Design LED Lighting Solutions

My current project is to look into lights to replace the first and second electric color washes (Currently using Source4 PARnels) with LED fixtures to minimize pipe space. (The building has a very poorly designed position for the proscenium - something that's a constant challenge so any more space we can get over stage is a huge bonus).

One of my biggest problems is that very few LED fixture makers provide hard stastics on any sort of practical brightness for their instruments. We are under a reasonable budget - not scraping pennies, but the few fixtures that I do like seem to be at a pricepoint prohibitive to a full replacement.

Ultimately though, my biggest concern is that I have not personally worked with any of these lighting options and so I was hoping someone might have some personal testimonials for various LED options.

Some numbers - we'll be looking at six instruments total (with color programming an important point of why the TD wants to move to LED) - they'll need to have the option - including secondary lenses - to give us a 30-40 degree angle. And the bars - while moveable - tend to live at approximately 22ft.

(The Selador Lustr is the one I'm the biggest fan of right now though of course they would like something more in the AmericanDJ 64 Pro price range but I do have a fair bit of wiggle room in my recommendation).

Thank you, anyone who has any experience with LED lighting on a fairly large stage.
 
Drop me a private message Shining. I would expect you would be looking at 3 watt LED fixtures. But I am not sure they are the best thing to cover your need. Beam spread on LED units is always going to run you more money. I like LEDs as wash lights but you are going to need some powerful units at 22ft. I have a wide variety of information and products that I have access to, but I would like to ask you some more questions about your setup. What is the space requirement in actuality? You do know that LEDs will always have trouble mixing to certain colors. Some units are better than others, but they won't mix as well as CMY units.

Shoot me a PM and we will make sure what you need and see about getting you the best units at the best price.

Mike
 
Indeed, I agree with some of the previous comments. If you already have fixtures, which it sounds like yo do, you might consider outfitting them with color changers which would probably be much more cost effective and give you better color choice. Single string scrollers (Wybron ColoRam, Apollo SmatColor, Chroma-Q, etc) would be the cheapest option, giving you a fixed number of colors. Need more color options, the multi-string units like the Wybron CXI and Apollo MXR will give you lots of color options. If you want infinite color options I would look in the Ocean Optics SeaChanger, a bit more pricey than scrollers, but probably on par with any LED fixture worth investing in.
 
I wonder if they will ever make a Seachanger type thing that fits on a S4 or other type of par. Despite their cost, I really liked the HES ColorMerge and I hear the Seachanger is even better.
 
They are great accessories and I believe they make wash attachments, but at $1200+ a piece, they are a little pricey.

Mike
 
Another option for automated color wash is the Elektralite PaintCan, which is an automated CMY fixture using a tungsten lamp. It has automated dim and zoom from 20 to 40 degrees, and can be had for at or under $1k each. I've had a chance to demo one at a 25 ft. throw, and it did a great job as a wash at various colors. It does take up some space, but not as much as a full-on mover. Elektralite : Latest News

It's not LED, but it can be had for less than the price of the type of LED that might meet your needs.
 
Another option for automated color wash is the Elektralite PaintCan, which is an automated CMY fixture using a tungsten lamp. It has automated dim and zoom from 20 to 40 degrees, and can be had for at or under $1k each. I've had a chance to demo one at a 25 ft. throw, and it did a great job as a wash at various colors. It does take up some space, but not as much as a full-on mover. Elektralite : Latest News

It's not LED, but it can be had for less than the price of the type of LED that might meet your needs.

I demo'd this fixture as well. I went in to the demo with high expectations - which were instantly shattered when I saw how bad the CMY mixing was and how bad the zoom lens train was. Unless they've made significant improvements, the Paintcan isn't worth it.
 
I demo'd this fixture as well. I went in to the demo with high expectations - which were instantly shattered when I saw how bad the CMY mixing was and how bad the zoom lens train was. Unless they've made significant improvements, the Paintcan isn't worth it.

How long ago did u demo, and how old was the unit? I had heard the same thing about the CMY mixing from another consultant in the spring of '08, but understood that Elektralite did indeed make improvements, and I had a lengthy discussion with one of the Elektralite owners/engineers (his name escapes me) over the summer. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to test the color mixing to great extent.
 
LED Par Can642 Fixtures

My little theatre is having some LED Par Can642's brought into the space for a particular production. I've never physically seen let alone used LED Par Cans before, all of my experience is with traditional Pars, and was just wondering if anyone had used them and if they had something to say (heads up, praise, indifference). Thought it could be a potential talking point.
Cheers.
 
How long ago did u demo, and how old was the unit? I had heard the same thing about the CMY mixing from another consultant in the spring of '08, but understood that Elektralite did indeed make improvements, and I had a lengthy discussion with one of the Elektralite owners/engineers (his name escapes me) over the summer. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to test the color mixing to great extent.

Demo was a little over a year and a half ago, I think. I won't believe that they've improved it until I see it on a unit myself, because it was really bad.
 
I forgot to ask, but what exactly was the issue? consistency from unit to unit?

We had one unit shipped to us in a flight case (foam lined) from a dealer. The CMY mixing was splotchy and far from uniform at a 16' throw. The zoom was far from the advertised range, and it was also very noisy. The unit seemed brand new and was not a demo fixture that had been thrown around a lot.
 
We had one unit shipped to us in a flight case (foam lined) from a dealer. The CMY mixing was splotchy and far from uniform at a 16' throw. The zoom was far from the advertised range, and it was also very noisy. The unit seemed brand new and was not a demo fixture that had been thrown around a lot.

OK Thanks. The mixing on our demo seemed uniform, and the zoom was impressive. I don't recall it being particularly noisy, either.
 

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