In this guide: The short answer · Top light and ground row · Dedicated cyc lights · LED battens on a cyc · Distance and spacing · Colour engines · DMX modes · Noise, camera and IP · Comparison table · Popular picks · FAQ

The short answer

If the cloth is the picture, use fixtures made for it. A cyc light is built to spread light up or down a tall surface from close to it, so a row of them gives a more even field than a general wash light pointed at the cloth. LED battens are built for a different job: a long, fairly narrow beam with pixel control. Close to a tall cloth, a narrow-beam batten tends to light a band rather than the whole cloth, so check the published beam angles before choosing one for the job.

• Theatre, studio or a quiet room: a dedicated LED cyc unit such as the Chauvet Professional Ovation CYC 3 FC (fanless), the Elumen8 Virtuoso 700 CYC IP, the LEDJ Libretto RGBAL Cyclorama Wash or the LDR Samba A100 CM.
• Outdoor stages, rental and colour effects across the width: an IP65 batten with zone control, such as the Chauvet Professional COLORado Batten Q15 with its wall-wash filter fitted, or the Elumen8 Mira 1080 IP.
• An existing tungsten rig: the LDR Inno A1000 is a 1kW-class asymmetric flood built for cycs in larger venues, run from a dimmer.
• Where they go: along the top of the cloth, along the floor in front of it as a ground row, or both. Two rows in different colours give you a graded sky.

For lighting the performers in front of the cloth, see LED profiles and fresnels for theatre. For how the cyc fits into the rest of a rig, see front, back and side light. For the general batten-versus-PAR question, see our stage wash lighting guide.

Top light and ground row: where cyc lights go

A cyclorama, or cyc, is a large plain cloth or wall at the back of the stage, lit so it reads as sky or as a block of colour. A backdrop or painted cloth is lit the same way. What makes it hard is that the cloth is tall and the lights sit close to it. A normal wash light pointed at it from a couple of metres away gives a bright patch near the fixture that fades away up the cloth.

The traditional answer is the cyc flood: a flood with an asymmetric reflector that throws more light to the far end of the cloth than to the near end, so the cover comes out even. Cyc lights go in two places:

• Top light (in the US, a cyc over). A row of units on a bar or truss above and in front of the cloth, aimed down it. It keeps the floor clear and there is nothing for performers to trip over.
• Ground row (a cyc under). A row of units on the floor in front of the cloth, aimed up it. It is traditionally hidden behind a low piece of scenery, also called a groundrow, so the audience sees the glow on the cloth and not the fixtures.

Many rigs use both. A ground row in one colour and a top row in another lets you fade between them, or hold both for a horizon effect. Top light only is the simpler install. A ground row only is common where there is nowhere to hang anything over the cloth, such as a hall stage or a hired backdrop on drape stands. For temporary backdrops on uprights, see our pipe and drape guide.

Dedicated cyc lights, maker by maker

Everything below comes from the manufacturer’s own datasheet, user manual or product page.

Chauvet Professional Ovation CYC 3 FC

A 1.2m (1,197mm), low-profile LED cyc that Chauvet describes as working as a cyc wash or a footlight. The Ovation CYC 3 FC uses 180 LEDs in five colours (36 each of red, green, blue, amber and lime) and is convection cooled, so there is no fan. Chauvet publishes different beam angles on each axis: 111.4° horizontal and 76.7° vertical, with field angles of 151.8° and 134.4°. It quotes 280 lux at 5 m and a CRI of 90 at 3200K.

It has an integrated kick stand for floor use, an adjustable glare shield, 16-bit dimming, DMX and RDM, and Seetronic Powerkon IP65 power in and out. It is rated IP20, dry locations only. Chauvet designs it to extend coverage alongside the shorter Ovation CYC 1 FC.

Elumen8 Virtuoso 700 CYC IP

Prolight’s product page describes the Virtuoso 700 CYC IP as a CYC/footlight for film, theatre and TV. It has a 180W six-colour LED array (RGBALC: red, green, blue, amber, lime and cyan), HSIC and CMY colour control with colour temperature from 1800K to 10000K, an integral eyebrow for beam adjustment, and an adjustable foot. It is IP65 and convection cooled, and Prolight says it operates silently.

One feature is unusual: a selectable safety light function that keeps the LEDs on at a low level during blackouts, to mark the stage edge when the unit is used as a footlight. Prolight’s user manual gives a 70° beam, 1,425 lux at 2m and a CRI of 93.

