Looking for the "best" LED pars

[BillConnerFASTC]

Compare specs of these: http://www.osram-americas.com/en-us...-specialty-lighting/Pages/KREIOS-FRESNEL.aspx I've only seen the "white" vesion, not the RGBA. I though the proice point was pretty good. Not the brigthtest, but not bad for the buck.

 

[Ric]

That leads me to a question I don't know the answer to yet:

Do fixture profiles in consoles these days -- say, Ion and newer -- provide a facility for colorimetry tuning?

Not specifically colorimetry tuning that I am aware of.
Most desks do allow you to record colour palettes so that you can choose your own 'White' or other colours within the gamut of the devices mixing.
ETC Ion/Eos & Cobalt/Congo do have a lot of fixtures that have colour calibrated profiles, but that has been generated by ETC themselves.

 

[Jay Ashworth]

Okay, I guess that's close to what I mean. More what I was talking about is that I gather it is possible to set cues on a full-color lamp using HSV or HSB color spaces, and I was wondering if the mapping tables/equations for those, for a specific fixture type, were hand tunable by the user.

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[mthom]

Currently have 3 demo fixtures in stock and am evaluating them:
- ETC ColorSource PAR original
- ETC ColorSource PAR Deep Blue
- Philips Showline SL-PAR 155 Zoom

I'd seen the CSPAR Orig and SL155 before...

Largely, I'm still pretty conflicted about a choice between the three of them. Things I've found:

- CS Par Orig has a noticeably better white than either DB or SL155
- CS Par Orig is noticeably brighter than Deep Blue (as specs would tend to indicate)
- CS Par Deep Blue does have a decent LED blue color and magenta, but cannot get even sort of close to the blue-green spectrum of the original, whereas the SL 155 can get darn close to the blue-green of the CSPar Orig
- SL 155 has the most punch across spectrum, but the worst white
- CS Pars have a noticeably better dimming curve, although SL155 isn't terrible
- CS Pars are about half the size and weight
- SL155 has the double yoke for floor standing
- SL155 has a 16 channel personality which is kind of big, but does afford some nice built in strobe effect controls etc.
- CS Pars have nice (though expensive) lensing options, but the SL155 has zoom built in. (the CS Par lensing does also fit the SL155, though I'm sure it's not as efficient, it does shape the beam)

For my use which is largely back and downlight, I'm still pretty conflicted on which fixture I will be most happy with. I love having ETCs name, but the SL155 keeps nagging at me as a more versatile choice. Dunno if that helps your process at all but figured I'd share.

AHA! This is exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for - thank you.

I stil can't decide either.

I eliminated and added some fixtures, so now I need to decide between the following:
- ETC ColorSource PAR
- ETC Desire D40
- Chauvet COLORado 3 Solo
- Philips PAR 155 Zoom
- Philips PUNCHLITE 220

I would have loved to have the Chroma-Q Colour One 100 on my list, but unfortunately it is too dim compared to the others.

My wish is to have a fixture that looks like the Chroma-Q Colour One 100 (that is, one homogenised light source), combined with the behaviour, punch, colour spectrum and all other features of the ETC Desire D60. Wouldn't that be awesome?

Anyway, thank a lot guys for your replies - really helpful information! Still can't decide...

 

[Jay Ashworth]

Well as a couple people pointed out, the D60 does have a 7.5 inch Job Lot in the front into which you can put diffusers. What is the driving force behind your 'must be a homogenous light source' requirement

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[mthom]

Well as a couple people pointed out, the D60 does have a 7.5 inch Job Lot in the front into which you can put diffusers. What is the driving force behind your 'must be a homogenous light source' requirement

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Aesthetics and beauty, not to mention the "loss" of light when you put on a diffuser that has the same angle as the fixture, just to get that homogenous look.

 

[robmerow]

The "diffusers" in the Desire range are not traditional diffusion, but holographic etched lenses which are quite efficient (someone can probably provide the exact number, but its more than 90%). But even with these, it's not truly homoginous.

I'm also a believer in the homogeneous look, and I feel like in five years or so the skittles look fixtures will look quite dated. And in ten, the multiple quad or hex circles will look dated as well (but by then you may be up for replacement anyway).

If form and function are of higher priority than cost, would you consider the ETC Gen 2 S4 with fresnel adapter? More expensive than the other options, and some may argue overkill, but it'll certainly do a nice job.

 

[derekleffew]

Well as a couple people pointed out, the D60 does have a 7.5 inch Job Lot in the front into which you can put diffusers.

Job Lot? Autocorrect for color slot?
The D40 takes a 7.5" colorframe, the D60 is 9".

 

[cdiamondz]

If form and function are of higher priority than cost, would you consider the ETC Gen 2 S4 with fresnel adapter? More expensive than the other options, and some may argue overkill, but it'll certainly do a nice job.

If you were attempting a giant, even, bright wash, then this might be what you're looking for. The fresnel zoom will also let you to attempt smaller washes, and be even brighter. Only draw back is that each fixture is ~$2,100 not including the fresnel adapter. Youtube video from ETC: youtu.be/zH10nQOxsjw

 

[Jay Ashworth]

Job Lot? Autocorrect for color slot?
The D40 takes a 7.5" colorframe, the D60 is 9".

Gel slot, actually. Yeah; bad voice rec. And yes, I misquoted the sizes.

 

[Jay Ashworth]

Aesthetics and beauty, not to mention the "loss" of light when you put on a diffuser that has the same angle as the fixture, just to get that homogenous look.

So these would be fixtures the audience could see?

I myself was assuming they were theatrical lighting, but it's pretty uncommon, IME, for the audience to be purposefully able to see the fixture faces in that environment -- if for no other reason that even the human eye hasn't enough stops of AGC to be able to see everything else reliably...

 

[dreamist]

I stil can't decide either.

I eliminated and added some fixtures, so now I need to decide between the following:
- ETC ColorSource PAR
- ETC Desire D40
- Chauvet COLORado 3 Solo
- Philips PAR 155 Zoom
- Philips PUNCHLITE 220

The pricing categories on those don't all line up tho.. From what I've seen, the CSPAR and SL155 are essentially the same price point (not quite $600), while the Punchlite 220, D40, and COLORado 3 Solo are all between $1000 and $1200 or so.. is your experience similar?

 

[ledstixx]

ETC should be good. I used Elation arena, these are bright but so heavy and poor material, especially menu buttons.