Glossary of Theatrical Lighting Fixtures

Borderlight. A striplight often used at some border on a stage. This could be an area between two curtains or at the edge of the stage floor, cyclorama, runway, etc.

Cyclorama Light. A luminaire mounted at the top and/or bottom of a cyclorama in order to light it in a smooth, uniform manner.

Ellipsoidal. An abridged version of Ellipsoidal Spotlight.

Ellipsoidal Reflector. A reflector designed to converge light rays to a single point, except that point which is occupied by the point source, eventually resulting in a beam that varies in width, depending on the distance between the two points. It has the shape of the end section of an ellipsoid.

Ellipsoidal Spotlight. A spotlight that embodies an ellipsoidal reflector and framing shutters, and sometimes an iris and pattern slot.

Follow Spot. A narrow-beam focusing instrument that is manually operated, and usually comprises a powerful light source, an iris, shutters, a color changer and perhaps other features. It is usually operated from an adjustable stand and is used to follow performer(s) on a stage with its beam, surrounding the performer(s) in a pool of light.

Fresnel Lens. Named for its inventor, French physicist Augustin J. Fresnel, and developed around 1800 for lighthouses, this is a flat lens consisting of concentric rings on one side that are segments of the spherical portion of a plano-convex lens. The other side is flat, i.e., plano. It controls light in the same manner as a plano-convex lens. Many luminaires employing this type of lens have a stippled pattern on the flat side of the lens to diffuse and therefore smooth out the beam.

Fresnel Spotlight. A spotlight employing a single fresnel lens that produces a soft edged beam, and usually provided with a spherical reflector and a means to adjust the focus from spot to flood.

Leko. A commonly used term for an ellipsoidal spotlight. Named after its inventors Levy and Kook, the names Leko and Lekolite are trademarked by Strand Lighting Co.

Par Lamp. A designation of a type of lamp. In this case, one with a parabolic aluminized reflector.

Par Light. A generally lightweight luminaire that utilizes a PAR lamp. The beam characteristics depend on the type of PAR lamp used.

Shin Buster. A luminaire that is placed as close to the stage floor as possible. It is focused such that no light shines on the floor giving the illusion that the subject is floating.

Pinspot. A spotlight that has an extremely narrow beam.
Scoop. Named for its scoop-like shape, an open face flood light with a large, diffuse reflector that is essentially the body of the luminaire. The reflector is parabolic, spherical or ellipsoidal, and is generally made from unpainted aluminum.

Sky Cyc. A cyclorama light used in the air, generally hung from a batten.

Snoot. A metal tube, available in various sizes and shapes, that mounts on the front of some luminaires to control light spill.

StripLight. A multi-lamp luminaire with its lamps mounted in a straight row.

Zip Strip. A compact striplight that uses 1 to 4 groups of ten 12 volt lamps wired in a series circuit, manufactured by Altman Stage Lighting. the name Zip Strip is trademarked.
Zoom. A term used to describe a luminaire with a zoom focus. Some ellipsoidal spotlights and many followspots have a zoom focus system.

Zoom Focus System. A term used to describe an optical system whereby the lenses in a luminaire adjust such that a beam pattern with a hard edge can be attained at various sizes and various distances without sacrificing beam lumens.