LED Pinspots

[bruce]

Ebay and all the usual sources seem to be awash with "LED pinspots", using 3W or larger LEDs. Eg "Chauvet Pinspot 2", "American DJ Pinspot LED".

 

 

Detailed specs seem a bit scarce, but they seem to have 3W white LEDs, and beam divergence of around 6 degrees.

 

They're advertised as being ideal for mirror balls.

 

So, in terms of brightness and effect, how do these compare with traditional par36 pinspots when used on mirror balls?

[ceecrb1]

Ebay and all the usual sources seem to be awash with "LED pinspots", using 3W or larger LEDs. Eg "Chauvet Pinspot 2", "American DJ Pinspot LED".

 

 

Detailed specs seem a bit scarce, but they seem to have 3W white LEDs, and beam divergence of around 6 degrees.

 

They're advertised as being ideal for mirror balls.

 

So, in terms of brightness and effect, how do these compare with traditional par36 pinspots when used on mirror balls?

 

My ex-boss was selling some shop/instalation type LED pinspots.. the kind with a reflector rather than a lens on the front..

Genuinely were the only thing he had to sell that I would think of buying... (If I needed them)

They were the only fixture he had that "does what it says on the box" and had enough real light output to be usefull, purely because it was focused into an acceptable pinspot type beam.

[Stuart91]

We own a handful if you fancy having a play with them at some point, Bruce.

 

The ones we have aren't quite as bright as a traditional pinspot, but I can't remember if they are 3w units or perhaps a little lower.

 

There is a noticeable difference in colour temperature, LED is much colder. This may or may not be a problem - it all depends on the application. It did occur to me that have a mix of LED and incandescent on a ball might provide an interesting mix of colours.

[bigclive]

I bought one of the little American DJ ones and personally I think it's vile. Lacklustre output in harsh cold white with an optional CTO filter that doesn't so much give it a tungsten glow as just mute the output considerably.

 

Novel gimmick, but not quite ready yet in that form.

 

What did surprise me was the choice of LED. I was expecting a traditional Luxeon star type of LED, but instead it was more of a Rebel type LED. The power supply for it was a standard boxed one stuffed into the back of the light.

[rossmck]

The 3W ADJ/Chauvet/Showtec (I'm convinced they're all identical) ones are OK at relatively short throws if the cold colour temperature works for you - as bigclive above says though if you add a CTO filter it just makes them dim, rather than adding any tungsten warmth (there's almost no red in the output of the LED to start with!)

 

Then again, the last time I used one I was comparing it to what we used last time we had a mirror ball in the same place which was a particularly old moving head pointed at the mirror ball, so same harsh colour temperature. Personally, I'd still stick with pinspots.

[top-cat]

The 3W ADJ/Chauvet/Showtec (I'm convinced they're all identical) ones are OK at relatively short throws if the cold colour temperature works for you - as bigclive above says though if you add a CTO filter it just makes them dim, rather than adding any tungsten warmth (there's almost no red in the output of the LED to start with!)

 

I find with LED the best thing to do is to ignore all the preset colour palettes, ignore any premonitions you have regarding RGB mixing, and literally just shine one at a white surface until you get the colour you want, and re-build all the colour palettes yourself.

 

Therefore using a filter you can get the colour you want, just where white would normally be Red 255 Green 255 Blue 255, it might end up being Red 255 Green 180 Blue 200 or whatever... as in some units, cheap ones particularly, the red LED chips may not be as efficient as the green ones.

 

From non entertainment suppliers though I have found a range of LED pinspots which use bigger 18-20W white LED chips which is a single chip in a very pure white, then you can just add a gel over the top as you would with a conventional pinspot.

[timsabre]

I find with LED the best thing to do is to ignore all the preset colour palettes, ignore any premonitions you have regarding RGB mixing, and literally just shine one at a white surface until you get the colour you want, and re-build all the colour palettes yourself.

Therefore using a filter you can get the colour you want, just where white would normally be Red 255 Green 255 Blue 255, it might end up being Red 255 Green 180 Blue 200 or whatever... as in some units, cheap ones particularly, the red LED chips may not be as efficient as the green ones.

 

The pinspots under discussion are not RGB, they are white.

[MarfaLights]

Well what about RGBW pinspots? Has anybody tried the Blizzard Pinup? 10W RGBW with 6 degree beam and DMX control. Looks to be about twice the price of a 3W white LED mentioned above.

 

What I want is a battery operated wireless pinspot with cool white and warm white mixing capability. Then I can put a magnetic base (and safety cable) on it and attach them to the steel truss grid in my usual wedding reception venue and pinspot the floral arrangements without hours of cable running. I'm thinking of gutting all my Par 36 cans and building my own using the can as a starting point. Anybody seen a product like this on the market?

[timsabre]

Well what about RGBW pinspots? Has anybody tried the Blizzard Pinup? 10W RGBW with 6 degree beam and DMX control. Looks to be about twice the price of a 3W white LED mentioned above.

 

The problem with hard-focused LED RGB spots, as the mirror ball pictures in your link show, is that it's really hard to get the colours to mix properly without colour fringing round the edges. Still, looks like an interesting unit , haven't seen anything like it on this side of the pond.

[top-cat]

I find with LED the best thing to do is to ignore all the preset colour palettes, ignore any premonitions you have regarding RGB mixing, and literally just shine one at a white surface until you get the colour you want, and re-build all the colour palettes yourself.

Therefore using a filter you can get the colour you want, just where white would normally be Red 255 Green 255 Blue 255, it might end up being Red 255 Green 180 Blue 200 or whatever... as in some units, cheap ones particularly, the red LED chips may not be as efficient as the green ones.

 

The pinspots under discussion are not RGB, they are white.

 

Sorry, my bad, I assumed they'd be RGB as I have seen a lot of those cropping up lately too. A venue I was doing a lot got some for about £30 each and they actually do really nice deep saturated colours. Obviously the white is pink, as is standard; but everything else looks pretty decent with a bit of playing, and - as I said - not trusting the standard palettes which go with the 'generic LED' personalities on desks, but working your own for each new fixture.

[Jamtastic3]

Following on from Timsabre, the big problem with the RGB pinspot fixtures for mirrorballs is that you may think you're pointing a single beam towards the mirrorballs, but really, you're pointing 3 tight beams, resulting in 3 closely sitting coloured dots appearing in every single mirror facet.

[Judge]

What I want is a battery operated wireless pinspot with cool white and warm white mixing capability. Anybody seen a product like this on the market?

 

Thats exactly what I am looking for at the moment for a project. Single colour is fine - its for a 3 minute gag involving some flying set pieces that just need some beams coming out of them.

[ceecrb1]

What I want is a battery operated wireless pinspot with cool white and warm white mixing capability. Anybody seen a product like this on the market?

 

Thats exactly what I am looking for at the moment for a project. Single colour is fine - its for a 3 minute gag involving some flying set pieces that just need some beams coming out of them.

 

Like these?

 

http://www.americand...Category=L.E.D.

 

Buy their transmitter and "hey presto" its DMX controlled too.

 

EDIT. just seen this has already been talked about..