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Theatrical Lighting: A Manufacturers’ Roundtable

New product trends offer new technologies, better quality and efficiency, as church market grows more knowledgeable.

by Michael S. Eddy

For this roundtable, Church Production Magazine (CPM) spoke with a range of manufacturers and distributors of lighting products about some of the technology trends they are seeing in theatrical lighting for the house of worship market.

PARTICIPATING IN THE ROUNDTABLE:

WALT DOWLING, southern regional sales manager, Altman Lighting Inc., Baltimore, Md.
KEVIN LORETTO, director of dealer sales, Creative Stage Lighting Co. Inc., North Creek, N.Y.
ERIC LOADER, director of sales, Elation Lighting Inc., Los Angeles
JOE BOKELMAN, architectural marketing manager, Electronic Theatre Controls Inc., Middleton, Wis.
VINNY FINNEGAN, vice president, Group One/Elektralite, Farmingdale, N.Y.
STEVE LERMAN, director of sales, Lycian Stage Lighting, New York
DARYL SUTTON, project sales manager, Martin Professional Inc., Springfield, Mo.
GEORGE E. MASEK, product marketing manager, Vari-Lite, Philips Entertainment Group, Dallas
PETER ROGERS, senior director entertainment marketing, Philips Lighting, Andover, Mass.

CPM: Are there particular lighting trends in the house of worship market?

Dowling: Often, the lighting budget is lumped in with [the] sound and A/V budget during the budgeting process for a new facility. This can cause real problems down the line. Every foot of platform space requires a certain amount of light to be evenly lit-so bigger platforms require bigger lighting systems. It is important that the financial considerations of the lighting system be taken into account when budgeting a building.

Loretto: One trend we are seeing is that more and more designers are specifying LED over conventional fixtures where it is practical for the application. It allows the designer to put more of the budget towards the actual lighting rather than the dimming, since LEDs dim via DMX and can be controlled directly by the lighting console.

Loader: Lighting and video keep getting more closely related and incorporated together. Also, as LEDs get brighter, less dimming systems are required, cutting down installation costs and monthly power costs. An example of this is a church in Florida that recently replaced [its] high power 750W halogen lighting fixtures with our 100W LED Fresnel and cut the electric bill by 30% by switching.

Bokelman: LEDs are still the obvious trend. The most recent development is the arrival of LEDs for general lighting of the congregation and for illuminating the pastor. But it's still [in] the early stages of that, and technical issues still need to be resolved. You want the right quality of white light to blend with and complement the surroundings, not conflict with it.

Rogers: Energy codes are clearly having an effect on lighting in all public facilities, and in terms of both renovations and new construction, a number of jurisdictions are requiring facilities to completely update their lighting as part of any work of this kind. Designers and building owners need to evaluate how to maintain the look and feel of their lighting throughout a facility when these changes occur. This is particularly true of historic buildings that were primarily lit by incandescent light. We have seen beautiful renovations that had significant energy savings and preserved the appearance of a building-and the exact opposite where the result was energy efficient but aesthetically awful.

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Michael S. Eddy writes about design and technology. He can be reached at mseddy2900@hotmail.com.   .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)