Now to look at the inside of the fixture. 14 colours (plus white) are available between the fixture’s 2 gobo wheels. One of these wheels includes colour correction (CTO, CTB) and UV filters for more flexible uses. There are also 2 rotating gobo wheels inside, each with 7 gobos (plus open) to give you 14 different gobos. It’s worth noting that these gobos can be overlaid and focused between each wheel in a ‘morphing’ effect, meaning that you can essentially create 189 different effects by combining the gobo wheels with either of the two built in prisms or simply leaving the prism out for some cool mid-air results.

On the topic of prisms, the 6Z is loaded with a rotating 6-facet circular prism and a rotating 5-facet linear prism. These prisms cannot be overlaid but can be switched between the two quickly and are also indexable to hold them in certain positions, a particularly handy feature for the linear prism! In the last section of the effects we have the variable frost filters. ADJ have added 2 filters to this and for good reason too. The first filter is a heavy frost and gives a wider wash which works best on the open gobo. The second filter is a lighter frost and creates a slightly blurred edge, making it ideal for gobo and prism effects.

The Focus Spot series has been known to pack a punch whilst maintaining a compact form factor in comparison to equivalent fixtures on the market. This has always been a contributing factor to the success of the series and the 6Z is a testament to it: Standing at up to 56cm and weighing in just under 20kg!

The colour wheels built-in to the fixture really caught my eye as I flicked through colours on both wheels. Colours appear more saturated in comparison to previous models in the series. This is especially noticeable on reds, yellows, deep blues and even ultraviolet which all have an even better effect through the wide frost filter. Speaking of UV, given the saturation of the other colour filters it would be a crime not to mention the depth of the UV filter when compared to similar lighting fixtures, those of which appear a little more unnatural against the Focus Spot 6Z. The speed range of colour changes is also very impressive while using the ‘colour scroll’ feature. The motors do not stutter on extremely low speeds but also handle maximum scrolling speeds with ease.

Both gobo wheels contain metal gobos (with one glass gobo on wheel 2) to make up the 14 gobos available which are very finely cut to make the resulting effect crisp and sharp when in focus. As previously mentioned, you can overlay the gobo wheels for a ‘gobo morphing’ effect which also yield fantastic effects whether they’re projected onto a surface or focused in mid-air for an aerial effect. Both wheels are rotatable and can rotate in different directions at different speeds simultaneously. As with the colour wheels, the motors can easily cope with smooth gobo rotation at low speeds which to me is perfect for background music with static lighting.

The focus/zoom assembly is considerably faster than the previous generations, making zooming and focal points easier and quicker to adjust. It also gives you opportunities to create different zoom chases thanks to the variable speed motor. Another nifty design aspect is how the configuration of the LED engine combined with the high-quality optics produce a sharp projection with no hotspots. This is what happens when certain parts of the projection are brighter than others which can be caused by lower quality optic assemblies or uneven coverage from LED engines. Higher quality optics and focus assemblies also help combat soft edges on certain gobos which I can safely say will not be an issue on the 6Z. The zoom on the 6Z ranges between 9-28 degrees which is impressive for a spot fixture. To find a wider zoom range on a moving head with similar functionality, you would be looking into hybrid fixtures which tend to have higher price brackets and are often too big to justify for mobile entertainment.
Also included are two frost filters, one light and one heavy. The lighter frost is used for slightly blurring the edge of gobos and prisms whilst the heavier prism provides a soft wash type effect.

Standard and extended DMX channel modes enable 16-bit pan and tilt control to enable finer movements on the pan and tilt yokes. Making slower movements smoother and positioning more accurate. 16-bit control also applies to the dimmer in the extended channel mode to smooth out the LED dimming over DMX. The way this works is by adding more steps in a separate channel, normally labelled as ‘fine’ adjustment. A standard 8-bit DMX channel value ranges from 0-255 (256 steps in total) so by using a second channel, each of those steps then has another 256 steps between them. That means 16-bit control gives you 65,536 steps between the highest and lowest value in total compared to just 256 steps in 8-bit control. This is how 16-bit control makes movement and dimming much smoother in modern fixtures.