Contour spotlights / projectors – framing

Create magical lighting effects for paintings with framing. We show you what matters with projectors.

Curators and lighting designers define framing, or lighting with the use of contours, as sharply defined beams of light that precisely illuminate exhibits in galleries and museums. The background, usually the wall, remains in the dark, thus creating a beguiling and magical impression. Conventional projectors only fulfil this single lighting task though, and are inflexible in regard to other applications. ERCO has developed a solution with its contour spotlights. Professional spotlights for galleries and museums feature the flexibility of changing the light distribution without the use of tools. This means that in no time at all, a luminaire with framing functionality is transformed into a spotlight with round light distribution – and vice versa.

To achieve flexible exhibition lighting solely with contour spotlights, pay attention to:

Future-proof thanks to interchangeable light distributions with one handed operation
Special light distributions for short and long distances
Perfect rendering of colours due to a wide selection of light spectra
Flexible use with tunable white and RGBW
Sizes and lumen packages to match the exhibit
Simple handling

Contour spotlights offer you planning reliability in museums and galleries, for example if flexible lighting concepts are required due to changing exhibitions.

Why you should implement your next museum project with ERCO contour spotlights:

More flexible than ever before: flood today, framing tomorrow

Exhibition concepts change, and with them the demands on lighting. Be prepared for this and transform your Eclipse or Parscan luminaire into a framer in next to no time. Simply replace the optic and change the distribution from e.g. flood to framing.

Perfect framing even from a very short distance

Illuminating large pictures with sharply defined light distribution has never been easier. With the size 'M' Eclipse contour spotlight you can easily illuminate a picture with a width of 1.40m from a distance of 2m. This has the smart advantage that a sufficiently high illuminance is achieved, less electricity is required and fewer luminaires need to be used.

Create contours

Eclipse and Parscan contour spotlights create crisp edges, especially with large pictures. Straight edges without colour gradients and a uniform distribution of brightness make the contours perfect. And even when you shine the contour spotlight on a white wall.

Simple handling

Operating the slide controls is intuitive and allows you to precisely set square or rectangular lighting areas. Using one hand, the framing attachment can be steplessly rotated so that you can align the light beam perfectly to the picture – the second hand stays free to ensure a secure hold of the ladder.

Save operating overheads with efficient contour spotlights

Eclipse contour spotlights achieve high illuminance even with small luminaire sizes. To crisply illuminate a picture with 50lx from a distance of 4m, you only need 8.2W in size S.

Use existing track for framing

Eclipse and Parscan contour spotlights function well even at short distances. Thus lighting designers can continue to use already installed track. The classic spacing of the track from the wall of about one third of the room height is entirely adequate. A new track is not necessary for perfect framing.

This distinguishes our new contour spotlights

Framing even in tunable white and RGBW

Adjust the light spectrum ideally to the exhibit with tunable white. Create scenographic lighting concepts with up to 16 million colours with RGBW. With Casambi Bluetooth, control all of this simply by swiping on your smartphone.

You stay flexible: Framing as an accessory

Conventional contour spotlights are often inflexible because the framing optic is permanently fitted in the luminaire. With Eclipse and Parscan, the framing attachment is available both with the spotlight itself and as a separate accessory. This gives you unprecedented flexibility because you can simply transform any Eclipse or Parscan spotlight into a fully-fledged framer.

Larger imaging area than conventional spotlights

The double projection lens produces a very small focal distance and thus a larger projection image than previous contour spotlights. This is perfect for illuminating a large artwork even from a short distance with just one contour spotlight.

An important detail: Light-tight housing

Framing only has a magical effect when the light source remains almost invisible and the artwork has the appearance of radiating from within. Eclipse and Parscan contour spotlights have a closed, light-tight housing. This avoids disturbing light reflections on the ceiling and focuses the visitors' attention on the work of art.

Contour spotlights from small to large

Find the right framer for both small and large works of art. With Eclipse and Parscan, choose from three sizes for each, with LED modules from 3W (279lm) up to 37W (3920lm). Eclipse 48V and Parscan 48V offer you the additional option of creating exciting framing effects with a miniaturised low voltage system.

Framing with 30 spectral nuances

Select the perfect combination of light colour and colour rendering for your artwork. Thus our LEDs with 3000K CRI 97 achieve the perfect rendering of colours. Choose from 6 white light spectra. You can create 24 additional nuances by combining with accessory filters. You can even dynamically adjust the light colour and change it at any time with tunable white and RGBW.

1) Bring the sliders into a handy position

Especially from the ladder, adjusting contour spotlights can be challenging. Because the ERCO framing attachment can be freely rotated, this makes it much easier for you to adjust. This way you can bring the contour spotlights into a handy position first before adjusting the light beam.

2) Pay attention to the correct order

Pull the contour sliders outward and then roughly adjust the light beam to the exhibit with the round slide controls. By moving the slide controls, you change the size of the light beam and set the desired contour sharpness. In the next step, you can align the contours of the light beam precisely to the artwork using the narrow contour sliders. If necessary, the focus can be simply readjusted again.

3) Optimally incline the framer

For perfect illumination with sharply defined light beams and without strong shadowing, we recommend an angle of inclination of about 30°. As a result, fascinating effects can be created where pictures appear to illuminate from within.

The narrow framing distribution is ideal for small pictures and long lighting distances. Wide framing is suitable for large paintings from short lighting distances.

Contour spotlights with narrow framing light distribution are particularly suitable for high rooms with long distances between the luminaire and the artwork