Design led wash for cyc

[itie]

hello guys,
im looking at replacing our cyc lights with led fixtures. the lights we have now are these. the cyc is 40ft wide and maybe 20 to 30 feet high. are there any leds that you guys recommend to use. i was looking at the colorblast and like them but didnt know it they where good for lighting something like this. any input would be great.

thank you
giovanni

 

[HornsOverIthaca]

I currently use Colorblasts on a similar cyc. They're only on the top. They just don't have the throw to hit the bottom. Our clients like it as we can do complex color chases such as moving rainbows. I probably have a photo of this around somewhere.
We did one show with 20 on the floor and 20 on the bottom and it looked fantastic, but I couldn't leave that gear on the floor. They also weren't bright enough to go behind the cyc.

 

[itie]

i think i was reading some where that they have a 50ft throw? i guess that wasn't true. how many do you think you need to get a good left to right wash.

thank you
giovanni

 

[HornsOverIthaca]

Well they do have two lenses. One for short throw and one for long throw. Currently we have all short throw in the fixtures. Removing the rubber around the fixture to change the lenses is a major pain.
You can probably find the photometric data from Color Kinetics.
LED wall-washing fixture - Philips ColorBlast 12

 

[itie]

so i would need a lot of them to get my wash and it would cost way to much. is there a cheaper led fixture that would do the job?

thank you
giovanni

 

[theatre4jc]

Check this out. It was in the last edition of PLSN. I saw this fixture at WFX in Charlotte a few months ago and it looked pretty decent. $2,200 is IMO a bit pricey but it's worth considering.

Altman Spectra Cyc 100 - PLSN

 

[itie]

i love them. if i saw them for sale some where wouldnt think much of them by the way they look but that article make them sound amazing. i think have dropped the price to here there are for $1700. i think that it would be easier to try and convince the school to 7 of those instead of 15 or 20 colorblast. do u know if there is an altman dealer that would let us demo them before hand?

thank you
giovanni

ok i just found this and think it a good competitor for the altmen. i havent found a price for it yet.

 

[Raktor]

What's wrong with good old four cell Selecon Lui units? RGBA, then color mix (and you can still create chases for rainbows etc.)

Selecon Lighting - Lui Cyc

 

[itie]

I'm on my phone but those look like conventinal lights. I want to switch to led this why I can leave and not change lamps and gel. Plus we have three cell lights now.

 

[shiben]

I'm on my phone but those look like conventinal lights. I want to switch to led this why I can leave and not change lamps and gel. Plus we have three cell lights now.

Problem with LEDs is that they are expensive and not incredibly bright. Also, their spread is not great, and their throw isnt the most even either, except on the ultra high-end units. If your not having major issues with your conventionals, why switch? We got 20 1 Cell HUI cyc lights for the same price as 3 Selador (the ETC LED) units. Much better bargain, and I can do a cyc much bigger than yours with them. Doing the same with LED will cost you an arm, leg, and several of your early children.

 

[theatre4jc]

I agree shiben. I have a small cyc in one of my rooms that is 15' tall and 30' wide. Currently I light it with 4 3bay 1K colortrans. The youth pastor that speaks in the room loves blue light behind him when he speaks and is convinced that there is no other way to do things other than having the color on the cyc at least an hour before house opens every week. Needless to say I eat through gel like a fat kid eats cake. The cost to quality ratio for LEDs isn't quite there IMO for replacing working units with LEDs. If I had a unit or two die I would replace them with LEDs to save on lamps, gel, and to have more color options, but by the time that happens for me (hopefully) the quality of the units available will increase to make it worth while.

LEDs have come a very long way in a short time...give it a couple more years and all of us will probably be more than willing to switch over. And hopefully by that time the cost will come down some so we can afford to do that!

 

[xander]

You guys can argue conventional versus LED, but I will speak to the OP's question. If you have the money to do it, I would say Chroma Q Color Force and Altman Spectra Cyc 100 are great choices. It depends on whether you want a strip light or a cyc light. I have used the Altman unit before (it was only a prototype, but one would assume the final product is even better) and it looked great. They have a great dimming curve, DMX footprints from 4 to 10 channels, 8 or 16-bit control of every color and intensity, relatively good color palette. I have not used the Chroma Q, but it looks good on paper and is suppose to be BRIGHT! Another great unit for lighting a cyc would be the ETC Selador Vivid-r. I think it is a matter of personal choice whether you go with strips or cyc lights. Strip lights are going to be more versatile in the long run, but you generally should light from both the top and the bottom to get a good even coverage. Cyc lights, I think will be more economical because you really only need to light from the top OR bottom.

As far as the comment about LEDs not being as even a spread, I will say that the Altman Spectra Cyc is incredibly even, far more even than a conventional.

-Tim

 

[BillESC]

While not perfect in the lower end of the dimming curve, the LED fixture in the picture below features 36 three watt diodes with RGBAW color mixing for under $ 500.00

The fixture was 20' from the cyc.