gdrever Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 Morning chaps First post, and I'm hoping a friendly expert out there can help me. I'm hunting around for a basic (very) budget mobile lighting set-up for a theatre company who will be performing in very small venues. My basic need is for white (ie neutral) light that can be manually faded in and out, operated from a distance of around 10m away. I have the chance of buying this set-up second-hand: http://www.visionsta...leads-case-USED. I think I've established that it will manually fade in and out, but am not yet clear if it will definitely give white light. Can anyone help please? Muchos thanks. George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david.elsbury Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 You will get a sort of white, yes - but the balance may be off (I.e it might be "reddy" or "bluey") and, most importantly, you will get coloured shadows - because there is a difference in distance between the bulbs, so you'll get odd effects. Can you demo before you buy (or hire?) to see if you are happy before you commit? David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Some Bloke Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 Hi George, The page you linked to unfortunatley has 16 different items on it so you'll need to tell us which one you're thinking about. I'm going to take a guess that it is an LED Parcan using red, gree and blue LEDs to mix colours? If so, then they will certainly tell you that it will give you white and the theory of additive mixing says that primary red, primary green and primary blue when mixed together will give you white but, unfortunately, there are several ways in which LED pars don't fit that theory (to do with both frequesncies of light emitted and point source theory etc.). What they actually give you is a sort of murky colour with lots of different "tones", if you like, to it that is vaguely in the area of white but not actually a very nice look on people's faces. The more you spend then the more you'll get something like white until you go for a Source 4 LED Studio HD which will give you any shade of white you want and will look almost as good as a tungsten spot. Unfortunatley at the lower end of the market for my mind the answer to your question is "no". The colour you get won't be what a lighting designer would think of as white. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david.elsbury Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 The URL suggests the product is an Acme iSolution iColour 3 unit. FWIW :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David A Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 there is no such thing as "white" light, there is a wide range of what we call white, the short answer is no, you will not get a usable white in the range of 3,000 degrees with a full continuous spectrum. You might take out the green, you could then have a white light to which you could add red or blue to warm or cool your white.But it would not be very efficient. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revbobuk Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 It's not just about whether it looks 'white' or not - the particular characteristics of the light have a huge effect on the way that colours - of makeup, of costumes - look. And most of that design work has been done with incandescent light in mind. If you are looking for cheap and portable, I'd look at PAR56 (conventional, incandescent) on tripod stands. Cheap. powerful, easy to colour, and reliable - but that's just my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdrever Posted October 13, 2013 Author Share Posted October 13, 2013 Hi folks, many thanks for the replies. First, sorry yes it is the Acme iSolution iColour 3. (Try this slightly amended link to the product - http://www.visionstagelighting.co.uk/acme-isolution-icolour-3-full-set-foot-controller-DMX-leads-case-USED ) As you can see It's not an LED unit - would that make any difference to the blendability(!) of the colours to make up an acceptable white light?If not, then I can see the benefit of revbobuk's suggestion to go basic PAR56s (especially with my very low budget).George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 It absolutely will not give white light. They are not even very good at colours. Get par 56s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 Acme iSolution iColour 3 Run away. Fantastic room heaters though. Have you read this topic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 Run away. Fantastic room heaters though.Only if you like changing bulbs every time you turn it on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdrever Posted October 13, 2013 Author Share Posted October 13, 2013 Thanks again guys, I can definitely strike that option off the list! Bearing in mind the advice Re PAR 56s, I've had the following quote: 6 x par 56 300w @ £12 each - £726 x par 56 300w mfl lamp @ £9 each - £542 x par 56 gel pack of 4 colours @ £4 each - £82 x lighting stand - £25 each - £50.00 (includes all bolts to bolt lights to bar)1 x 6ch simple desk - £29.002 x DMX cable 10m - £7 - £142 x DMX dimmer 4ch IEC - £65 each - £130.00 Total - £357 inc delivery I'm really trying to cut the initial cost down, and would dispense at this stage with one of the dimmers (I only need to fade all the lights in or out simultaneously for now). What do you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csg Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 I would think that that is already a very cheap quote! On the list above, if you want to retain 2 stands and therefore 2 positions then you will need the second dimmer pack as this type of system is designed to have the dimmer attached to the stand, with the lanterns directly connected via their short tails. If you removed this dimmer, you would have to add several long mains leads, thereby negating most of your cost saving. I can appreciate that you are on a very tight budget, but on the surface, and if the kit quoted is serviceable, then I doubt you find much cheaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdrever Posted October 14, 2013 Author Share Posted October 14, 2013 Great advice, thanks csg. I suppose I had really been hoping to pick up a set-up like this second-hand for a couple of hundred quid max, but there just doesn't seem to be anything like this in one complete used package. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 Great advice, thanks csg. I suppose I had really been hoping to pick up a set-up like this second-hand for a couple of hundred quid max, but there just doesn't seem to be anything like this in one complete used package. That probably shows it's a very useful package to have... csg is absolutely right about the 2 dimmers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomscott Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 Keep a close eye on ebay - I recently picked up 2 pulsar 8 way 5 amp dimmer pack along with a demux (DMX to analogue convertor) in a fight case; 12 PAR64s on 2 bars and about 50m socapex (multi way power leads) for the bargain price of 150 quid! It was an astoundingly good deal, but they are about, just need to bide your time and keep looking... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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