Inside ETC’s New Lonestar Prime: Compact IP54 Framing Workhorse

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Welcome back to Geezers of Gear
Future Tech.

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Today's focus is on ETC's high
end systems.

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Lone Star Prime, The newest
member of the Lone Star family,

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Lone Star Prime takes the
original Lone Star concept, a

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compact bright white LED framing
fixture, and pushes it further.

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You get roughly 20% more output
than the original improved color

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rendering and a weather rated
IP54 housing, all in an even

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more compact body.
So instead of being limited to

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clean indoor environments like
theaters and studios, Lone Star

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Prime is aimed at broad purpose
rental and production work both

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inside and in temporary outdoor
installs.

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Think festivals, stadium
concourses, rooftop activations

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or architectural style
placements around an event site.

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Under the hood, Prime uses a 350
Watt extra bright color Boost

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white LED engine rated for
around 50,000 hours, delivering

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over 17,000 lumens at a native
correlated colour temperature of

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about 6500 Kelvin and a native
CRI around 80.

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That's a serious amount of punch
for this physical footprint.

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The optics are built around a 13
lens system with a very flexible

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3.8 to 55° zoom.
That means it can behave like a

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tight aerial effects beam at the
narrow end and a wide, even wash

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when zoomed out.
Designers can cover a surprising

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amount of stage or scenic area
with relatively few units.

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Prime keeps the full curtain
framing system that made Lone

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Star popular.
You have 4 plane framing

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shutters that can fully cut and
shape the beam, and the framing

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module can rotate up to around
180° so it's easy to align

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shutters to architecture,
scenery, or projection surfaces.

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There's also a 16 blade iris for
very tight beam looks, plus dual

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frost light and medium which can
be inserted variably without

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interfering with zoom or focus.
That matters on shows where

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you're shifting from crisp gobo
projection to a softer key light

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or wash look from the same
fixture.

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Compared to the original Lone
Star, which is an IP20 indoor

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unit, Prime is clearly designed
to extend that same feature set

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into more demanding
environments.

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With IP 54 you're protected
against limited dust ingress and

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water spray from any direction,
which makes it suitable for

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temporary outdoor rigs where
weather is a concern, but you

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don't want to move up to a much
larger IP fixture.

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From a deployment standpoint,
that means a rental house can

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stock Lone Star Prime and
comfortably send it to corporate

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events, worship environments,
mid sized touring rigs and

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outdoor festivals without
swapping to a different framing

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profile for each use case.
It's positioned as a compact,

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high impact workhorse that does
a lot of jobs well.

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Next, let's look at the color
and effects package on Lone Star

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Prime because this is where it
becomes a serious design tool

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rather than just a bright IP
rated spot.

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On the color side, you get a
dual flag CMY color mixing

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system combined with a dedicated
CTO solution.

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Prime uses a CTO flag and a
color wheel to give you a wide

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range of white points from that
native 6500 Kelvin down toward

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warm tungsten like tones around
2700 Kelvin.

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That's particularly important
when you're lighting faces for

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broadcast or EMAG and need
clean, accurate whites.

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In addition to CNY and CTO,
there's a 10 position plus open

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color wheel with dichroic colors
that let's program a snap to

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bold saturated looks quickly or
layer fixed colors with CMY

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mixing for more nuanced
palettes.

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The improved color rendering
over the original Lone Star

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means those colors tend to look
more natural on camera and on

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skin.
Patterns and textures are

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another big part of Prime's
identity.

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You have a rotating gobo wheel
with 9 interchangeable patterns

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plus open, and a fixed wheel
with 10 stamped gobos plus open.

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Those two wheels can be combined
with the animation wheel and

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prisms, which gives a lot of
headroom for complex looks.

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The prisms are A5 facet star and
A4 facet linear and they can be

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inserted simultaneously.
That means you can build

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compound aerial effects or multi
image projections, which is

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useful on shows where you want a
single fixture to create both

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scenic texture and eye candy in
the air.

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On top of that, the rotating
animation wheel supports

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bidirectional rotation, linear
insertion and variable angular

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control.
In practice, that means you can

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slowly drift a texture across
ACIC or LED wall surround or

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drive faster, more energetic
animation for music or dance

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content.
The dual frosts light and medium

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slot in without affecting focus
or zoom, so you can soften gobos

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or create a diffused wash
without needing to refocus the

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unit.
When paired with a 3.8 to 55°

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zoom, that allows one fixture
type to cover front light

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backlight and effect light rolls
on the same rig.

