I have a bunch of dj grade LED lights that are ok for small gigs and backlighting, but still keep a few bars of 500w par cans for front lghting for community theatre and similar events. Price of high output LED’s kept me from going further.
I just finished up a week of community theatre shows and would like to look into LED’s again. Anything new out there that will keep up to a 500w ungelled conventional lamp at a reasonable price?
Thanks. BJ
What’s your reason for wanting LED? For tungsten white, I still use S4 pars which are now available for about $50 each on EBay, produce significantly more output than a 500w Par 64 bulb even with the 575w HPL lamp, have interchangeable lenses, and will use your existing dimmers. The HPL lamp will be available for a long time, and spares are the size of a guitar amp tube rather than a salad bowl.
If you want color mixing or zooming, I would encourage you to look at the Chauvet Rogue R2 wash units. The physical size and even the price is comparable to some of the nicer front wash lights, and you get movement as well as zoom and color. They make a very nice tungsten white, are video safe, and since they are movers, you probably can get away with fewer fixtures and just reuse them than if you’re doing conventional lights. I have tested them against S4 lekos with 575w short-life lamps (brighter than your 500w pars) and the Rogue washes keep up.
If you need leko-style features, then Mark’s suggestion is probably a good start.
