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So you’re going to be using LED par cans, let me give you some helpful tips and notes. These are a few things that I’ve learned through trial and error.
- Don’t light primary faces. LED provides a rather unnatural light. The only time I use LED to light faces is during a worship set when I want to take notice away from the band…but even then I put a regular par can on the worship leader’s face so they can connect properly.
- Be aware that people with epilepsy will have a problem with these lights. One of our drummers had to start wearing sunglasses while he played to avoid getting headaches and we’ve had one or two problems with someone feeling dizzy during the worship set. This could be a result of the video backgrounds we use too…but just be aware it may cause some problems for you. The solution: either have a place that isn’t overwhelming with LED lights or just limit the LED lighting in the room…perhaps don’t have the lights off.
- LED par cans don’t work that well through fog. They are usually a little less bright than traditional par cans and they are less focussed–since their light comes from multiple bulbs.
- You’ll potentially have problems with your camera equipment and LED lighting because some sort of cycles happen. I’ve seen this when we record at 60i frames…when we get to 30p or 25p we don’t have the same issues. Check out an example of the problems we have here: http://www.vimeo.com/7667880
It seems to be the use of red that causes the camera to do this…it doesn’t do it for green and blue as badly. - Don’t point the lights toward the audience. Since the LED cans mix red, green, and blue, it won’t have the desired color appearance to the audience. They will just see a bunch of little lights pointed at them. Plus they can be pretty annoying to look at.
I write and speak about the creative process – especially for churches. Call me a resource for the church creative wanting to make their ministry better.
I have started workingwith a church that has an extremely low budget. As a theatre director who has had a large budget at previous jobs I have found your sight very helpful.
Your site has been ery helpful. I recently started working with a church that has a tremendous vision, leadership but limited budget. Thank you for your suggestions
If you're having issues with people feeling dizzy or tv and video not looking right try stepping up to some flicker free LED's. It'll be more expensive. Elation makes a lot of different LED fixtures that are flicker free. As well as Martin and other high end pro fixtures. The lower end LED's like most ADJ and Chauvet fixtures are not flicker free, meaning the LEDs are actually flickering very fast when on.
I think that all LED manufacturers make a cheaper range that work OK but the old rule of you'll get what you pay for applies. We use Chauvet Colorado 2 fixtures here. No problems at all as descibed. These are the pro end of Chauvet and are very good. We generally keep away from Par Can LEDs. They are cheap but also bulky and just dont perform quite well enough. In saying that some of the new Chauvet Par cans coming out with Tri-LED's are quite good. All colours are produced through the one LED and this solves problems of seeing multiple colours when you look up at the head when running. LED's are developing very fast so its well worth keeping up with these development. We might soon find all out old type light fittings gathering dust.
Good point. I wrote the article originally with small churches in mind…meaning they were more likely to pick up the cheaper lot. But that's definitely true…you get what you pay for. :)
the Chauvet colorado1 tri tour’s are flicker free and are very bright. they also use optics to eliminate the 3 color shadows. We just purchased 8 of them for our church and they are awesome.
We have just a few LED splash lights from Chauvet. Our youth room has a huge black wall behind it and really the LED lights disappear. What kinds of materials work best to reflect those lights?
There are so many good options. Coroplast, spandex…most anything white. The problem is the black…it absorbs light rather than reflecting.
I just made a few panels out of white foam board this past week… they seem to reflect very well and are cheap and easy to find.
I work a theater, and we recently bought a bunch of PAR Cans that are run with LEDs It is always fun to play with new technology, so play we have.
I want to wash about a 20ft wall and thought about LED but concerned what to buy that will be bright enough. Any suggestions? Will be on light fabric.
Craig, there are so many options out there it will probably be hard to narrow it down through a site like this. The general guidelines I can give are:
1) If you're trying to shoot a long distance (20 ft is long enough), a wide flood fixture will likely wash out before reaching the top. Look for fixtures with a medium to small degree of beam (15-25 degrees).
2) The longer your throw, the brighter you'll want your LED's to be. For a 20 foot throw I would make sure you use a fixture with at least 1 watt LED's.
3) The more ambient light you have in your room, the brighter you'll want your LED's to be. If you have windows or general washing white light, you'll want brighter lights. If you're shooting 20 ft in a room with lot's of light, you'll want a fixture that can punch through that, all the way to the top.
Hope that helps some. If you want to talk more, please feel free to call or email me.
