The LED Revolution

[Adam Ogden]

Hey guys-

So, it's no secret that LED technology is taking over the industry....not completely, but they are definately making a HUGE impact. Are any of you using LED for your stage/theatrical lighting? If so, what application do you use them?

[twc_admin]

Adam .. I dunno if it's LED or LCD .. LED I assume - but the Gathering Place ministry is "borrowing" a massive LED as a lighting backdrop this Summer at their Main Event. It's actually a big billboard that Fendig Advertising purchased from China to go up on a highway, but until they could get it approved, they are letting TheGP use it! It's awesome to see! But at well over 6-digit price tag, not practical for church use.

[worshiptrench]

I would wait on purchasing LED's. The amount of lumens you get for the dollar is a little low. Also, there are some reliability/control issues. We were looking into these for our new 2,000 seat room but Acoustic Dimensions (our super high end audio visual/internal room shaping architect that is costing a pretty penny but worth it) recommended a giant NO on the LEDs at this point in their development.

[AD(J)]

What is so great about Corner Church is that we actually have an insane lighting guy. We have two services that run probably 30-35 people on a busy night, but we have over 20k worth of lights. It's this guy's hobby, so let me just say, he's got at least double that in his basement. I've been there, and it's ridiculous.

He says he got these new ones at a trade show as 'demos' for a really good price and they haven't even hit the market yet. He's going to sell a few of them on eBay to essentially pay for the rest of the new ones.

I have no idea what they are, but they rock.

Hopefully I can post some pictures sometime soon, it's just cool.

[chrismoncus]

We used what was actually a LED billboard on stage for a weekly event in our community called the Gathering Place. We used it for loops during music and as set background for skits/drama. It was also the main screen for the U2 and United DVD's we played beforehand.

Here are some photos.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1289/1054246199_527a40f02b.jpg (http://flickr.com/photos/chrismoncus/sets/72157601109743485/)

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1399/1055058858_d5bacb5a9f.jpg (http://flickr.com/photos/chrismoncus/sets/72157601109743485/)

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1229/1055106056_c731ad8d6d.jpg (http://flickr.com/photos/chrismoncus/sets/72157601109743485/)

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1272/1055074274_86d6236bb0.jpg (http://flickr.com/photos/chrismoncus/sets/72157601109743485/)

[chrismoncus]

And a couple more...

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1071/1054243563_dd0340afd6.jpg (http://flickr.com/photos/chrismoncus/sets/72157601109743485/)

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1316/1033350170_7471f6be02.jpg (http://flickr.com/photos/chrismoncus/sets/72157601109743485/)

[free_by_grace]

We have 6 LED cans. As mentioned above, they have limited throw and few lumens. We've used them behind translucent screens for color effect... it's nice to dial in a color on the fly. Unfortunately they don't diffuse the RGB sufficiently to give an even color, but we still like the effect of them and the versatility of them for color without having to mess with Gels.

[Adam Ogden]

This is good stuff. You guys are pretty right about the LED's...they have come a long way in a last couple years, but they are still making progress towards brighter fixtures. The benifits of them (reduced power usage, long lamp life, lack of gels, low-heat emissions) are hard to look away from. I just got $14k approved to purchase a Color Kinetics Colorblast 12 system to help supplement our system. Once I get them in, I will submit some pictures. If you have pictures of your lights in action, please post them!

[twc_admin]

Adam -
Look forward to the pics ... and Chris, great pics ... as we all "ooh and aaah" over that big LED billboard, it would help to note that unless your church has $150,000 (yep, that's one hundred fifty thousand, plus) to invest in a toy like that - it ain't gonna happen in most places! A generous outdoor advertising co. allowed us to 'borrow that' while they waited on their site to be complete where this billboard would be erected.