Unlike most fixtures, it does not stop momentarily when it comes time for the light to switch directions. This baby executes the opposite motion as if it just stopped on a dime for a split second.

Physically, this light is very compact (32 inches high) for all the effects it contains and weighs in at a mere 78 pounds — no larger than its competitors’ similar models. It has two handles on the sides to lift, but unfortunately is missing any handles to lift the fixture by the yoke. It accepts DMX control via XLR connectors, Ethernet ports or wireless DMX. The self-sensing power can run on anything between 200 and 240 volts.

At a Glance

Robe BMFL

PROS: Unique projection system for texturing scenery and splitting aerial beams. Remarkable array of attributes and lighting effects. Superior movement and dimming. Variable wattage settings on Osram’s HTI 1500W/60/P28 Lok-it bulb.

CONS: Could use another handle for transport. No hot restrike capability with this bulb.

Price (MSRP): $17,999 in cardboard

$18,999 in dual top loading flight case

$19,399 in single top loading flight case

Manufacturer: Robe

More Info: www.robe.cz