LEDJ Libretto RGBAL Cyclorama Wash

The Libretto RGBAL Cyclorama Wash takes a different approach: one 200W five-colour COB (chip-on-board) LED instead of an array of separate emitters. Prolight’s product page says the wide 90° x 105° beam is designed for even tones across large areas, and that the COB source mixes colour without multicoloured shadows. The Prolight user manual lists 1,147 lux at 2m, CRI 92, 2800K to 10000K colour temperature, eight-leaf barn doors with an integral gel frame, a bracket for hanging or floor standing, and a temperature-controlled fan.

LDR Samba A100 CM

The Italian maker Luci della Ribalta (LDR) describes the Samba A100 CM as a 180W RGBW LED asymmetric floodlight suitable for cyclorama lighting in all applications. It uses 12 x 15W RGBW LEDs behind an asymmetric specular aluminium reflector and draws 130W at full power. LDR says it can be stood on the floor or hung, at any tilt. The fan has Silent, Auto and Constant modes. The user manual rates it IP20, for indoor use only.

It is also the only LED cyc here whose maker publishes a working distance. More on that below.

LDR Inno A1000 (tungsten)

The Inno A1000 is a conventional 625W to 1250W asymmetric flood that takes R7s linear halogen lamps. LDR says it evenly lights a backcloth, cyclorama or scenery from an oblique angle in larger venues, and that several units can be coupled together to make a compartment batten. It has a colour frame (290 x 270mm filter cut), safety glass, front lamp access and a double-pole microswitch auto-disconnect.

It needs a dimmer channel and it is supplied with 1.5m of cable to bare ends, so fitting a connector is a job for a competent person. Why that matters for LED versus tungsten is covered in our guide to dimmers, relay packs and LED fixtures, and the case for changing over in tungsten to LED for schools and village halls.

LED battens on a cyc: when they work

A batten is a long linear fixture, and it is excellent at lighting a wall from below. The catch for a cyc is the beam. A narrow beam close to a tall cloth lights a stripe that fades out above it, so the beam and field angles matter more than the length. What a batten gives you that most cyc units do not is cell or pixel control: different colours across the width of the cloth, chases and effects, and IP65 housings for outdoor stages. The fixture families are explained in stage lighting fixture types.

• Chauvet Professional COLORado Batten Q15: 15 x 20W RGBW LEDs, each one controllable. The native beam is 15.5° horizontal x 14.7° vertical. Chauvet’s figures for the supplied wall-wash filter are 41.9° horizontal and 15.3° vertical, with a field angle of 77.9° x 32.1°, so the filter widens one axis, not both. IP65, DMX and RDM.
• Chauvet Professional COLORdash Batten H12X IP: 12 x 10W six-colour LEDs (RGBAW+UV), 24.9° beam and 40.7° field angle, pixel-mappable. Chauvet says the hanging brackets double as floor stands. IP65, DMX and RDM.
• Elumen8 Mira 1080 IP: 108 x 10W RGBW LEDs, 36° beam, 12-zone pixel mapping, DMX, Art-Net and sACN, with an integral Art-Net to DMX bridge. Prolight says units can be lined up side by side as a continuous bar. IP65, 1,107W in Prolight’s manual (1,116W on its product page), 19kg, so a substantial fixture.
• LEDJ Spectra Batten Q16 Exterior: 16 x 5W RGBW LEDs and a 45° beam, IP65, DMX and RDM. Prolight’s optional eyebrow and diffuser kit widens the beam to 60°.
• Chauvet DJ COLORband Q4 IP: 12 RGBA LEDs, 14° beam and 27° field angle, IP65. That is narrow for covering a tall cloth from close range.

The pattern is clear from the numbers. The wider the beam and field angle in the direction you need to cover, the more of a tall cloth a batten covers from a given distance. If you plan to rely on a filter or diffuser, check which axis the maker says it widens.

Distance and spacing: what the makers publish

Most manufacturers publish beam angles and a lux figure but no recommended distance from the cloth or spacing between units. LDR is the exception, and its figures are useful as a reference point.

Where no distance is published, work it out from the beam and field angles: the further back the row sits, the more of the cloth each unit covers and the dimmer it gets. Our beam angles and coverage guide shows how to turn an angle and a distance into a width. Treat the result as a starting point and focus on site: plan to try a single unit against the real cloth before committing to a number per metre.

