Highlite Infinity Furion Beam, Spot, & Profile

I recently had the opportunity to run the Infinity Furion S401 Spot, Infinity Furion S601 Profile, and Infinity Furion B401 Beam on Carey Baptist Grammar’s latest production for which I was the lighting designer. I’ve worked for the school for over ten years as their L.D. and have lit shows ranging from high-end musicals to straight plays and solo performances.

Carey employs professionals across their shows and have high expectations of the equipment specified for their productions. This was my first time using Highlite’s Infinity range, which were provided for the production by Clearlight Shows.

My design utilised six S401s on the rear lighting bar, four S401s on the middle bar, and two S601s on the FOH bar. Midway through rehearsals, and due to COVID-19 restrictions, the show transferred venues and the director and I discussed lighting the show in a concert style rather than as a traditional proscenium arch musical.

I decided to add six B401 Beams that sat on 800mm high plinths upstage of the action, something I would never do in the traditional version.

Infinity Furion S401 Spots
I had the S401 Spots handling atmospheric and aerial effects, a lot of textures on the stage, and backlight textures. There are six glass and seven metal gobos in the S401s, and I utilised 70% of them through the show.

I used a lot of the rotating gobos; I like using a very slow rotation on a moving fixture, almost to the point where you don’t notice they’re moving. The S401s were flawless in their rotation, with no skipping, and the strength of the output was astonishing.

Even with the ‘star’ gobo in, which is basically a black gobo with hundreds of pin holes in it, the output was amazing.

The colours the S401s produce are fantastic, especially the red. A lot of designers complain about reds lacking punch in most moving head LED fixtures, but this is certainly not the case in the Furion range. Both the colour wheel red and CMY red were exceptionally bright.

Infinity Furion S601 Profiles
The two Furion S601 Profiles rigged on the FOH bar were mostly used for specials, as and where the director wanted them, often with a tight focus on an actor or set piece.

This is why the framing shutters were essential. I also used them with a soft focus over the whole stage. Their zoom range is ridiculous – the S601s were 16 metres from the front setting line and I could use two to cover a 12m x 12m stage completely.

The framing system was millimetre-accurate every time. When cues using the framing were recalled, there was never a discrepancy between the programming and the result. Even for a half-body head shot framed to an actor on a mark 26 metres away from the light source, the S601s hit the mark perfectly with fantastic output. They proved themselves and were both easy and beautiful to work with.

Consistency
Working with both fixtures in the rig, I’d say the S401s and S601s have similar output levels and colour rendering. The only difference perceptible between the two fixtures is in the colour temperature.

I actually liked using the S601s out the front, as I feel their colour temperature is slightly warmer than the S401s, but you’ve got to have a good eye to see it. Honestly, you can’t see the difference on stage, but can when focused on a white wall.

Animation Wheel
A unique feature to both fixtures is their animation wheel. If you drop it in over a gobo, rotating or fixed, you get a unique ‘rippling’ effect. The interesting thing about this effect is that adjusting the focus creates different dynamics in the visual breakup displayed onstage.

By pulling the focused edge one way, the rotation seems to travel forward, pull it the other way and it seems to travel away from you. At 10% and 15% you get totally different looks. I’ve never seen so many variations with an animation wheel on any other fixture before.

Infinity Furion B401 Beams
As we changed to a concert version, I used the Furion B401 Beams to give the show another dimension. They were employed to produce sharp beams as a visual backlight. They can produce beautiful colours, and the ability to split colours is pretty awesome. I found the split colour effect worked best with the 16 facet rotating prism and a sharp focus.

I particularly liked the combination of yellow and purple, which gave me a nice dissolve of the two colours. While you can replicate this effect on other fixtures with a colour wheel, you do get a black line, so I can’t say I’ve seen any other fixtures that can create this split effect natively.

They are a little bit noisy because they’re a discharge fixture that runs hotter, but the pan and tilt are very smooth, and the movement is very fast.

Noise
As far as movement or fan noise in the S401s and S601s, it’s just non-existent. You can’t hear them, and that’s with 12 movers in the air in a concert platform environment.

There was some perceptible travelling noise as they moved to new positions in black, but it was minimal and masked by applause. I programme a lot of travel times that range from 10 to 20 seconds, and all the fixtures achieved this smoothly with no jerking.

Handling and Set-Up
Setting up the S401s and S601s DMX addressing via their touch screen is very fast. It’s just two touches to get to the addressing. Instead of holding an up/down button and missing 301, you’re able to type in ‘301’ and hit ‘ENTER’, which is a nice feature that makes life easy.

In terms of handling and rigging, the S401s are a one-person rig and just lift straight out of the case, while the heavier but powerful S601s are a two person lift which slide out of the case. The B401s are simple and light; you just drop in the DMX address and away you go.

Conclusion
The overall quality of the Furion series is that of a high-end fixture. Their slow rotation is flawless, pan and tilt are smooth, colours are perfect, and their output astonishing.

Product Info: https://www.highlite.com

Distributor Australia: Clearlight Shows www.clearlight.com.au (03) 9553 1688.

Distributor New Zealand: Kenderdine Electrical kelpls.co.nz or (09) 302 4100

A lot of designers complain about reds lacking punch in most moving head LED fixtures, but this is certainly not the case in the Furion range. Both the colour wheel red and CMY red were exceptionally bright.

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Writer’s Bio: Guy Carrison has over 30 years of experience in the performing arts and entertainment industry. He has worked with renowned Lighting Designers on musicals over the years as a venue Head Electrician including The Lion King, Priscilla – Queen of the Desert and Wicked The Musical. He has designed a variety of shows for government and independent schools with an innovative style to bring their shows to a professional level. He also works for a number of local councils in Victoria.

THE SPECS

Infinity Furion S401 Spot

Light Source: 350W White LED

Colour temperature: 7500K

Beam Angle: 6° – 30°

Lux @ 5m 6°: 34442

Lux @ 5m 30°: 2205

Prism: 3-facet circular & 5 facet linear rotating prisms

Frost filter: Yes

Animation: Continuous bi-rotating flame wheel & Digital motion FX

Gobo wheel 1: Rotating, 6 Glass

Gobo wheel 2: Static, 7 Metal

Gobo functions: Gobo-flow effect, Gobo shake

Colour functions: Split colours, Rainbow-flow effect, CMY Macros


Infinity Furion S601 Profile

Light Source: 500W White LED

Colour temperature: 6500K

Beam Angle: 6.5° – 45°

Lux @ 5m 6.5°: 29712

Lux @ 5m 45°: 1124

Prism: 3-facet circular & 5 facet linear rotating prisms

Frost filter: Yes

Animation: Continuous Bi-rotating Flame Wheel & Digital motion

FX Framing System: 4 dual axis moving blades


Infinity Furion B401 Beam

Light Source: Osram Sirius HRI 230W (7R)

Colour temperature: 7600K

Beam angle: 4°

Output: 9500 Lumen

Prism 1: 5-facet linear

Prism 2: 16-facet rotating

Gobo wheel: 17 Metal gobos + Open

Gobo functions: Gobo-flow effect, Gobo shake

Colours: 14 dichroic filters + white

Colour functions: Bump colours, Split colours, Rainbow-flow effect

CX Magazine – August 2020   

LIGHTING  |  AUDIO  |  VIDEO  |  STAGING  |  INTEGRATION

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