The VL3 was Vari-Lite's first washlight, a companion to the VL2 spotlight at the time of the launch of the Vari-Lite Series 200 in 1986.
It shared the same body as the VL2 but with a much larger front lens. Unusualiy, it used a tungsten lamp (53V, 475W) rather than an arc lamp.
Unlike the VL2, the VL3 offered CMY colour mixing, achieved by pivoting dichroic glass on the centreline of the beam - the same technique used in the original Vari-Lite prototype.
Similar mechanisms fitted with frost allowed the beam size to be adjusted.

Ultimately designers came to prefer the smalier, brighter VL4, launched a couple of years later. With this generation of Vari-Lite only availabie to rent, the company opted to convert the VL3s to VL2s. As a result, the VL3 is almost the forgotten Vari-Lite; even Vari-Lite's Jim Bornhorst admits that his extensive photographic collection has had no record of the inside of a VL3 - until now!

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