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For a rental company building a
flexible inventory, this

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matters.
A small cluster of Lone Star

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primes over a mid size corporate
stage could handle crisp logo

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projection, gobo breakups on
scenery, and wide soft stage

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washes all from the same family.
That reduces the need to stock

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separate spot wash and dedicated
effects fixtures for certain

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scales of show.
In a worship or theatre

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environment, designers can lean
on primes, framing shutters,

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gobos and animation to create
layered environments.

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For example, isolating A lectern
or performer with tight framing

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while a softened gobo and prism
combination builds atmospherics

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in the background.
The fact that all of this comes

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from a compact IP 54 unit adds
flexibility when fixtures need

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to be mounted and more exposed
or hard to service positions.

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Let's talk a bit more about the
operational aspects, IP54

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control and the optional rig POV
camera and follow spot features

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because these impact how Lone
Star Prime fits into real world

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systems.
IP 54 means the fixture is

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protected against limited dust
ingress and water spray from any

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direction.
In practical terms, that's

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suitable for temporary outdoor
use.

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Things like festivals, outdoor
stages or exposed Truss lines

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where you may see windblown dust
or light rain.

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It's not a permanent submersion
or heavy washdown rating, but it

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significantly reduces the risk
compared to an indoor only IP 20

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profile.
ETC also highlights that the IP

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34 rating isn't only about going
outside.

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Better ceiling and protection
generally translate into more

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dependable performance, reduced
cleaning cycles, and longer life

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for the optics and mechanical
components, even in indoor

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venues with haze, dust or long
hangs.

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From a spec sheet perspective,
Prime runs on a wide voltage

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range from 100 to 240 volts at
50 to 60 Hertz, drawing roughly

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550 watts.
It ships with Reen power X

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series input and can be powered
and networked and typical

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touring or installed
environments without exotic

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infrastructure.
Control wise you've got standard

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DMX over 5 pin plus Arnet or
SACN over Ethernet with passive

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Ethernet pass through.
There's a patented data

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conversion system that can
handle Ethernet to DMX, and the

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fixture supports RDMNFC
configuration and a full colour

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graphical user interface for
local setup.

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Dimming is 16 bit and there are
multiple flicker control

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frequencies including 25 kHz, so
Prime can be tuned for cameras

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and LED walls in studio,
corporate or broadcast

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environments.
Fan modes, including standard

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and studio, help balance cooling
with acoustic requirements in

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quieter rooms.
One of the more distinctive

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options is the Rig POV Camera
kit.

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When specified, that adds an
onboard camera that can stream

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an NDI feed from the fixtures
perspective.

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That's useful for directors and
lighting teams who want a rig

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level view for focusing and
queuing, and for creative teams

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looking to integrate live camera
textures from the RIG into media

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servers or broadcast systems.
Lone Star Prime also supports

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manual follow spot operation
that allows a production to

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repurpose the same head as a
follow spot position when

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needed, which is attractive in
venues that don't have space or

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infrastructure for traditional
follow spot booths.

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From a product line perspective,
Prime sits alongside the

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original Lone Star and the
larger Hyperstar fixtures in ET

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CS automated range.
Compared to Lone Star, Prime

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brings the IP 54 rating, extra
brightness, expanded Gobo

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library, and the dedicated CTO
flag.

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Compared to larger fixtures, it
offers a smaller physical

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footprint and lighter weight,
around 23 kilograms, which makes

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it easier to deploy on compact
Truss ballrooms or tight studio

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grids.
For rental houses and production

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managers, the key question is
where Prime fits in the rig.

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The answer is it's a compact
framing workhorse designed to do

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a lot of different jobs
reliably, especially when you

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need the confidence of an IP54
housing and the creative

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flexibility of a modern effects
package.

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Future tech is here.
Come on, get him.

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We make the specs so clear.
Oh La La with music to your

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ears.
Hey, hey, hey.

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Let's go.
New gear vibes, new tech jive

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gear hits unite.
We keep it live.