seamonkey78702
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2015
- Messages
- 5
Hello everyone,
This is my second try at this - I just spent around two hours searching, registering, signing in, searching again, posting a new thread, then 30 minutes typing a very in-depth question, only to be greeted with the lovely page informing me that I was no longer signed in, and of course losing all of the text I typed. I'm going to try to reconstruct it, but forgive me if its shorter and more curt than it should be.
First all, thanks to all of you who keep this community going. One of the things I love about my work is getting to dive into new areas I know nothing about, and find a group of people who are incredibly knowledgeable and (usually) happy to help those not part of the community, but who want to dip their toes in with questions.
I am a lighting and production designer, and one of the groups I work with is a dance company that does performances with people who are not typically performers by watching them work, then taking the things that they do and putting them into a setting with music, lights, and other theatrical elements to show the beauty of the work and draw attention to the people who usually remain invisible. We have worked with firemen, cops, trash collectors, electrical linemen, blind people and their guide dogs, Elvis impersonators, and others. If that sounds interesting, you can find out more about us by searching for Forklift Danceworks or the move Trash Project, which is on Netflix... We are pretty well known and have a fairly legitimate reputation.
Our current show is with Austin Parks and Recreation - specifically the people who work with the trees in the parks - in around a week and a half. The show is going to be set around one very old Pecan tree, with an audience of about a thousand people each night for two performances. Most of the show will be lit with theatrical instruments - around 80 ETC Source Fours running off a film-type generator. These lamps generally put out around 7k lumens each through some very good optics and are the most common instrument found in theaters of all sizes. For two particular sections however, we want to turn the audiences attention outwards, to some other trees, with people climbing, and for those sections, due to distance and the lack of available power, I am looking into lighting those short sections with battery powered spotlights or high intensity flashlights. Which is why I am coming to you...
I looked into doing a similar thing a few years ago, but found that even some very big rechargeable spotlights didn't really have the punch needed. Now though, some searching on Amazon and Ebay have turned up a large selection of small flashlights advertised as 1k, 2k or even 3k and 4k lumens for not unreasonable cost. I'm skeptical of those numbers, of course, but the fact that there are so many of them, and at prices starting as low as $20 makes me think that there may in fact be something out there that can meet my requirements for not too much money. In searching, I did see a couple threads related to this question, but in both cases they were fairly old - more than 5 years, and given the advances in technology, it seemed like starting a new thread was worthwhile.
And so here are my requirements, or wish list, perhaps, in order of importance. I'd really appreciate it if you'd take a look and offer up any recommendations. I'll also note that the idea of using these comes up from time to time, so some of these requirements will be looking towards future use as opposed to just the situation described above.
1. Brightness. As noted above, most of the show will be lit as brightly as we care to have it... these two sections will be further away, and obviously darker, but something that can at least be in the same ballpark is necessary. My guess is that this means 2k lumens output or more, but if it's well controlled, 1k may be useable.
2. Control/quality of light. Obviously brightness means nothing if it's not used well. Ideally, I'd like a flash or spot that can zoom between a wider angle and a spotted beam... Maybe 10 or 20 degrees out to 40 or 50 or 60. Also, a nice even beam without a lot of spill is a big deal... less so in this show, but very much so for other uses where the audience is closer to the light source.
3. Battery life. I need something that can run for at least 20 - 25 minutes, minimum, and 10 minutes consecutively at its high setting. I'd prefer more than that, but this is what is necessary. Ability to use a rechargeable battery is preferred, so that I'm not making constant trips to recycle expensive batteries. Also the ability to use a form factor that can be found easily is preferable, but I realize that specialize batteries may be necessary in order to get the brightness I'm seeking. Run times of an hour or more open up a lot of possibilities for future use.
4. Easy to switch on and off. One switch for on and off, that doesn't go through the various modes on the way is much preferred. A second switch to change mode, or at least holding down the on/off button to change modes, as most headlamps do, makes turning the light on and off much cleaner in terms of what the audience sees.
5. Size/weight. This is a pretty small consideration, honestly. In some ways, a light of the old D battery Maglite style is easier to hold steady than the very small lights I'm mostly seeing on Amazon. A trigger type spotlight is fine... The only thing that is going to be a real consideration is going to be when it gets into very heavy or very large spotlights that will be hard for a person to hold steady for 10 minutes at a time. My crew is pretty good, so they can make a lot of things work.
6. Quality. I need something that is reliable, of course, but frankly, this is theater - not a war zone. These will be used a few times a year, for a few minutes or an hour at a time. As much as I am a believer in buying good gear that will last, in this situation, a lesser brand that is going to work good enough and has a good quality of light at 2k lumens for $50 will be preferable to the brand everyone knows can take a beating that puts out half the light for twice as much money. We don't beat our stuff up, and we don't need the best - just good enough.
Given all of that, I'd love to hear what you have to say. My preferred budget would be $100 each, including batteries, or less. If I can get twice as many that will meet my requirements at $50 each, even better. Again... I'd like good, but I don't need bombproof. Any money I save here can go to other cool things, but that said, if I can find something that really will pump out 3k lumens for a decent price, then that opens up other possibilities in itself.
So there you go... Let me hear what you've got to say! And once again, thanks so much for having so many people here offering up so much information for no cost but the time it takes to look it up.