Cell – 319.721.5729
Email – ddejong@ccisolutions.com
Duke
ADJ Propar 56 CWWW with white and amber LEDs for 3000k-6000k will allow your stage to connect with the audience. 3300k is similar to daylight or traditional lighting. Also, the ADJ Flat Par Tri 7 or Flat par Tri 18 offer flicker free Tri LEDs with a wide 25 degree wash starting at $200 a can. Every room is different good luck finding your perfect solution
Like a post above, I serve in a church in South Africa that has a great vision and leadership but very low budget. I’m in charge of media, sound and the whole stage.
We are in the process of renovating the building and I have 6 months to transform the stage. It’s fairly large (about 100ft wall to wall and 30 ft front to back. It’s my first time here and am hoping to get ideas and assistance as to how to get the most out of a modest budget. I have no stage design experience whatsoever. Where do I start? What do I need?
Can anybody help me?
Hey Dwayne! This is the perfect question for the Community section of the site. Post up a pic and people can chime in their thoughts! :)
http://www.churchstagedesignideas.com/community
Thanks for the response Jonathan. I have a pic that shows the stage but how do I upload it?
Sorry, I figured it out ;-)
No worries. :)
In regard to the flicker on video, I had the same problem, but noticed that if I run each color at 100% it doesn’t do it, which really limits color options. Seems to have something to do with them being dimmed. I have Chauvet ColorStrips and Pars.
The reason your LED lights were causing your drummer headaches was because they were a low grade LED fixture. Elation OPTI Tri Par 64 http://www.elationlighting.com/ProductDetails.aspx?Category=&ItemNumber=1554 is probably the cheapest LED fixture that I would be willing to go with.
Same thing with flicker on video, it is because they are a low grade LED. Again, http://www.elationlighting.com/ProductDetails.aspx?Category=&ItemNumber=1554 is the cheapest LED I would go with.
I personally havent had problems with led par cans through fog or haze, however i do have to agree that the light output isnt as natural as standard parcans can be. however, as with all lighting states, used at correct levels problems like this can be overted with a simple bit of bare foh, not as to flood that stage but to just fill the gaps and give that natural feel.
I have noticed that on some of the cheaper fixtures, if you keep the intensity channel at full and only dim the color channels sometimes you get less flicker.
I have noticed that on some of the cheaper fixtures, using only the color channels to dim and leaving the intensity at full stops a lot of the flickering
Sorry for the double post:)
I am hoping someone here can help us at our church. We are looking for stage lighting for our aditorium and there is so much out there I have no idea what to get. We are operating on a $10,000 budget. Our church seats about 300 and we have a large stage. We have 12 standard par cans right now and are wanting to go with LEDs. Are building is dual purpose right now, by that I mean is that we have a full blown youth service at mid week there but also a contempory service every Sunday in the same area. That being said we are wanting dual purpose lights. Something exciting for the youth but also able to use it on sunday for a service. We think the LEDs will give us more flexibility with colors and being able to change them more quickly, also being able to give some cool effects for youth night. Is there anything out there that is good quality for that kind of money? Board lights and all?
JAred, If you have not already found someone, email me. My company specializes in budget minded churches as I go to one as well and we are making our Auditorium fully LED. I am a Chauvet Dealer and the Kind of Tech that is out now is just awesome. It has become easier to get LEDs to match the a chandelier or par can in warmth. Check out the Variable whites from chauvet. My email is Jeremy@thesoundguys.net. Even if We cannot physically do anything, I would definitely offer discounts on anything from sound to video to lighting. We do not sale to make money, but we want there to be a consistent message being presented and we mostly deal with small churches.
Jared- I wish I had seen your post earlier. Our church has 7 different venues with lighting and sound and video in everyone.Each one has dual purpose design and is flexible enough to change as needed. Our lighting systems have cost us from $500 to $150,000. If you or anyone else needs help pleases email me. I’m always working on new designs and equipment, especially on LED lighting systems.
Wow, I’m surprised no one’s mentioned frost gels or barndoors! :-) I use the gels constantly in all of our LED fixtures at our church (Bethel Church of San Jose, CA), and the doors in our stage alcoves.
Rosco #119 (R119) frost gel sheets are your best friend when using LED fixtures in any room or environment, especially if those fixtures come with gel frames. Allows for a softer wash/spread and limits the audience/stage crew from seeing the individual LED’s themselves.
Also, if your LED fixtures do indeed have gel frame slots and you want to limit where the light spreads, barndoors are a great compliment.
The Rosco gel sheets are inexpensive and can be bought at your local lighting or theatrical supplier. Barndoors can be found at the same place and are also inexpensive. :-)