On September 25, 1981, on the opening night of its “Abacab” tour, the band Genesis debuted the first modern moving light in the form of the Vari-Lite VL1, sparking a lighting revolution. Today, almost 33 years later, moving light technology has become commonplace in concerts, theaters, churches, and other architectural and entertainment venues.
While the basic concept of a moving light has not changed much since the Vari-Lite VL1's inception, what is “under the hood” has changed drastically. As such, CPM wanted to hear from some moving light manufacturers on what they see as the current technological trends in moving lights—and how those trends apply to the worship market. Here is what they had to say when asked two simple questions, “What do you see as the current trend in moving light technology?” and “How does this apply to the worship market?”
Dishing on LED
“LED is the current trending technology,” says Eric Loader, director of sales at Elation Lighting. “As LED engines get brighter, you are going to see more and more LED fixtures come to market.”
Jerry Seay, inside sales manager at Robe Lighting, agrees. “Everyone is moving into LED in the smaller wattage fixtures. LED is replacing arc lamps as sources on fixtures that traditionally had up to 700-Watt arc lamps.”
“LED everything,” concurs Dwight Slamp, business development manager at Chauvet Professional. You are going to see more LED spots, beams, and washes.”
According to Rich Anders, sales manager at Mega Systems, the trend he sees is the lamp source changing to LED. “We now have the light output greater then 575-Watt arc lamp levels from LEDs, making it a viable technology for moving lights.”
Rick Fallon, east coast regional sales manager at GLP, says that GLP started out as a company making incandescent fixtures in the 1990s, but about six years ago they moved over to making all LED product, as it was the best new emerging technology.
“The future is here now,” says Fallon. “At GLP we believe that LED is the best new technology and have built our company on it as we only make LED products.” Fallon goes on to say, “We have replaced all 700-Watt and lower fixtures with LED technology.”
Church production benefits
So with LEDs being one of the current trends in moving lights, what benefit does this offer the worship market?
According to Loader, “The LED engines have a very long life and the fixtures are very low maintenance, making them great choices for churches.”
Fallon says that LEDs give you the ability to have a high brightness fixture with low cost of ownership. “Heat is the enemy of electronics, and LEDs produce less heat, giving you a longer lasting fixture.” And he adds, “Don't forget the lower cost of air conditioning, especially in the South where you use air conditioning for longer times of the year.” Lower heat production in the fixture lowers the amount of cooling required to remove the fixture's heat from the room.
Fallon goes on to say that he is seeing the adoption of LED fixtures into the church market because houses of worship rely on volunteers for operation and maintenance: “Low cost of maintenance really appeals to churches, and for that same reason, they are also a great choice when the fixtures are not easily accessible.”
“LED ENGINES HAVE A VERY LONG LIFE AND THE FIXTURES ARE VERY LOW MAINTENANCE, MAKING THEM GREAT CHOICES FOR CHURCHES.”
ERIC LOADER
DIRECTOR OF SALES, ELATION LIGHTING, LOS ANGELES, CA
Seay reports this: “LED has the ability to bring color to a place that has traditionally only had tungsten sources, without the need for dimming and with low power consumption. This adds a lot of flexibility at an affordable price.”
Anders says that LED technology is becoming more prominent in the worship market because it benefits churches with lower cost of ownership. “Churches are becoming more theatrical and adding more fixtures. The brightness and color rendering are high with LED fixtures, maintenance costs are low, and money is saved with the energy savings you get from using LED.”
But is LED the only current technological trend in moving lights? Not according to our panel.
Other newsworthy options
While LED is trending as a new type of light source, higher efficiency arc lamps are a current trend, as well.
Tom Stanziano, mid-Atlantic and southeast regional manager at Philips Entertainment, puts it this way: “There is a trend in small fixtures to be LED, but the larger fixtures are still staying with arc lamps, mainly because of the expense of large LED engines and the larger physical size needed for higher power LED engines.”
“Arc lamped fixtures are still very viable for larger, brighter fixtures needed for longer throws,” Loader concurs.
Elation was the first to use the new high-efficiency, high-output Philips “Platinum Series” lamps in moving lights, and now other companies are following suit.
“The new Philips lamps have a higher output with lower wattages and an average lamp life of 2,000 hours, making the fixtures brighter and more economical,” says Loader.
