jolly_camper123 Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 I'm currently tech director for a University drama/musical society. I'm starting to spec for a production of Crazy for You that we're doing in December. The stage area is fairly large, and I need to be able to wash the whole area with colour, and have a fairly flexible system. Does anyone have any experience of using LED fixtures in theatrical applications? We get a good deal with Stage LX and I've seen in their latest catalogue they are stocking both Par64 LED fixtures and the Chroma Flood 200. What is the consensus? Are LED fixtures good enough yet for stage use? Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trunker Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 If you get the 'new' 3w LED lanterns they give out about 850w of 'normal' par lamp brightness. I will leave it for you to decide whether they are useful for your application. They are not directional lights either and no focus on them, as far as I am aware. Just my 2p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 850W? Which are these? LEDs are good for washes, but if you do search for LED in the Google search box, you'll find dozens of topics all saying basically the same thing. LEDs are not yet bright enough, but if you have loads of them, can be very useful. Budget LED fixtures have a lifespan that could be little more than the guarantee period, and although replacements will be available, the actual replacement will be unlikely to be the same one - so the usual advice is buy more than you need and keep them for spares. The brighter more modern designs are also more expensive! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David A Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 LEDs are not close to being a cost effective source of illumination, the hype around LEDs is annoying as I spend a lot of time explaining to customers that they can't light their cyc with a dozen par 64 LEDs off Ebay.As 'eye candy' and blinders and highlighters they are fine but for a large stage wash? forget it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobOwen Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 We sell a 3W Moving Head LED, which are very bright. We've sold a good few to Theatres replacing some of their conventional lanterns. With RGB Mixing I think they are good value for money against a conventional lantern with say a scroller unit. If you want more information please PM me. Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 We sell a 3W Moving Head LED, which are very bright.Hi Rob do you have some photometric data you could post? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobOwen Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 To be honest, I don't. We just tend to send demos out. As you've asked though I will try and get some from the factory and post it. Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 All the blurb I've found is full of hyperbole and innuendo. Comments such as equivalent to 575W washlight, and "We are now looking at products capable of outputting 200 lumens per watt by next year." £2600 seems expensive for an unproven product. The press material suggests White Light and others have bought them, but nothing about them on their web site? I suspect we need to wait a while to see how well received these products really are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobOwen Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 That is expensive. I wasn't going to make comments about the product your referring to, but I can't see the money in it. For the record; the mover I was referring to is nowhere near that price (and the parts are 100% stocked in the UK). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niclights Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 It is perfectly possible to wash large stages with LED, and very effectively. But you do need to use the high-end fixtures and these are expensive. That is a disadvantage, along with difficulty with some colours and inability to fade perfectly to black (There is always an initial switch-on, sometimes imperceptable, sometimes not). Clear advantages are power requirements, no lamp to worry about, no heat, no fan cooling, small footprint and often suitable for outdoor. They are well suited to bold saturated colours, at both ends of the spectrum (where tungsten or discharge might have issues in one area or another) but equally have problems with whites and yellows. They can switch on and off and change colour faster than any other fixture, but they don't change colour temp with intensity or produce a beautiful glow on cooling (why I would never use them as a 'blinder'). Personally I would never use them as a sole lamp source, the same as I would not rely on just movers or just generic. But I would not rule them out for the same reason - ie. they all have specific advantages and uses and are a great tool to have in your inventory. Examples of suitable fixtures would be SGM Palco, DTS Delta, I-Pix Satellite, JTE Pixelline etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolly_camper123 Posted October 17, 2007 Author Share Posted October 17, 2007 Thanks y'all that proves very useful to hear the vibe. Personally I'm not convinced by much until I see it with my own eyes, so I think I'll have to see if I can see some demo fixtures before committing any of my budget! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musht Posted October 18, 2007 Share Posted October 18, 2007 equivalent to 575W washlight, and "We are now looking at products capable of outputting 200 lumens per watt by next year." £2600 seems expensive for an unproven product.. 200 l/W would be about double current best efficiency and only about 40 l/W short of effectively 100% efficient, colour me cynical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tokm Posted October 18, 2007 Share Posted October 18, 2007 equivalent to 575W washlight, and "We are now looking at products capable of outputting 200 lumens per watt by next year.This from the company that makes knock of/mixed together manufacturers heads (at least the casing anyway!) As well as the other issues with Fine Art (the chinese lot) that have been covered a few times before... No disrespect Rob, but I'll have to wait till I see it to believe it. If 200 lumens per watt is achievable in a years time, then good luck/advanced congratulations to your company in developing the technology first, before the other big 'LED players'! I'll look forward to seeing it at PLASA next year! Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben.suffolk Posted October 18, 2007 Share Posted October 18, 2007 No disrespect Rob, but I'll have to wait till I see it to believe it Tom, I agree, but I don't recall seeing Rob make any such statement, paulears brought up the bit you quoted, and as I read it a he was talking in general about companies making such preposterous statements. I think maybe you have been a little unfair to Rob on this one. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musht Posted October 18, 2007 Share Posted October 18, 2007 Think at least one of the quotes refers to the GLP product, help if you quote the source of a quote :-) http://www.led-lites.co.uk/products.php?se...item&id=268 575 W wash light example is given, presume they are comparing against their white and amber equiped unit with no beam angle quoted. Dunno about the 200l/W quote or the price, guide here is given as £3,300 Old chestnut "Average service life 100,000 h` is put in, Lumileds quote 70% output at 50,000 hours, fade isnt linear, dunno if servicable is how would describe output in 10 years time. www.fine99.com Fine Arts Chinese homepage is painfully slow and dont know if Rob has a UK site up yet so from: http://www.ukslc.org/News/Lighting_News/Fi...nal_Launch.html "The Fine Series of LED Moving Heads...........impressive 50,000-hour service life." Which sounds refreshingly honest...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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