And, the 30 @30' - a listing of the brightest fixtures, by brightness, at a 30 throw.
Also see : Elation Impression vs. Martin MAC301 article
WHY THESE CHARTS? The
photometric sheets among the different manufacturers can be widely
different and it can be extremely difficult to compare footcandles and
beam widths among fixtures from different manufacturers. The shootout
page seeks to unify the standards of brightness and beam width to make
it easy to compare fixture types. Fixtures are grouped to type so it's easy to compare within fixture types. USING THESE CHARTS : CONCERTS, TELEVISION Finding substitutions for concerts and television : find the light you're used to using, scroll within the fixture category to find a possible substitute with comparative footcandles. Or use the 30@30' chart to check out the comparative brightness among the brightest fixtures. THEATER For spec'ing an automated fixture to add in to your conventional lighting rig : the top of the chart has commonly used conventional fixtures in theater. Scroll down to find an automated fixture that has the kind of brightness ratio that you're looking for that extra layer of lighting. Footcandles and beam widths for fixtures at a 30' throw. Beam width is defined as the diameter of the beam that has fallen off to 50% brightness from the center hotspot. lighting shootout v09.08.05 The 30@30' Shootout The 30 brightest, non-Xenon fixtures at a 30' throw 30 at 30 v09.08.05 NOTABLE ABSENCES Notable fixtures not in the shootout are the latest High End / Barco fixtures like the Showgun and Showbeam, and the Bad Boy. The issue is that they only list their photometrics in total lumens. In other words, the total amount of light the fixture shoots out the front end. Total lumens is useful for projection where you're trying to figure out how bright an image might be over the square footage of various screen dimensions. Not so helpful for lighting designers. We're more concerned with efficiency : how well the optics of a light fixture concentrate those total lumens into an intense beam of light. We, as lighting designers, need to know footcandles or lux at a given distance and how narrow or wide that beam is. When High End and PRG publish footcandles and beam width, I'll update the charts here. REVELATIONS The
big revelation for me personally were the number of specialized ACL
type automated fixtures like the Clay Paky Alpha Beam 1500 and
especially the Alpha Beam 700. To get 11,000+ footcandles out of a
700w fixture at 30' is a remarkable achievement. CONFIRMATIONS At
the top of the general purpose lights is the VL3500 Wash. I have loved
this light's versatility from the first time I used it, but seeing the
raw data here in comparison with its competition, confirmed to me
light's versatility. ZOOM RANGE I standardized
all fixtures to beam width - the point on the diameter of the beam
where light intensity falls off to 50% of the hotspot. (As opposed to
field angle, which is 10%). The winner in the zoom range category,
providing a versatile single fixture for both broad washes and intense
beams, is the Clay Paky Alpha Wash 575, with Coemar Infinity Wash XL,
Clay Paky Alpha Wash 700 right behind them. SPOTS If you're looking for Spots, the brightest of the bunch is the Mac III Profile, with the VL3500 and VL3000 following up after. THE FUTURE Coming soon, I'll add in the Elation and Robe Moving head fixtures. Also, I'll do a specific focus on LED fixtures, Studio fixtures, and other planned articles. Coming soon. THE PROBLEM OF LEDs
People have noted that LED light output cannot really be accurately measured by current light meters because of the color curves of light meters trying to mimic the way the eye sees visible and non-visible wavelengths of light. (For instance, Mike Wood and his detailed review on the Elation Impression here.) The manufacturer's listing of light output for the Elation Impression are clearly out of line of how most people perceive its brightness. Listed here is a second row of light output figures based on Mike Wood's article.
For the moment, comparing LED fixtures between manufacturers is problematic because light meters perceive color curves differently. The only accurate way to compare LED light fixtures is to use your own light meter, or, to compare light fixtures within the same manufacturer. The STAGELIGHTWIKI will dive into this subject more in the future. Also see : Elation Impression vs. Martin MAC301 article NOTES
Also see : Elation Impression vs. Martin MAC301 article |