“The Philips 5R, 15R and the Osram 230 lamps have incredible output for the amount of power consumed,” Slamp reports.
“The new Osram and Philips lamps have a high output and a high color temperature, making them very bright,” says Anders.
While the new generation of lamps has improved the energy efficiency and the brightness of moving lights, it has also made it easier to produce a new kind of moving light.
“One of the current trends I see is beam fixtures [that add a] high-impact look,” says Slamp. “It's essentially a third tool as far as moving lights. You have spots, washes, and now beams.”
“AT GLP WE BELIEVE THAT LED IS THE BEST NEW TECHNOLOGY AND HAVE BUILT OUR COMPANY ON IT AS WE ONLY MAKE LED PRODUCTS.”
RICK FALLON
EAST COAST REGIONAL SALES MANAGER, GERMAN LIGHT PRODUCTS, SUN VALLEY, CA
Anders concurs and says he is seeing more and more beam fixtures used.
For those that don't know, the new beam fixture to which Slamp and Anders refer is akin to the old Aircraft Landing Light (ACL) PAR look of the 1970s and 1980s, now rolled into a moving light. These fixtures produce a narrow shaft of light with a somewhat soft edge, not as soft as a wash fixture, but not as hard as a spot fixture. They typically have a few patterns that can be projected, but generally it is just the shaft of light that you are looking for.
“There is a growing trend in ‘multiuse fixtures',” says Daryl Sutton, project sales manager for Harman (Harman is moving light manufacturer Martin Professional's parent company). “In the day we called them ‘hybrid,' and the concept was to have one unit that could perform as both a wash and a profile unit. However, in most cases, these ‘hybrid' units performed well as a profile unit, but not so well as a wash unit. This is due to the fact that the unit was based around a profile optic with the addition of basic diffusion to simulate a wash output. Today, ‘multiuse fixtures' are units that have both profile and wash optics integrated into one optical train that work together to perform well as a profile, wash and beam unit, all in one package.”
Sutton goes on to say that multiuse fixtures have a bit more cost associated with them, but the added flexibility can be a worthwhile investment. “Those that have the need and budgets to make the investment no longer have to sacrifice their wash count for more profiles when it comes to deciding how to spend their money. Since the ‘multiuse fixtures' type units perform very well as a three-in-one unit, they can potentially lower fixture counts while increasing the systems potential and flexibility,” he says.
“I am seeing people using beam fixtures for effects because they can do it with a minimum amount of haze,” says Seay. “Also, many of these beam fixtures are somewhat multipurpose in the sense that you can frost them out and use the light as a wash fixture, as well. Churches like multipurpose fixtures because of their flexibility.”
Adding to the flexibility and ease of use of moving lights is the implementation of RDM, which is remote device management.
Moving lights that are RDM-ready can be monitored and addressed remotely. Things like the number of hours on the lamp, the number of strikes, total running hours, and system status and errors will be able to be monitored from an RDM monitoring device. This device could be a laptop connected to the DMX line or an RDM-ready console. In addition, DMX address, and fixture modes and functions could be changed remotely.
“RDM is coming,” says Stanziano, “and we are ready to implement it as soon as the standards are finalized.”
Seay also sees RDM as a new technology trend in moving lights. “RDM implementation is going to make the tech's life much easier with addressing and monitoring capabilities, without ever having to physically go to the light.”
Of course, these aren't the only moving light trends, but these were the big ones that all of our panelists mentioned.
Stanziano states, “Churches want moving lights to gain the flexibility of color, gobos, and movement so they can be more creative and save time hanging, focusing, and programming. The choice of spot or wash and LED or arc will depend more on the application and budget than on the technology itself.”
“Lighting is a visual and dynamic way to share the message,” Loader weighs in. “Lighting for scenic treatment and general audience wash of color can change the entire room into a complete visual atmosphere, bringing everyone into the message.”
Anders says, “The church has now become the new community center—and is putting in the technology to attract and serve the community.”
Lighting has a cool factor to it, Seay notes. “As you work with it you can see something happen. It's a great creative element, and we are working to develop fixtures that are brighter, lighter, more energy efficient, and have better optics.”
As we look at today's technologies, we see that our current technologies are leaps and bounds better than those of 30 years ago—and this makes me wonder what the next 30 years will bring in moving light technology.
