I'm just now able to catch up on this while my son mows the lawn.
BMI Supply has been searching for the Holy Grail of worklights for years with limited success. It seems that worklights follow the same addage I have used in all production work: Good. Fast. Cheap. Pick two.
To start, I will say that the
fixture closest to meeting all of our parameters is the Kreios FLx 90. The first generation of these fixtures as
@DELO72 will admit, caused Osram a massive migraine and cost them a LOT of money. To their credit, they made good on all of the first generation fixtures and swapped them out at no cost to the customer. While it has taken us time to begin trusting the FLx 90 again, I can say that we have seen few, if any, claims on the new generation. At the moment, it really is the best option and value in worklights. Some years ago, I used them in a recital
hall to successfully light the
thrust stage area. As
@RickR noted,
City Theatrical graciously created barn doors and top hats for them. The accessories are a
bit pricey, but because the FLx 90 is
LINE-dimmable, it allows you to use them as a theatrical
wash. Osram ships them with a color frame standard.
If that's all the information you needed, ignore the rest of my monologue here. So, the parameters. We established the following as being almost necessary in a
stage worklight.
- High Output
- Our one complaint about the Kreios is output. In a day where we see some pretty amazing output from single source LED emitters, the Krieos lags. the FLx 90 does make up for this in cost as noted earlier. When compared to other options, the fact that you can buy 2-3 FLx 90 fixtures for the cost of one higher output fixture more than makes up for the low output, but more fixtures means more space and not everyone can afford the space. The Altman Worklight 130W is a very nice fixture and great for scenic work, but it's not dimmable at all.
- Line-dimmable
- While shop staff will likely want the worklights at full, we can't forget that the worklights are used for rehearsal purposes as well. One big reason we want them is so that they aren't logging hours on the production fixtures. For those facilities that are on academic campuses, it is now guaranteed that the space will be used as a lecture hall and they absolutely should not have access to production fixtures for those applications.
- Most LED fixtures on the market that can serve as stage worklights do not have dimmable drivers nor are they dimmable by DMX or even on-board control. Line-dimming is the quickest and easiest way to handle the worklights because you don't have to run more DMX cable. Yes, the dimmers are never really completely off and there will always be a minute drain of power by the fixtures, but that is so minimal as to be a non-issue. If there is higher drain there, then you may have a dimmer problem. DMX is nice if you are able to make it work in your system especially if you can work it into your architectural control. We have found that the majority of our customers want the line-dimming capability.
- High CRI
- Yes, I know that CRI is a poor method for measuring color rendering, but it's the term that most people know. Viable fixtures for use in scenic work need to be at least 90 CRI. If you're painting under lower CRI fixtures, then you risk your work looking ugly under production lighting.
- Priced under $400 USD
- If you are able to find a fixture that meets the above criteria, it will usually fail here. It is our opinion that there is absolutely no reason with the current state of production and technology in LED chips and drivers that manufacturers cannot produce a fixture that meets the above criteria and still keep the cost to the end user below $400. Ideally, we would like to see something under $300 so that smaller schools and theatres can fit them in their budget. Many of our customers purchase worklights incrementally with each budget cycle, so it's important that the cost be kept down while still maintaining reasonable quality so that the fixtures don't become boat anchors as soon as the warranty expires. The longevity of the FLx 90 has been great in this aspect, but the technology is a bit "long in the tooth" in LED years.
While the cheap Amazon fixtures may do the job, there is the issue of longevity. We considered these fixtures and still occasionally revisit the idea, but failing fixtures does not reflect well on the company manufacturing or selling them. Not all end users understand that what they are buying are essentially throw-away fixtures and that cheap fixtures do fail. We would rather not risk creating that kind of reputation. The bigger issues for me are that those fixtures almost never meet the criteria outlined above.
If you are willing to work with
DMX or simply create a local setting on the fixtures so that you can put them on a
relay and simply turn them on and off, there are options out there. The ADJ Z100 3K and 5K offer nice output, manually adjustable beam spreads from 9° to 30°, and 90
CRI for under $400. For those of you turned off by the ADJ label, don't be. While I personally struggle with recommending a name that has long been associated with DJ flash-n-trash, ADJ is creating some fixtures that I would classify as entry-level professional much like CHAUVET has the Rogue
line in their moving heads and the COLORDash
line in the static fixtures. The problem with ADJ is that not all of their
line is at that
level and navigating that jungle is tedious. I petitioned them to do something to clearly delineate their fixtures, but it went nowhere. They have created a new
line of fixtures under the name Eliminator Lighting, and it's my understanding that they will be migrating the flash-n-trash to that label. Long story short--ADJ is making quality gear with solid support, you just have to weed it out.
That completes this chapter in my
book. Enjoy what's left of your weekend. And
@DELO72, it's time for an upgrade to the FLx 90 for higher output and I hope Osram has it in the works.