Does Brightness/intensity matter.

[ACTSTech]

sk8rsdad, we used all colors on incandescent fixtures, from primary blue (which was a Cinabex #20, transmission around 5%) to the palest warms. We just needed more wattage on the darker ones.

I was shocked that when my buddy tried Lee 181 (Congo Blue) on Par 64 NSPs, that it didn’t burn through right away.

To clear things up, I don’t even own a light meter, and like Les, I eyeball everything. We were so small we only had really enough instruments for a one or two color wash, so you sort of use the eye test and say looks good. Also, I’m too old to move a 12 foot ladder a bunch of times and go up and down a ton. To be honest, a high school upgraded their lights after 50-some years and gave us a ton of ancient focusing scoops. Not quite the surgeons scalpel instrument designers love, but got the job done for washing.

Les, one director we work with on occasion went and got his eyeballs cleaned. He got his cataracts out and when he came to see our last show, he commented that he never realized the stage was in such bad shape and that you could see the fire door backstage from the house. I’d be afraid to clean the lights because he might notice the actors on stage next...

 

[ggooch]

Which does point out the fact that we are designing for an entire audience. Not everyone's vision is the same. A dark scene that you think it bright enough might not actually be for the average age of the audience.

Geoff

 

[JChenault]

Which does point out the fact that we are designing for an entire audience. Not everyone's vision is the same. A dark scene that you think it bright enough might not actually be for the average age of the audience.

Geoff

I can’t say how much I agree with this. I go to a lot of dance. Very frequently I just can’t quite see the dancers for much of the piece.

One thing I noticed in my own designs is that if I sit close to the stage, my levels tend to be too dim. This is why I typically set my audience desk just beyond half way back in the house.

 

[ship]

Remember that unless your color meter is designed to recognize LED for a source...
Remember Light output ln Lumens is different from Color Temperature. One is actual light, the other apperience of brighter light which is useful but can also fool the mind in use for brightness but possibly not be for overall intensity of say the area what is needed.

 

[ship]

Sekonic C700-U believe is the meter I last bought.