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Goboland Launches Black Steel Gobos
As part of their quest to constantly improve the quality of gobos, Belgian gobo manufacturer, Goboland, has created another innovative product in the form of black steel gobos. Each gobo is coated with a black, heat-resistant coating, which does not burn or peel off under extreme heat. The coating minimises internal reflection, producing a crisper image with no halo effect. Encouraged by initial tests and feedback, Goboland has a patent pending on the use of this material for gobo production.
“Lantern optics have improved considerably over the years,” explains Goboland’s exclusive consultant, Wyatt Enever, “but the basic nature of the gobo has remained the same…until now! Goboland is known for the work it does on glass gobos, now we are extending our development to our steel range as well.”
Goboland gave some ‘M’ size black steel gobos to ETC to try out in the ETC Source 4 Revolution fixtures at PLASA, where they were in use for the full duration of the show.
“We like to use black gobos in our Revolutions to cut down on internal reflection and sharpen the projection,” explains ETC’s European marketing manager, Erik Larsen. “Our trials with black gobos in the past have resulted in a lot of smoke with the painted coating being reduced to powder! The Goboland coating, so far, shows only a slight discoloration in the heat but certainly no distortion of the image. They do exactly what I expected them to do - I can honestly say I like the new black gobos!”
Martin Professional also recognised the potential of the new gobos as innovation manager, Claus Hansen, explains: “There is no question of our interest in the black gobos. We already use black gobos in our units but have to coat them with heat resistant paint after the etching process. If Goboland can produce a black gobo at no extra cost, our processing time and our costs will be significantly reduced.
“We are currently testing the gobos to see how they perform both optically and in heat tests and will be very interested to see the outcome.”
The black gobos will gradually supersede the uncoated steel gobos and customers have already received the first custom designs in the new material.
Also launched at PLASA was the Goboland Black Hole. This high-tech donut sharpens gobo projection by removing excess light and lengthening depth of field. It also has a blackened surface which helps reduce unacceptable reflections in front of the luminaire.
The Black Hole is marked with pop-out stops – equivalent to 1 to 4 photographic stops – to enable accurate calculation of between 50% and 94% of light reduction. By eradicating the less effective outer parts of the beam to concentrate on the optically efficient centre, there is little visible drop off in the brightness of the beam. The additional benefit is the resulting lengthened depth of field which makes it easier to sharpen a projection across the full width of the image area, even when projected at an angle. This makes it ideal for keystoned images in architectural, retail, corporate and art applications.
Black Holes are available in four sizes to cater for most lanterns on the market.
In picture: Wyatt Enever
1st October 2007
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