Arri L10-C
As the adoption of LED lighting into the production environment continues, manufacturers of these products have worked to improve the quality of the fixtures themselves, as well as the equipment that supports them. Today, the integration of these lights into a facility’s AVL line-up offers churches not only the opportunity to cut down on energy consumption––it opens up a number of creative doors as well.
“The advancements in the architectural LED lighting market have been tremendous, and that’s translated over to the theatrical side,” says Eric Loader, director of sales and marketing at Elation Lighting Inc., headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif. “The light quality [has gotten better] in LED––the color rendering, and how the product looks when it’s on people or when it’s on camera.”
David Hilton, product marketing manager at ETC Inc., a lighting products manufacturer based in Middleton, Wis., notes that among the advancements this product category has seen are better whites; improvements in calibration technology that delivers more consistent lighting; and controllers that are capable of accommodating color-versatile systems, enabling designers and operators to do more with color. Heat management is another area that has seen progress, which results in brighter fixtures.
“Now you can put LED fixtures in places that just five years ago you wouldn’t think about putting them, because they wouldn’t [have been] bright enough by the time they hit their target,” he says.At broadcast lighting and camera manufacturer Arri Inc., in Blauvelt, N.Y., Specifications Lighting Sales Manager Randy Read highlights color-matching as a key advancement in LED. “There is no doubt about it, the ability to match any color temperature, along with plus and minus green, is heaven-sent when working on location,” he says. “Now you can match just about any color temp no matter where you are. This allows you to work with existing light by just turning a knob and then balancing your camera to that light.” Arri recently introduced a new model to its series of soft light SkyPanels, the S360-C. This panel features a 105-degree beam angle, delivers 120,000 lumens of brightness while consuming 1,500 watts, and is fully color-tunable.
Read also points to Arri’s L10-C Fresnel for long throw applications. “[It’s] a true Fresnel fixture, which gives you the ability to cut light where you don’t want it and put light where you do want it,” he explains. “This and the fact it has hue and saturation gives you the ability to have any color you like on stage, as well as any color temp you desire.” Brian Dowdle, marketing director at lighting technology manufacturer ADJ Products LLC based in Los Angeles, points to the HEX LED technology featured in several of the company’s fixtures, including the HEX Pearl. This technology includes red, green, blue, white, amber, and UV, expanding the available color palette. “You can take advantage of white and you can take advantage of amber, and when you mix those two you can get a warm white for staging applications,” he explains. “And the UV is not just for dance parties––it’s actually to take some of your reds and blues, and it electrifies them and makes those colors pop.”
Flexibility & power management
Flexibility is another feature that most of the major lighting fixture manufacturers have been offering for a number of years. Under the ETC umbrella, the High End Systems SolaHyBeam is one example of this, providing a spotlight and wash in one unit. At Elation, the Saturna Profile moving head LED features framing shutters and a number of effects that make it a multipurpose unit.
“Now you can put LED fixtures in places that just five years ago you wouldn’t think about putting them … they wouldn’t [have been] bright enough by the time they hit their target."
—David Hilton, Product Marketing Manager, ETC Inc., Middleton, WI.
“[That] is ideal for churches, because normally they are working with a limited budget and they need fixtures that can do multiple things,” Loader says. ADJ’s Vizi CMY300 combines beam, spot and wash. “What’s great about this is you can use the same fixture for three different things instead of spending money on three different fixtures––plus the space they [take up],” Dowdle says. He adds that this fixture incorporates CMY color mixing, “so not only can you use the colors that are in the color wheel, but you can [also] use the CMY color mixing system and it produces thousands of different colors––greens and teals and magentas––that you couldn’t get from a color wheel.” Aside from fixtures and controllers, ETC also offers its ColorSource Relay, a portable unit that connects to a DMX system. In default mode, the system will shut down the lighting rig five minutes after it no longer detects DMX, providing another way for churches to save on electricity usage while at the same time protecting the longevity of their LED lighting fixtures.
“What I like about it is you don’t even need to think about it or explain to your staff the virtues of turning off your lighting system when it’s not in use,” Hilton says. “You just say, ‘turn the console off,’ and the system is set up to where it automatically takes care of itself.”ETC’s Sensor IQ is also designed for power management: in this case it’s a professional-grade intelligent breaker system that combines a circuit breaker with a relay. “By combining those two things, you have a very dense panel in terms of 20- or 30-amp circuits you can get out of it,” Hilton explains. It also features an isolated ground, enabling it to act as the central distribution point for lighting, sound, and even video.
Cost vs. benefit
While LED lighting technology has gotten more accessible to churches of all sizes, it can involve a higher up-front investment over conventional fixtures, as well as a financial outlay for the gear designed to support it. “These are intelligent fixtures––you can’t just put them on a light switch,” Loader says. This means that churches also need to take into account a suitable lighting control system that is user-friendly, as well as products that will continue to be useful into the future. “You want to buy a product that’s scalable, that you can use for a long time, and that as you grow you can add things to it and it will still be viable. I think a lot of people will go out and buy some inexpensive LED fixtures just to create some dazzle, but then they realize a year later as they grow, they’re just not bright enough to compete with the bigger fixtures they want to buy now. Sometimes spending a little extra in the beginning will give you a product that you can really benefit from using for a long time.”
LED CONTROL
ADJ’s stylish new Element Series portable LED up light is designed for event professionals. Each Element fixture offers an internal rechargeable lithium battery and an extended range WiFLY EXR wireless DMX transceiver. The Element Hex features 4 x 10W RGBWA+UV LEDs.
Chauvet’s Ovation E-930VW variable white LED ellipsoidal incorporates a six-color LED system, designed to facilitate color-matching ambient light. Its color temperature presets range from 2800K to 8000K, and operators can adjust each color temperature further +/- green.
Blizzard Lighting’s new Aria Series of ellipsoidal spots features a 180W RGBW 4-in-1 COB LED; a warm white (WW) COB LED, as well as two Aria Profiles. Designed for use in video applications, the Profiles feature flicker-free LED, four blade shutters, and four user-selectable dimming curves.
Built in Charlotte, N.C., the Light Source’s Mini-Pendant features an 80-watt LED array utilizing Cree LED’s in either white or RGBW color-changing LED modules. Includes a no-hassle 10-year warranty.