Cheers,
Stephen
This is my second try at this - I just spent around two hours searching, registering, signing in, searching again, posting a new thread, then 30 minutes typing a very in-depth question, only to be greeted with the lovely page informing me that I was no longer signed in, and of course losing all of the text I typed. I'm going to try to reconstruct it, but forgive me if its shorter and more curt than it should be.
First all, thanks to all of you who keep this community going. One of the things I love about my work is getting to dive into new areas I know nothing about, and find a group of people who are incredibly knowledgeable and (usually) happy to help those not part of the community, but who want to dip their toes in with questions.
I am a lighting and production designer, and one of the groups I work with is a dance company that does performances with people who are not typically performers by watching them work, then taking the things that they do and putting them into a setting with music, lights, and other theatrical elements to show the beauty of the work and draw attention to the people who usually remain invisible. We have worked with firemen, cops, trash collectors, electrical linemen, blind people and their guide dogs, Elvis impersonators, and others. If that sounds interesting, you can find out more about us by searching for Forklift Danceworks or the move Trash Project, which is on Netflix... We are pretty well known and have a fairly legitimate reputation.
Our current show is with Austin Parks and Recreation - specifically the people who work with the trees in the parks - in around a week and a half. The show is going to be set around one very old Pecan tree, with an audience of about a thousand people each night for two performances. Most of the show will be lit with theatrical instruments - around 80 ETC Source Fours running off a film-type generator. These lamps generally put out around 7k lumens each through some very good optics and are the most common instrument found in theaters of all sizes. For two particular sections however, we want to turn the audiences attention outwards, to some other trees, with people climbing, and for those sections, due to distance and the lack of available power, I am looking into lighting those short sections with battery powered spotlights or high intensity flashlights. Which is why I am coming to you...
I looked into doing a similar thing a few years ago, but found that even some very big rechargeable spotlights didn't really have the punch needed. Now though, some searching on Amazon and Ebay have turned up a large selection of small flashlights advertised as 1k, 2k or even 3k and 4k lumens for not unreasonable cost. I'm skeptical of those numbers, of course, but the fact that there are so many of them, and at prices starting as low as $20 makes me think that there may in fact be something out there that can meet my requirements for not too much money. In searching, I did see a couple threads related to this question, but in both cases they were fairly old - more than 5 years, and given the advances in technology, it seemed like starting a new thread was worthwhile.
And so here are my requirements, or wish list, perhaps, in order of importance. I'd really appreciate it if you'd take a look and offer up any recommendations. I'll also note that the idea of using these comes up from time to time, so some of these requirements will be looking towards future use as opposed to just the situation described above.
1. Brightness. As noted above, most of the show will be lit as brightly as we care to have it... these two sections will be further away, and obviously darker, but something that can at least be in the same ballpark is necessary. My guess is that this means 2k lumens output or more, but if it's well controlled, 1k may be useable.
2. Control/quality of light. Obviously brightness means nothing if it's not used well. Ideally, I'd like a flash or spot that can zoom between a wider angle and a spotted beam... Maybe 10 or 20 degrees out to 40 or 50 or 60. Also, a nice even beam without a lot of spill is a big deal... less so in this show, but very much so for other uses where the audience is closer to the light source.
3. Battery life. I need something that can run for at least 20 - 25 minutes, minimum, and 10 minutes consecutively at its high setting. I'd prefer more than that, but this is what is necessary. Ability to use a rechargeable battery is preferred, so that I'm not making constant trips to recycle expensive batteries. Also the ability to use a form factor that can be found easily is preferable, but I realize that specialize batteries may be necessary in order to get the brightness I'm seeking. Run times of an hour or more open up a lot of possibilities for future use.
4. Easy to switch on and off. One switch for on and off, that doesn't go through the various modes on the way is much preferred. A second switch to change mode, or at least holding down the on/off button to change modes, as most headlamps do, makes turning the light on and off much cleaner in terms of what the audience sees.
5. Size/weight. This is a pretty small consideration, honestly. In some ways, a light of the old D battery Maglite style is easier to hold steady than the very small lights I'm mostly seeing on Amazon. A trigger type spotlight is fine... The only thing that is going to be a real consideration is going to be when it gets into very heavy or very large spotlights that will be hard for a person to hold steady for 10 minutes at a time. My crew is pretty good, so they can make a lot of things work.
6. Quality. I need something that is reliable, of course, but frankly, this is theater - not a war zone. These will be used a few times a year, for a few minutes or an hour at a time. As much as I am a believer in buying good gear that will last, in this situation, a lesser brand that is going to work good enough and has a good quality of light at 2k lumens for $50 will be preferable to the brand everyone knows can take a beating that puts out half the light for twice as much money. We don't beat our stuff up, and we don't need the best - just good enough.
Given all of that, I'd love to hear what you have to say. My preferred budget would be $100 each, including batteries, or less. If I can get twice as many that will meet my requirements at $50 each, even better. Again... I'd like good, but I don't need bombproof. Any money I save here can go to other cool things, but that said, if I can find something that really will pump out 3k lumens for a decent price, then that opens up other possibilities in itself.
So there you go... Let me hear what you've got to say! And once again, thanks so much for having so many people here offering up so much information for no cost but the time it takes to look it up.
Cheers,
Stephen