The Future of LED Stage Lighting !

[JD]

So here's a thread for all you designers that are part science geek. When I first saw LEDs in the late 60's or so, they were dim little things. The thought of using them for stage lighting seemed as probable as a UFO landing in my back yard! Yet... here we are. The current LEDs are little blazing torches of light! Still, how far can it go? Will the led ever be on PAR (mind the pun) with filament lamps or arc tubes? Or, is there some block wall that prevents the core junction from producing more than a certain amount of light? I thought this would be a fun thread as all of our future equipment investments hinge on the answer!

[GeneralDoom]

That's a very good question, I don't know the answer, but I do know that LED's are also working their way in to flashlights as well; they are nice annd bright and they do have the advatage of a longer life, but I think that gels will have to be re-designed to account for the deferences between traditional lamps and LEDs

[DarSax]

Hate to say it:
http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/s...ead.php?t=5079

D:

[JD]

Originally Posted by DarSax

Hate to say it:
http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/s...ead.php?t=5079
D:

We all know the efficiency aspect, but the real question is "Will they work for stage lighting?" By that I mean, beyond special effects. They have some huge obstacles to overcome. Although the white LEDs broaden their spectrum with a phosphor add, the nature of LED's is to be monochromatic. Standard color mix is a challenge as there are some holes in the spectrum. Also, although wash lights can be achieved with grouping, spot lights require a point source, thus the question about the limits of output on a single device. This is going to be a high stakes money game for us all in the coming years. Look at the PC industry. For many years, the processor speed doubled each year. Then they hit a wall. For the last few years the speed is only creeping forward. The limits of silicon were reached and we will all have to wait for that wall to break. Could the same be true with LEDs? Although cool by comparison, the junction can only take so much heat. We now see that even LEDs have a short lifespan when pushed close to the limit. BTW, white LEDs only stay white for a defined amount of time before the phosphor fades and their output shifts.

[PadawanGeek]

We did a show at my church last night on a small stage using 4 ADJ P64 LEDs. With all of the other lights in the room off, we could color the whole stage to whatever we want.

Anyway, even though I was impressed by what those can do last night, when comparing them to conventional fixtures, I think that the place for LEDs is special effects, background lighting, and small stages.

[Logos]

Of course this is long term but with the groundswell that is growing to replace incandescents with lower cost lamps LED may be the way forward for us in the theatre. I cannot see CFL being a suitable replacement in our industry given the difficulties and expense of dimming them.

[JSFox]

It's not just dimming them, there's also the huge mass of spectrum that they're kinda missing. Thats why people in Washington state (the home of SAD = Seasonal Affective Disorder) don't use them because those missing wavelengths are critical to our health. This is an issue thats still problematic with LED's though not a huge of a hole.

[TimMiller]

I have a moving yolk LED wash. I was using it with some studio colors and some studio beams. I have also used it with mac 600's. They intensity of it is about the same as the studio color and mac 600. I used it at blackham Colosseum in Louisiana to silloet a dance number. It was hitting the back wall at 300' away. The head consists of 36 3 watt leds. We were also working on a building project using some new technology of 50 and 75 watt leds. They were changing a 30 story building colors.

[proaudio4]

Originally Posted by TimMiller

I have a moving yolk LED wash. I was using it with some studio colors and some studio beams. I have also used it with mac 600's. They intensity of it is about the same as the studio color and mac 600. I used it at blackham Colosseum in Louisiana to silloet a dance number. It was hitting the back wall at 300' away. The head consists of 36 3 watt leds. We were also working on a building project using some new technology of 50 and 75 watt leds. They were changing a 30 story building colors.

Hmm.
This makes me wonder if it's wise to drop a lot of coin into 575W to 1200W moving head fixtures when the LED technology is making these advances.

[jmabray]

RGB fixtures are missing lots of color. Take a look at the Selador line of fixtures. They use a 7 color LED scheme. The colors are a lot better than with just an RGB mix.

www.selador.net