For those who haven't seen my previous post, I'm trying to do some lighting on the cheap for my church's theatrical stuff. We have a small stage in a social hall with no permanently installed lighting of any use. There is basically no budget so cost is a major issue. The biggest problem is the throw distance; as of yet there is no convenient place to mount the lights up close. I've attached a crude diagram. Sometimes we will build out the stage some and I have to put the lights farther back, but in general I calculate a throw distance of about 40 ft. (That's from 30 feet back to the center of the stage (30 feet over).) I was hoping to make do with some NSP PARs, but now I'm thinking we would be better off with some (cheap) ellipsoidals. We don't need anything fancy. I was excited about the price of the S4 Jr. until I saw the narrowest field was 26 deg. Then I saw the 360Q, which has narrow beams for the same cost as the 'regular' ones. I've read a lot of posts in this forum with both pros and cons of both lights, so am a bit torn. I saw a mention of a "shootout" by "ship" but searched and searched and couldn't find it.
But then I looked at the specs. I've attached a table in a Word doc. I've included a regular 19 deg S4 as well. Both specs are with a 575W short-life bulb. The one thing that stands out is with the S4's the beam angle is about 80% of the field angle, whereas with the 360Q 6x12 and 6x16 it's less than half the field angle, so you get a hot spot in the middle. And even though the specs show them as brighter most of the field may be dimmer than their counterpart S4. So I'm thinking maybe 6x22's for small areas and S4's for larger areas, although I'd rather stick with the same brand. I wish they had an S4 Jr. in the 19 deg size. Or I could just get larger 360Q sizes and shutter them down. Not sure how good all that heat will be for it though.
But then I looked at the specs. I've attached a table in a Word doc. I've included a regular 19 deg S4 as well. Both specs are with a 575W short-life bulb. The one thing that stands out is with the S4's the beam angle is about 80% of the field angle, whereas with the 360Q 6x12 and 6x16 it's less than half the field angle, so you get a hot spot in the middle. And even though the specs show them as brighter most of the field may be dimmer than their counterpart S4. So I'm thinking maybe 6x22's for small areas and S4's for larger areas, although I'd rather stick with the same brand. I wish they had an S4 Jr. in the 19 deg size. Or I could just get larger 360Q sizes and shutter them down. Not sure how good all that heat will be for it though.