Recommend us some LED PARs

[bbrunskill]

Hi guys.


I'm wanting to move all our pars across to LED.
We currently have 7 on stage and 3 spares that we can move around.
They are all for color, the front white light is from 3x fresnels at about a 40 degree angle.

My plan is to spread the cost by purchasing just a couple of LED's at a time.

What I'd like to know is what brand of LED pars do you use and recommend?

We do video for our sermons, so they have to be flicker free. I'd also like to get the tri-color ones that don't project funny shadowed edges.

Are the no-name Chinese LEDs rubbish?

Thanks,

ben

[Esoteric]

I really, really need to write that LED primer.

First off there is no such thing as a truly flicker free LED PAR. When we talk about "flicker free" we generally refer to two things.

1. Flicker in dimming. This is more accurately referred to as "stepping". You see in dimming you go between a number of steps to get from 100%-0%. Obviously the more steps you have the less you will see. For now a generally accepted range is 300-1200 steps for a unit to be "flicker free". For me, I like a unit with 500 or more steps. Even then my (highly trained) eye can detect a few of the steps. You have to get 1000 or more steps for me to see no flicker.

2. Flicker on video. This is a little easier and a little trickier at the same time. In one way it is easy because all manufacturers have to do is not land on a number that is a multiple of the fps (which is effected by the shutter) of the video camera. Where it gets tricky is that none of the steps from above can be on a multiple of that number. So as you dim, on a slow dim, ALL LEDS WILL FLICKER on the camera (emphasis, not yelling). The only units that I have seen that get no flicker from 0%-100% on camera are the VLX units from Vari-Lite.

So really, there is no such thing as a "flicker free" LED, but there are LEDs that are more flicker free than others.

That being said, you get what you pay for in a certain sense.

90% of LEDs and components are OEMed out of a handful of factories in China. Where the difference comes in are in the electronics (amount and placement of steps) and customer service.

Most "no name" Chinese stuff is bad because you will have to get your customer service from China, and you will end up with flicker.

I spec and sell a lot of Blizzard Lighting and Elation gear. There really is no difference between them, but some people like the security of the Elation name.

Other than that I really don't sell many other brands. I do sell a bit of Weidamark stuff. It is good stuff, and if you need UL rating or fun gadgets I go with them.

ColorKey makes some good stuff, but it is a but more pricey and you don't get as much value for money compared to Blizzard.

Other than that I sell Vari-Lite and Selecon, but not a whole lot of that.

Mike