On this Slanted Lens product review, I am going to talk about Rosco’s Vapour Series of fog machines. They’ve replaced their 1700 and 1900 series with three new machines plus a hazer.
The Mini-V is great for an introductory-level fog machine. The Vapour is a great machine to use on set. The Vapour Plus is great for location shots where you might deal with wind. The V-Hazer is not a fog machine, so it just gives a nice atmosphere in the room that you can easily control, which makes it a great addition to the series.
One feature I love is that you can run several of these (not including the Mini-V) off of one control panel. Rosco has done a great job fitting their market with this series. There’s something for everyone interested in using smoke machines.
Thanks for watching. Keep those cameras rollin’ and keep on clickin’.
Video Transcription
Hi, this is J.P. Morgan. Today on the Slanted Lens we’re going to review Rosco’s vapor series of smoke machines. I am so excited about this series of machines because there’s a little bit of something for everyone in this series. They have discontinued their 1700 and their 1900 series and replaced it with three machines, and they’ve also added a hazer, which is very exciting to me. So, let’s take a look at each one of these things and what they do.
First off, we’ve got the Mini-V. This little Mini-V is perfect for a introductory level smoke machine. It’s going to be 1,000 watts, it’s going to give you about a liter of fluid an hour, it’s portable, you can move it around, it’s a great machine. Really, under $500 is a great entry point for this series of smoke machines. Down side, it doesn’t have a great control on the back, you just turn it on or off, but you know what? For a small machine like this, that’s absolutely plenty.
But, when we step up to the Vapour this is now a machine you can use on set and really make work. The Vapour’s going to kick out like 3.6 liters of fluid an hour. It’s going to give you great smoke on set, it’s going to fill a room, it’s going to do a great job. The Vapour is a strong machine. A 1200 watt machie, it’s going to kick out 3.6 liters of fluid. It’s really going to kick out the smoke.
But, if you are out on location, if you want smoke, [the Vapour Plus] is a beast . This is really the machine right here. It’s going to kick out 7.3 liters of fluid an hour, it’s going to give you a ton of smoke out on location. So, when you’re dealing with wind and atmosphere, this baby’s going to keep up and make it happen. I love this machine. It’s $1,000, it’s a 1500 watt machine, gives you 7.3 liters of fluid. It really is going to do anything you need it to because you can dial it way down. I love the fact you can point this thing up, the cage rotates so it’s a square format. Pointed out, rotate the cage, and shoot the smoke straight in the air, or put it on the floor, rotate the cage, and shoot it across the floor. This machine is very versatile. I love the format, the square format. Now, the downside for these machines is they’re heavy, they’re heavy. That’s just the way they are, but you know what? They’re going to last you for absolutely forever.
See, there you go. Still alive. Now, the one that I think is so exciting is the V-Hazer. It has its own V-Haze fluid, it’s not a smoke machine, it’s a hazer. So, it’s going to give a nice atmosphere in the room, it’s going to fill the room full of atmosphere. You can maintain that atmosphere because you’ve got a control in the back where you can say, turn it on for three seconds and off for ten seconds. Each one of these, the Vapour and Vapour Plus and Hazer have that control in the back to give you a tremendous amount of control of the smoke bursts in order to keep a constant fluid on set the whole time. You know, the one thing you have to look at is that they do have this control here. It comes out, you can daisy chain these together with an XLR cable, so you can put two or three together in a room, and they can all run off one control. That’s a nice thing, and XLR cables, we got, so you can just daisy chain these together and run them off from the same control. I like the fact that the control is portable so you can pull it out of the bag. It’s got a cable, work it away from the machine or run it from off set. So, these are great machines. They truly are great machines. Under $500, about $850, about $1050, and $1200 for the Hazer.
There’s something in here for everyone. I am thrilled with the Hazer. It’s something we will use on set constantly when we’re shooting commercials and things for video. I think Rosco’s really hit a homerun here with regards to the different machines and different price points to be able to fit their market. So, check them out. The Vapour series of smoke machines by Rosco. I know they’re our sponsor but remember, I used them long before they were our sponsor. I’ve used them for 30 years. They’ve always been extremely reliable, dependable machines that have done exactly what I needed them to on set, and that’s why I love them.
