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Maybe a VERY Stupid Question...


MatSpencer

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I can see the theory on this, but was always told that the prefix of "CP" refereed to colour temp. not candle power. And given the bulb stock that I hold I do not see how the numerical index after the CP would give the correct indication of Candle Power? For example I have many lamps that are pars, which obviously take a CPxx lamp, I also have 2ks that sit with a 2k lamp that have no where near the same Candle Power under test conditions but do have a similar colour temp.

 

To explain further I have 2ks with a CP prefix and the first numeral is a 3 or 4 , I also have Pars that have similar prefix but the numerals range from 6 to 9. With a light meter their are considerable differences up and down the stock of lamps from 500W Pars to the 2k stock, that seem to have no relevance to the numerical code following the CP.

 

Maybe this is to do with the age and quality of my present lighting stock, but I can not find a working pattern between the first numeric relative to lumens/candle power.

 

It has always been a question on my mind, so if someone can clarify an answer I will happily buy them a beer at the next trade show.

 

All the best to all

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Some of you are reading too much into it, and trying to be a bit too clever! The numbers do not correlate in any particular way to lamp power and beam angle. Yes, a CP60 happens to be a 1Kw VNSP, but the 6 doesn't signify 1Kw, and the 0 doesn't specifically mean VNSP - the number is simply a designation of that particular lamp type within the CP class. CP-class lamps are the same as T-class, A-class and M-class lamps (the other tungsten lamps typically encountered in a theatre) - the number following the letter identifies a specific type of lamp, but the digits don't signify any particular characteristic of the lamp in the way that, say, an IP rating on a piece of equipment uses the digits in that rating to specify certain characteristics of the equipment according to a predefined set of criteria.
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Thanks Gareth, so the number doesn't have any meaning other than its position in the class. I was puzzling over the previous posts trying to work out how you could work out a 9x12º lens from CP60

 

OK so if CP stands for Colour Photography, what do the others stand for, A, T, M etc? what were par lamps called in the days of black and white?

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