Lighting for Worship

LEDs. It seems like that’s all anyone ever talks about anymore at lighting shows. It’s gotten so that it’s not even a new joke to refer to the Lighting Dimension trade show each fall as “LEDI.” But what do LEDs mean to you and your worship service? Are they ready for prime time? Can they replace traditional fixtures? Should they?

The answer, which I’m sure you’re aware of, is “it depends.” LEDs have some great things going for them, but they’re not right for every application. This will be the first in a series of ongoing articles on LED fixtures and their place in your worship lighting rig. LEDs aren’t right for every situation or every application, but hopefully with the information we give you here, you can make a more informed decision so that you won’t be disappointed when you do put these low-energy, highly flexible instruments into your system.

First off, let’s look at some of the major manufacturers of LED fixtures and where they fit in the world. Then later on we’ll talk about how to use LEDs and where they are most effective.

You can’t really talk about LEDs for entertainment without talking about Color Kinetics. Now owned by Phillips, Color Kinetics has for years been one of the leaders in the market for LED equipment and color-changing technology. Most of their equipment is designed for permanent architectural installations, so it’s sometimes difficult to integrate it into a performance application. But they also have some fixtures like the ColorBlast TR and ColorBlaze that are designed for the theatrical world, with built-in XLR connectors and tour-worthy housings that can handle the beating that fixtures take on a daily basis on the road. The ColorBlast TR fixtures are very durable, with a lot of punch out of a very small fixture. I’ve used them on a show before and was very impressed.

Altman has been one of the leaders in theatrical lighting for decades, and after several years of flirting with LED technology, have come out with two products that are pretty impressive. Their Spectra-Cyc and Spectra Par are both 100W RGBA fixtures, meaning they use Red, Green, Blue and Amber LEDs to mix to a better white. The Spectra Par is built around the Star Par body, which gives the user a full range of standard PAR56 lenses to adjust the beam with. This is very useful to folks who are accustomed to working with PAR cans, as the beam shape is identical to what they’re used to. The Spectra Cyc is the only true LED cyc light on the market right now, as it uses an asymmetrical reflector to give more even illumination across a broad flat surface than anything else I’ve seen. These units aren’t right for every single application, but they’re good as a beginning to LED integration into a facility.

Next time around I’ll talk about Selador and Chauvet, and what those units bring to the table. Until then, stay bright.