He added that rental companies generally prefer to standardise on single-company products to ensure compatibility between accessories and attachments. One of the customers, Lee Lighting managing director, Tony Lucas, said the time was right to renew their relationship with Strand Lighting’s products on a grand scale. "Strand Lighting have done much to update their equipment and can now supply from stock - which means I can get what I want next day. There was also a time when every job we quoted for was specifying an alternative brand - but all that has now changed. We are happy to promote Strand - their pricing is keen and it means that when old hire stock becomes worn it will now be easier to replace it than to refurbish it."
AFM's Andy Martin added that their order was placed purely to meet the demands on their stock.
The move provides ample justification for Strand Lighting’s multi-million pound investment in R&D to bring the studio and location lighting range to market. When it was launched in 1998, QuartzColor - aimed at cameramen, directors of photography, gaffers and television studios - showed that it had been designed from the bottom up, boasting ease of operation and superior optics to produce a much brighter light output that would comfortably outperform its competitors, say Strand.
