Leading up to Christmas, Newcastle’s Fordtronic AV was rushed off its feet with so many events requiring its expertise. Fortunately, they had new lighting weapons in the form of 18 x ShowPRO Neptune 300 Wash IP65 and 24 x ShowPRO Apollo, making a total of 48 of these amazing battery-powered lights.
Fordtronic AV’s Managing Director Jonathon Ford purchased the ShowPRO Neptune 300 Wash fixtures primarily because of their IP rating and low weight.
“Their weight was probably the biggest factor as some of the venues we go into have a very low load rating on their bars,” explained Jonathon. “The idea behind getting a lighter fixture was to be able to get more of them on the lighting bar rather than buying bigger heavier fixtures.”
The Neptune 300 Wash IP65 has 7x40W RGBL emitters with a pixel ring for eye-candy effects. Jonathan is very impressed by the pixel ring, which he describes as awesome and an effect he tries to use at every event.
“The brightness of the fixture is very good compared to other moving wash fixtures,” he added. “Most of the photos show events at the University of Newcastle where we use ten Neptune 300 for stage wash and the rest to shine onto the mirrorball. The Neptunes lit up the mirrorball mirrors and actually reflected the shape of the pixel in the light. It gave fantastic texture and patterns in the room.”
After a few years of great success uplighting rooms around Newcastle with his 24 x ShowPRO Apollo units, Jonathon decided to double his inventory primarily for use as table centrepieces.
“We put a Perspex globe over the top of it or shroud it, so it turns into a table centrepiece,” he said. “We’re finding more and more uses for our Apollos rather than just putting them on the ground pointing upwards.”
The Apollo’s battery life is an absolute game changer for Fordtronic AV, which is busily retiring its other 40 battery fixtures from another brand because they just can’t compete.
“The Apollo’s battery life is amazing, the wireless DMX is always reliable and just the brightness output is much better than some other products out there,” added Jonathon. “The service from Show Technology is always fantastic.”
The other photographs show Fordtronic AV’s Apollo units in a more traditional uplighting role at Ravella, a venue within a church.
