Where do you find these lights?

EDV

EDV

Well-known member
They appear to be colored spotlights (unless they're known as something else?).
Anyone knows where to get these? Preferably for day hire.

 
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Stage lighting is 90% of the time gelled PAR cans. These are super cheap to rent and really cheap to buy... compared to standard film lighting units. I haven't seen this video in motion, so there is a chance they are not PARs and some kind of DMX electronic motor controlled lighting. That is more expensive.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EcyF7Kz0fk

Yeah those lights are not motor controlled DMX fancy. They stay still... so I'm 99% sure that they are (or should be) your run-of-the-mill PAR cans.... which can be rented ANY where. These things are so common, there are probably DJ's in Montana who have a bunch.

PARs are just a 750-1k lights and parabolic reflector in one glass globe. They come in different spreads (Wide-Medium-Narrow- Firestarter :) ) and are used in not only par cans, but in Maxi-brutes and other motion picture housings. Great bulbs, high output per watt, and low cost. They don't control as well as a Fresnel, but if you're doing concert lighting, night lighting, or throwing them far or through diffusion, they are a godsend.


Try a search for PAR 64 lights... those come in Wide, Medium and Narrow and should be 1,000w. I believe the firestarters are 1,200w. Those are named 'firestarter' for a reason, so unless you really need the ultraspotty 1.2k of light, it's not worth the risk of buring down the set or catching the actress on fire! :)
 
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DJ pars are;
Par 46 = 200 watts
Par 56 = 300 to 500 watts
Par 64 = 500 to 1000 watts

They all come in various beam widths and like Ryan said they are as common as dirt and cheap.

They higher grade pars we use for multiple beam arrays. mounted on speed rail, are manufactured by Source 4. These are not as common and a bit more pricey. However, the "rock and roll" cans will work fine for you, especially since they are set pieces.
 
the actual numbers used to denote the par type are linked to the size. 1/8th inches per unit. So a PAR16 is 2", and the biggest ones, PAR64s are 8".

Par lamps have an oval, not circular beam, which on the 56 and 64 types is quite pronounced. The lamp inside is like the old fashioned car sealed beam units, and they can be spun in the 'can' to rotate the beam. The 56 and 64 also come in standard and short versions. Beam angle is fixed. You can have a flood, and two narrower ones - however, even the flood is pretty narrow. The beams are intense and punch through. In the days before moving lights, people like Queen and Pink Floyd had simply hundreds of them!

Beware dark colours on the 1000W versions - the gels burn out very quickly! The 300-500W versions are not so bad. They are now also available with LEDs instead of proper lamps. Not so bright (yet) but with RGB mixing, they do look good. The housings are often cheaper than the lamps!
 
phudsontx said:
DJ
They all come in various beam widths and like Ryan said they are as common as dirt and cheap.
.
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Cheap is right. I had a weekly comedy show that I needed to rent lights for. I went to Long & McQuaid (our local supplier) and asked the cost to rent. "Sixty dollars" they said. "Not bad" I replied, "Is that for a week?". The man behind the counter smiled "That's for a month".

Needless to say I rented 2 sets of lights, with controllers, for $120.00 - best deal in town.
 
iHartVideo said:
As a relative rookie to constant lighting what would be the downside of lights like these for music vids (performance and acting):
http://www.stagelightingusa.com/PAR-64--4364-cat.htm?gclid=CLLR-drOiZ8CFRwTagodGQNfsQ

Is there any way to soften them?
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LEDS?

Diffusion in gel frame would soften a bit... but since they are LED's, which then makes the apparent size of the light source already fill the surface area inside the unit (as a tungsten filament would be a more specular source since it is the only light source versus the many led's) the LED 'par64' light will inherently be a bit softer and the gel won't do a terrible amount of difference making it more soft in a gel frame, (although it will do something) but it will thoroughly destroy your intensity output.

If you can rig a larger piece of diffusion further away then you will get a softer light. Not sure why you want LED 'par64' lights. It's like the shitty light without the advantages.... which is raw, cheap, and lots of light.
 
. Not sure why you want LED 'par64' lights. It's like the shi*ty light without the advantages.... which is raw said:
For sure. I bought two of these over priced, LED, Pars for a stage show I was doing in Santa Barbara....
.... The location was remote and power was an issue. IMO they are only good for small bands etc....

By the way, anybody want to buy 2 Par 64 LED's. Only used once :-)
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Diffuser works quite well - but does cut the light down even further. I've got a row of 12 that with diffuser in are quite ok at washing a white cloth. They run out of steam compared to 'real' lamps - but if you need to have lots of colours then you have to multiply the total up. So for just a three colour wash onto a white cyc, you'd need 3 sets - with every 4th one close enough to allow the beams to merge without hotspots. If you buy the same quantity of LEDs, then because they have RGB colour mixing, then all of them can be on at the same time, which does to some degree make up for the lower output. The six primary and secondary colours plus white make them pretty useful - certainly for live music type productions. White still looks a bit dirty, but they're getting better. Watch out for not all LED PAR cans having frame mount fittings - not all have them!
 
^^ Not sure I understand... Those LED units are not as cheap or powerful as regular tungsten Par64's.... :P

That quote should have read "Not sure why you want LED 'par64' lights. It's like the sh*tty light (reg par64) without the advantages (of said light)... which is lots of cheap raw light."

An LED light made to look like a Par64 can is more expensive and less bright then a tungsten unit... however the only advantage is less power consumption and therefore less heat as well... not to mention 'day light' units would be practical option.
 
[QUOTE
An LED light made to look like a Par64 can is more expensive and less bright then a tungsten unit... however the only advantage is less power consumption and therefore less heat as well... not to mention 'day light' units would be practical option.[/QUOTE]

I would say the LED light output is 1/10 of a par 64 tungsten.
 
Ryan Patrick O'Hara said:
^^ Not sure I understand... Those LED units are not as cheap or powerful as regular tungsten Par64's.... :P
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I know.... now. I was interested in the LED version for the same reason anyone is interested in LED lights - lower temp & lower power.

My thinking was: $115 is, IMO, pretty cheap if it throws out a lot of light. Yes, it's obviously not as cheap as normal PAR's, but it's not bad.
 
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