What happened to pars?

[Bryce Jonke]

Now that movers have essentially dominate the lighting world. The use of pars has really died out. Of course they need to be focused which takes time. Movers make sense for the most part. They don't cost you the focus time, they often zoom wider, and now they only cost a bit more. However I'm interested to hear from those of us who still use them. What do you like about them? any interesting ways you have used them before? What fixtures you like to use? Let's talk pars.

 

[AlexDavila]

I would disagree, in the two spaces I work in, the S4 Par and various LED Pars still make up the bulk of our top light systems. While movers are convenient to focus, they inevitably need to be serviced from time to time, meaning either you need someone on staff who is equipped to handle that or a company you can send them to. Either way, the downtime can be very inconvenient and expensive. With PARs, incandescent or LED, your cost to upkeep and maintenance is significantly lower.

 

[SteveB]

Now that movers have essentially dominate the lighting world. The use of pars has really died out. Of course they need to be focused which takes time. Movers make sense for the most part. They don't cost you the focus time, they often zoom wider, and now they only cost a bit more. However I'm interested to hear from those of us who still use them. What do you like about them? any interesting ways you have used them before? What fixtures you like to use? Let's talk pars.

Conventional S4 Pars make up the bulk of the back light wash in our rep dance plot, 48 units out of 108 overhead.

Essentially a wash, is a wash, etc... and there is no way I would replace these units with any mover. It's a wash. There's very little L/R, DS/US variations that would warrent use of a MAC Aura, as example. I would replace 2 color systems with Desire D60's, but have little need to move stuff during a show. I pretty much never change lenses either, as a wide works for the wash, so nobody asks. Changing to D60's is also way down the list of where I want LED's as well.

I do use Aura's on a separate pipe as Bax for a large pit area, as that sees a variety of acts in differing staging configurations. I can also do with 9 Aura's where I used to focus 56 conventionals.

As note, I would venture that conventionals still dominate except tours, large venues, Broadway, etc... Tons more S4's out there then movers and LED's. Going to be that way for a while.

As a side note, I did work with an Israeli LD last year had never used gel. Had never seen a Lee or Roscolux swatch book.

Sigh.

 

[Bryce Jonke]

I defiantly agree with both of these statements. I should have specified that I meant more along the lines of smaller rental services.

 

[JD]

Nothing puts a lot of light on a stage cheaper than a PAR.
It's not the most efficient, not the most eloquent, has little versatility, but boy in brute terms, PAR64's with 1000 watt lamps is the fastest way to get things bright on the fly. (As long as you have access to the power.)

 

[JohnD]

I have to throw in Kanye at Glastonbury.

 

[danhr]

Just got my hands on 8 S4 pars ($20 each!) and I am in LOVE!! They go great with our 600WPC packs.

 

[Bryce Jonke]

I have to throw in Kanye at Glastonbury.
View attachment 14339

Touché hahaha

 

[SteveB]

I have to throw in Kanye at Glastonbury.
View attachment 14339

So as always, I count them up. 20 deep x 24 across, 480 fixtures, if 1k's and all at 240 volt, so 4 amps ea ?. So 666 amps per phase, just for the Pars.

Nuts. And hot.

And it's Kanye, so baked turd.

 

[ship]

I have thoughts, but am going to wait a day.

 

[techieman33]

I think some of it probably has to do with truck pack space. 120k with dimmers and cables takes up a lot of space in a truck for what usually ends up being used as a couple of washes while the wiggle lights do the primary lighting.

 

[soundlight]

With smaller rental services, there are two things at play - one, time is money. You gotta get in and get out as fast as possible, and if you can have one light point at 4 different places, that saves setup time, focus time, power, &c. Additionally, you can use them as a mover for concerts, as a downlight/backlight for theatrical applications, and as moving specials for frontlight. Especially with the price of fixtures like the Rogue R1 Wash and R2 Wash, smaller rental houses are increasingly going with solutions that are more versatile and save time onsite.

 

[cbrandt]

I've got hundreds of conventional pars in my inventory (both par 64 and S4), and I still have weeks that I'm out. Sure, they aren't used on every show, but when you do need them they're ready to go and work out of the box. Leds are replacing them for a lot of applications, but as previously mentioned nothing gets a boatload of light on a stage like pars.

 

[RonaldBeal]

I still see lots of "PAR"s, but they all seem to be color mixing LED. Lets face it, 6 PARs with 6 colors, vs 1 LED "PAR" with thousands of colors, smooth crossfades, less power consumption, less heat, and some even ave variable zoom... It is a no brainer for new inventory.

I recall a recent discussion with a former co-worker that now installs lighting systems for theaters. They had a design meeting and someone on the committee brought up the question "Do we even need dimmers?" His default answer was "Of course we need dimmers, every theater has dimmers"... But after looking at it closely, they determined that all the fixtures that the theater was acquiring were color changing LED (Spots, Wash, PARS, Battens, Cycs) and they didn't actually need a dimmer anywhere. The "compromise" included a ETC smartpack, and L21-30 power at a few strategic locations around the stage. They might use the dimmers for a set practical.

Their numbers gave a cost break even at 600 hours of use, and beyond the 600 hours, LED was cost savings. (VS cost of dimmers, more fixtures, gel, lamps, more power, more Air Conditioning, etc...)

Because of this I see existing PAR inventories being useful, but I don't see new purchases of PAR rigs as making much financial sense over the long term.

 

[GoboMan]

I love movers and the new technology that's out there today, but sometimes nothing beats a great old-school array of incandescent PARs backlighting a stage or for downlight. A classic chase sequence on a bank of PARs complete with the afterglows always makes me happy. Sure, it will cost you some dimmer channels and a lot of focus time, but it's totally worth it.

 

[JD]

Well, in the "Kanye" show above, doesn't look like much aiming was done!
More like all the pars were locked into their transport positions and "artistic" effect was achieved by "aiming" the entire truss on a slant. Would make for a very fast setup.

That must have been a deliciously toasty stage!! (Bet Al Gore was off somewhere crying)

 

[JohnD]

More info on that par rig:
https://www.avolites.com/news/detai...792-par-can-rig-for-kanye-west-at-glastonbury
For those who don't want to read the article, it was 792 cans.
Dimmer Beach:

 

[danhr]

Looks like the front of the Who Are You album.....

 

[derekleffew]

( Link from http://www.blue-room.org.uk/index.php?showtopic=68387 )
http://dts-lighting.it/retire_par_projectors/ :

Just in these days DTS will finish the shipment of the last PAR pieces and will proudly greet the forefather of a long list of projectors that have grown and improve an Italian company that, still today, designs and manufactures all its products in Misano Adriatico – Italy.

DTS products are not well-known in North America, but I see where Group One is trying to change that.

Will Altman, Thomas, and Tomcat be far behind in discontinuing the parcan?

 

[Bryce Jonke]

Now my original idea behind this was having to do with LED pars but I'm really enjoying the various examples of conventional being used as well. Keep it coming with your ideas. Personally I feel that there will always be a need for the basic dimming pars for every space, Same goes for your basic S4 front light. I really liked the photo of the mountain of mult. from JohnD. So if anyone has more ideas or opinions to share please post them as well as if anyone has photos like the Kanye setup or cool setups using pars please share!

More info on that par rig:
https://www.avolites.com/news/detai...792-par-can-rig-for-kanye-west-at-glastonbury
For those who don't want to read the article, it was 792 cans.
Dimmer Beach:
View attachment 14342