From The Horse's Mouth

This video isn’t so “fun” or “funny” but it goes hand and hand with our February promotion, so sit back and enjoy this little informative video. Have a great weekend!

The February Promotion is creating some buzz with our customers. It is a BOGO (Buy One Get One Free) deal on the D1000 Cyc Lights! Contact our sales department for more details.

Todays video is showing a little what goes on at Apollo as far as testing equipment. Joel was walking around and shot this quick video. Enjoy your weekend!

 Check out all our lovely gobos that would look great for your Valentine events. Pair them up with our romantic gel colors to enhance the atmosphere. Click here to view our Valentine’s Day Flyer!

I just read with great interest an article where some well known NYC designers were discussing the new lighting tools that are available. There was an interesting thread of concern that I noticed. When you dim LED sources, they loose the warmth that an incandescent source (amber or red shift) had. As I pondered this, I realized that it seems that the arts and entertainment lighting designers have very different priorities that any single current LED source unit will not solve. In the “good ol’ days” we could light just about anything with a PAR can, ellipsoidal, Fresnel, striplight or scooplight. The common denominator in these fixtures is the incandescent lamp that was in the 2300 to 2600 degree color temperature range. The rock and roll designer could crank up the lumens and be quite happy. The higher end theatrical or opera designer had the same capability but could also drop the intensity down to give the rich, warm glow that an interior scene might need. On the other hand, the low end small theatre lighting designer could buy R40 floods and clip lights to create enough light for any given scene.

I am fascinated by the melding of art and technology. Working for a manufacturer, I often ask designers what they want in fixtures. They love the “any color I can dream up” in LED fixtures. As well, the powering of an entire electric with one cable and daisy chained DMX control. BUT when they dim the lights down for a subtle warm scene, things get tricky. Apollo has a Spotlight Profile Zoom that uses a 50 watt LED source. This unit has GREAT intensity that is brighter than it’s 300 watt incandescent brother. We are offering the fixture in 3 different color temperatures, 5700, 4000, and 3000 degrees. This will give you subtle warms for matching incandescent sources and also allow you to match cooler fluorescent or daylight color temps. However, it won’t be able to match the reddening of the lamp when dimmed. These are concerns that come with the new technology along with abrupt fade outs as the LEDs don’t have cooling filaments. “Fader lag” is also something that makes a design look and feel different. Will LED sources replace incandescent sources in entertainment? YES, in some cases where brightness and flash are the goal. I truly feel that incandescent sources will still be around for many years whether it is because of the cheaper cost of the fixtures and lamps or because they have certain characteristics that are desirable in low light scenes. As we all stand back and watch the technologies evolve, we need to keep asking for the stars, the moon, and the sky until those dreams are met BUT be ready to wait a bit as these new technologies catch up to what you want.

By now, you know that we are adding more and more LED source fixtures. We feel that it is the future (and the present) in entertainment lighting. Here is a very interesting article asking leading designers from various fields about their opinions on where lighting is going. Take some time and read it.
http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20111215/leading-luminaries

Multiform HP3-90

We are excited to announce 2 new LED units that are now available, the Multiform HP3-90 and HP5-70! Both units are  IP20 rated but also available in an IP65 version. IP20 MSRP is $595.00! The LEDs include genuine Neutrik™ powerCON power in and out connectors, are flicker free for TV-camera compliance, have a robust diecast body with UV-resistant PE powder coating, and much more!

The HP3-90 is a 90 watt RGB unit and and the HP5-70 is a 70 watt RGBAW unit.

Two great units that are reliable, affodrable, and colorful!

The other day, I was at a Home Depot looking at the new LED lamps sources for my living room. I was amazed at all of the new information that the manufacturers include with them now. In the old days they listed wattage and voltage (12 or 110). As we moved into fluorescents, they added cool white and sometimes daylight white (full spectrum) info. Now with LED sources, we have lumen output (pretty important to know how bright they are), wattage (and comparisons to incandescent and fluorescent sources), and very important-color temperature! I really liked a 950 lumen at a color temp of 5000 “A style” lamp replacement but it was $29 then right next to it, there appeared to be the same lamp but in a different colored carton. It was an 850 lumen lamp with a color temperature of 2500 selling for $25. I consider myself fairly savvy to LED sources but I still cannot figure out the reason for the differences in the versions. Most folks will buy the cheaper one but won’t understand the differences in warm and cool sources until they place the lamp in the same room as a cool LED source.

As theatre lighting designers, specifiers, dealers it is our job to educate the consumers about the new options that are available. In entertainment lighting, we are offered warm and cool LED color temps as well as RGB, RGBAW,RGBA, RGBW (YIKES!). While having all of the colors is the ideal situation, the reality is most folks don’t have the money to purchase the top of the line gear and may never have a need for the “full color” options. You may be lighting a display or statue at a museum and the cool or warm color temp fixture would do the job perfectly for less money. One can also consider using a color correction filter (gel or dichroic) to correct and match sources. What I am saying is, be creative and use that mind that has been analyzing and blending lighting colors for years. We have been trained in our professions to adapt for this new technology! It should be fun.

My solution to the living room color temp issue, I bought the brighter and cooler color temp LED lamp and used a double socket to add it to a warmer 450 lumen LED lamp (that was on sale for $10). Total wattage of 24 watts. My family, who hates my obsession with changing over to LED sources, still hasn’t noticed the change (and I’m certainly NOT going to tell them!)

Apollo offers several different LED fixtures from an RGBAW bright flood fixture to a warm 50 watt LED Fresnel and a 50 watt cool LED framing spot. Go to the website and take a look!

Grab a swatchbook and look at the color, AP3450 Bodacious Blueberry. Anything odd about it? How about AP5430 Green Gello? Holding it up to the light probably won’t help much. Here’s another that should tip it off, AP3850 King Congo Blue. Did you see the common thread? All three colors allowed more of another color through than the main color than that they are named—huh? AP3450 allows more red through than blue wavelengths, AP5430 allows far more red through than green, and finally AP3850 has almost three more times of red in it than blue. Again, I want to repeat… don’t assume the gel name is truly the gel color. Put it into a light and make up your own mind. Apollo recently introduced a new color named “Not What You Pink” (AP3270) and as you look at it in the book, it is definitely a lav or purple but when you drop it into a light, it has a pink tone to it.

Just because a color is named after a designer, doesn’t mean that if you use it, you will design like them. I’m sure if you asked them, they would probably prefer that you find your own colors and develop your own lighting style. If you buy a set of LeBron James basketball products, you will NOT play like him. It’s the talent and skills developed by lots of practice that will get you that Tony Award. Now go look at some colors!

I was recently at LDI in Orlando and spent a lot of time showing our new LED fixtures that we were premiering there. Something that struck me was the amount of people that were caught up in the technical features of the lights but didn’t really look at the quality of the light that the fixtures produced. There are two things that seemed the most important, how bright the units were, and, of course, PRICE was a big issue. We had screens set up for the folks to look at the light but most people swung the light around and wanted to see the distance that the light would work efficiently. I find it curious that we are so caught up in comparing the standard shortcomings of LED technology but not how the light illuminates. We showed a 50 watt warm white LED Fresnel that had an amazing incandescent warm tone to the light. I had several people show surprise that it wasn’t an incandescent source. As a matter of fact, the LED version is brighter than it’s 250 watt incandescent sister. I think that it is great that the LED sources are getting to the point that they can rival the incandescent sources but we also need to think about the CRI and the warmth and quality of the light AND what it looks like as it illuminates the object that it is focused on. Yes, the process is important but the result is the priority!!!