After six months in the field, CPC Production Services’ Martin MAC Viper XIP has quickly proven itself across concert, corporate, theatrical, and broadcast environments.
They’ve already become a backbone of CPC’s lighting inventory, from large-scale conferences to long musical seasons and quick-turnaround weddings, the Viper XIP has delivered consistent output, rock-solid reliability, and minimal maintenance.
“The IP54 rating is a major plus in the Australian climate,” commented Murray Keidge, Managing Director of CPC. “It lets us move between indoor corporate jobs and outdoor marquees without worry. The housing is solid — classic Martin — with smart access panels and sensible internal design for servicing.”
Despite the rugged build, handling is still easy. Weight and balance are ideal for one-person rigging, and the sealed optical system means far less dust build-up, extending the time between cleans.
“Six months, zero failures — that’s the kind of reliability that earns trust fast,” added Murray.
The 28,000-lumen output packs a serious punch. The 5.7–54° zoom range gives great flexibility — tight, clean beams for theatre, wide washes for conference stages, or textured looks for receptions.
“Their colour performance is exceptional,” continued Murray. “The CMY colour mixing and CTO control deliver both rich saturation and natural skin tones, with beautifully smooth fades. Gobos remain crisp and bright across the entire zoom range, and the beam maintains evenness edge-to-edge — something our LDs immediately appreciated.”
On the job
CPC’s first use of the Viper XIP was at the wedding of staff members Zephyr Burns (Production Engineer) and Emily Burns (Office Manager). The Vipers lit up the dance floor and surrounding trees on a remote property — and did it with style and ease. It was the perfect real-world debut for a fixture built to handle anything from the delicate to the demanding.
Since then, the fixtures have featured on a wide range of shows, including large-format conferences, elegant corporate dinners, and theatre productions. Across all these environments, performance has been faultless.
“I’ve loved using them across so many formats; their flexibility makes them fit into any design,” says Zephyr. “The Viper is a great all-rounder — good gobo selection, great colours, sharp and quick framing shutters, and a wide zoom range with sharp optics, making it such a versatile fixture.”
Ready for broadcast
The Viper XIP has also proven its worth in broadcast and television applications, performing beautifully on camera through CPC’s OB Truck. With its consistent colour temperature, flicker-free operation, and smooth dimming curve, the XIP translates perfectly to live multi-camera environments.
In OB and studio settings, its accurate colour reproduction and even field make it easy to balance against key and fill sources. The fixture’s quiet cooling and precise framing shutters also make it an excellent choice for controlled, high-end broadcast lighting.
Servicing
Servicing is straightforward, with logical module access and excellent documentation. Martin’s local support remains among the best in the business, and the IP-rated chassis means less downtime between hires.
