Intellegent lighting performance; minimac vs mac 250

onetooloud · Post by **onetooloud** » Thursday Mar 11, 2004

Has anyone either used or been around either martin mini macs or mac250s.

I'm wandering about the speed of the mac 250 vs the minimac. Can the mac 250 cover a 180 degree sweep as fast as a minimac.

Can a moving head fixture cover the same 180 sweep as fast as a moving mirror fixture?

Post by **Ron** » Friday Mar 12, 2004

I don't have any experience with either, but I would think that pure physics says no. The mirror is lighter, and doesn't really have to move; it just changes its angle on a pivot. There's no way that the moving head could be faster. A good analogy is that the mirrors are like moving your eyes around, and the moving head is like looking straight ahead and moving your head. Try it and see! hehe.

If the control system on the mirror was crap, and the controller on the moving head was great, there might be a contest for speed, but I doubt it.

Like I said at the beginning, though, I have no experience with either system, I'm just making an educated guess. How fast do you have to sweep anyway? I would think that either system would be sufficient as far as sweep speed is concerned.

onetooloud · Post by **onetooloud** » Saturday Mar 13, 2004

Thats been my thinking also but have never really paid close enough attention to it. I just haven't seen any moving head lights around, I guess I could be a cost thing?

The mac 250 is about 50lbs no lightweight, the mini is half that. They both have HID lamps making them bright and intense. One is 150 watts with I think 1850 or so lumens the other around 3100 lumens output.

I've for better or worst always bought into the buy the absolute best you can afford mentality.

I've been running in some quite sizeable rooms and also don't want something thats going to be lost in these rooms. I guess I'm looking for something just right.

Lighting Geek · Post by **Lighting Geek** » Thursday Jun 03, 2004

I worked with MAC 250 back when the first came out.... Nice bang for the buck. And No... a moving head fixture cannot react as quickly as a moving mirror can. Too much ass to get moving in too little time! As far as lumens go, the are only useful in determining the "brightness" if the optics are identical. I'm not very familiar with the Mini's so I can't say. Best bet is to see both in person before making any investment!