Two practical points apply to every cyc row. First, light from a single row fades with distance up the cloth, which is what asymmetric floods such as LDR’s and top-plus-bottom rigs set out to address. Second, a gap between units shows up as a scallop along the near edge. Closer spacing reduces it. Chauvet says the 1.2m Ovation CYC 3 FC is designed to extend coverage seamlessly when paired with its shorter Ovation CYC 1 FC.

Colour engines: what you can mix

Cyc colour is judged by the whole audience across a big area, so the colour engine matters more here than on most fixtures. The basics of RGBW, added amber and lime, and CRI are in colour on stage.

• RGBAL (five colours): Ovation CYC 3 FC (CRI 90 at 3200K, 2800K to 6500K colour temperature range), Libretto Cyclorama Wash (CRI 92, 2800K to 10000K).
• RGBALC (six colours): Virtuoso 700 CYC IP, 1800K to 10000K, CRI 93.
• RGBW: Samba A100 CM, COLORado Batten Q15 (1800K to 8000K presets), Mira 1080 IP, Spectra Batten Q16.
• RGBAW+UV: COLORdash Batten H12X IP.
• Tungsten plus gel: Inno A1000. One colour per unit. LDR says identical units can be coupled into a 2, 3 or 4 compartment batten, and each compartment can carry its own gel.

DMX modes and control

A cyc row is often run as one colour across the whole cloth, so a simple mode with few channels per unit keeps patching quick. Pixel modes earn their channels when you want different colours across the width.

Where the DMX line runs on to other positions, see DMX splitters and opto-isolators, and for networked fixtures such as the Mira 1080, Art-Net and sACN nodes.

Noise, cameras and IP ratings

Fan noise

Cyc lights sit upstage, close to the cast and often near a quiet scene. The Ovation CYC 3 FC is convection cooled with no fan, and Prolight says the Virtuoso 700 CYC IP operates silently. The Samba has a fan with a Silent mode, and the Libretto has a temperature-controlled fan.

On camera

If the show is filmed or streamed, a cyc fills a big part of the frame, so flicker shows. Every LED cyc here has a selectable or high refresh rate: Ovation CYC 3 FC from 600Hz up to 25,000Hz, Virtuoso 700 up to 25kHz, Libretto up to 20kHz, Mira 1080 up to 24kHz, and LDR quotes 16kHz for the Samba. See LED flicker on camera for how to set it.

Indoors or out

The Ovation CYC 3 FC and Samba A100 CM are IP20, for dry indoor use. The Virtuoso 700 CYC IP, COLORado Batten Q15, COLORdash Batten H12X IP, COLORband Q4 IP, Mira 1080 IP and Spectra Batten Q16 are IP65. For what those ratings mean in practice, see outdoor lighting and IP ratings.

Cyc-suitable fixtures we stock, compared

Popular picks from the shop

Frequently asked questions

What is the best light for a cyclorama?

A fixture designed for it: a cyc light or asymmetric cyc flood, which spreads light along a tall cloth from close range. For theatre and quiet rooms, look at a fanless or quiet LED cyc with amber and lime in the colour mix. For outdoor stages, an IP65 cyc light or a wide-beam IP65 batten.

Can I light a cyc with LED battens?

Yes, with care. Most battens have a narrow beam, so close to the cloth they light a stripe. Choose a wide beam, set them further back, or fit a wash filter or diffuser, such as LEDJ’s kit for the Spectra Batten Q16 (60° beam with the kit). Check which axis a filter widens: the filter supplied with the COLORado Batten Q15 widens the horizontal beam only.

How far from the cyc should the lights be?

Only some makers say. LDR gives a typical throw of 0.5m to 3m for the Samba A100 CM and 2m to 10m for the tungsten Inno A1000. For other fixtures, work from the beam and field angles and test one unit against the real cloth.

Should I light a cyc from the top or the bottom?

Either works and many rigs use both. A top row keeps the floor clear. A ground row along the floor is usually hidden behind a low masking piece. Two rows in different colours let you grade the cloth from top to bottom.

Do I need a special dimmer for LED cyc lights?

No. LED cyc lights take a DMX signal and constant power. Only tungsten floods such as the Inno A1000 need a dimmer channel. Design, installation and testing of the power supply is for a competent person.

Why does my backdrop look patchy?

Usually the units are too close to the cloth, too far apart, or have too narrow a beam, so you see scallops near the fixtures and a dark area at the far end. Wider optics, closer spacing, a second row from the other end of the cloth, or an asymmetric cyc flood can all help.