| Martin Roboscan 518 |
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| Written by Len Woelfel | |||
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{mosreview}manufacturer=Martin/product=Roboscan 518/website=www.martin.com/price=varies/score=4{/mosreview}
The
Martin Roboscan 518 is part of Martin’s venerable scanner family, which
also includes the 218, and the 812. While all these fixtures have seen
newer products improve on them, the 518 remains a solid performer. 
The 518 uses a 250 watt discharge lamp, which provides good
intensity and an even beam. The open optic is clean, and different
lenses are available, providing wider or narrower beam spread as
needed.
Mirror movement speed is fairly good,
considering the age of the design. Newer moving mirror fixtures will
provide a wide range of motion, but the 518 is still able to track a
fairly large area. At slow speeds some minor jitter is seen. However,
the fixture does track in 16-bit mode, and movement is smoother than
other fixtures in its class.
The 518 has a good
colour wheel. There are 14 colours, plus two; four-part colours, a CTC
filter, and UV filter. The best part about the colour wheel is that it
offers continuous rotation. So colour scrolls in either direction are
possible. Also, the fixture can take the shortest path from one colour
to the next in a cue, meaning faster scene changes.
There
are only 5 gobo slots in the 518, but all of them can be rotated in
either direction, and all are replaceable. The stock gobos are fairly
standard geometric patterns. Replacement gobos are available from
Martin, as well as from many after market suppliers. Apollo sells stock
gobos at approximately £6 each.
Replacing gobos is a bit tricky, and requires a very small screwdriver. Stock dichroic and glass gobos do not fit.
Finally, there is an effects wheel. Included in the effects wheel are a three facet prism, a frost filter, and a CTC filter.
As
with any product, there are shortcomings. While gobos can be rotated in
either direction, slow to fast, there is no way to index them. Also,
this fixture weighs in at 31 pounds. Some of that weight is due to the
shell of the fixture and that may also be a good thing. I have used
these fixtures for over 10 years and they have yet to fail.
One
other note about the 518. The data pin connection is set up for a
Martin protocol, not standard DMX. So if one were to use these fixtures
with a DMX desk, pin 2 and 3 need to be reversed. This can be done by
making a 3-pin cable that is switched.
An eBay USA search in February, 2005 revealed units for sale from $250 - $475, depending on condition.
In short, while there are other, newer fixtures on the market, the Roboscan 518 is a proven workhorse that will give you a good set of features to work with.
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