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ETC Source Four Leko  

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Altman Shakespeare 15-32 Zoom Leko  

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Altman Fresnel Spotlight  

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Altman Scoop  

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Selador X7 Series LED Striplights  

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ETC Source Four PAR  

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Strand Fresnel  

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Vari-lite VL3500  

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Varilite VL1000  

So many choices, so many decisions…

The tools of the lighting designer are too numerous to list. Each year scores of lighting manufacturers present their latest theatrical lighting fixtures at the LDI Conference & Trade Show. In addition, hundreds of lighting fixture models are introduced for the architectural, television, and film lighting industries. How do you keep up with all of this technology? Well, I always suggest that you keep it simple. Let’s start with the most common fixtures used in entertainment lighting:

The Fresnel(퍼넬이라고 읽습니다): The Fresnel spotlight is actually named after its lens. Initially developed for lighthouses, Augustin-Jean Fresnel invented a stepped, cut lens to reduce the thickness of the glass so heat would not build up within the glass and crack it. The resulting lens produced a very strong and soft beam of light. The incorporation of this lens in an enclosed lighting fixture was a natural development and useful tool for theatre, film, and television. Fresnels are very useful for soft washes of intense light. They come in many sizes: from 3½-inch diameter lenses to larger than 21 inches. Different models of Fresnels are powered with incandescent and HID arc lamps. For a soft wash of light, the Fresnel is hard to beat.

The Leko: This is probably the most common name you hear for a lighting fixture. The Leko may be the most versatile lighting fixture ever designed, and certainly the most useful. The Leko is the industry nickname for Ellipsoidal Reflector Spotlight or ERS.

The Ellipsoidal Reflector Spotlight is obviously named after its reflector. Unlike the Fresnel, which uses a spherical reflector, the ellipsoidal reflector reflects the beams of light to a second focal point. This enables the Leko to act very much like a projector. When you place an object, such as shutters, an iris, or a gobo near the focal point, the optics allow you to project the image onto the stage. The Leko’s shutters can shape the light and cut it off objects. You can also place gobos (a piece of metal or glass with an image cut or dyed into it) into the gobo slot of the Leko and project that image.

The Leko has evolved over the years. It changed radically when ETC (Electronic Theatre Controls) developed the Source Four Leko. This model utilized a specially coated cool mirror reflector that minimized the heat projected toward the front of the light. This not only increased the life of shutters, gobos, and gels, it produced a cleaner, whiter light.

As the Leko is the most popular stage lighting fixture, companies like Great American have developed sophisticated moving effect accessories that can be placed inside a Leko, enabling the designer to create moving water, fire, and other motion effects. Other accessories that can be ordered for most Lekos include CMY dichroic color changers, color scrollers, gobo rotators, and film loop machines. Until the development of the moving light, the Leko reigned as the king of versatility.

The ParCan: The ParCan is definitely the lighting fixture that offers you the most “bang for your buck.” Basically a metal enclosure for a PAR lamp, the ParCan will give you a strong beam of light that is quite useful for intense color washes. PARs (Parabolic Aluminized Reflector) are sealed beam lamps that incorporate the lamp, reflector, and lens in one device. Like the headlights from your old 1969 Firebird, the PAR lamp was designed as a weather-resistant light source. This is why they were initially used for outside rock shows.

As PAR lamps come in many shapes and sizes, ParCans follow suit. Most common in the theatre are PAR38, PAR56, and PAR64 sizes. PARs also come in different beam-spreads, including WFL (wide-flood), MFL (medium-flood), and NSP (narrow-spot). Unlike other stage lighting fixtures, the beam shape for most PAR lamps is an oval. Therefore, ParCans are designed to allow the electrician to reach into the back of the fixture to turn the lamp so the oval beam is in the correct configuration.

The typical striplight is around six feet long and has three circuits (each controlling four lamps). This allows the designer to mix three colors of light in a single fixture. The most common striplight is the “R40 Striplight” (named after the lamp used). There are also PAR strips, and my favorite: the MR16 striplight. This fixture uses small MR16 lamps and has a very low physical profile (making it quite useful for limited space applications such as footlights for the front of the stage).

A new version of the venerable striplight utilizes LED sources. Unlike conventional striplights that limit you to only three or four pre-loaded colors, the LED strip is made of several arrays of colored LEDs, allowing the designer to mix to almost any color in the rainbow without the need for changing gels.

Along with the more common fixtures named above, there are many more lighting fixtures available for the designer. Scoops (or Ellipsoidal Reflector Floodlights) are used for broad washes of light. Like the striplight, the scoop was primarily designed to light drops and cycloramas. However, with a scoop you are limited to only one color.

Used mostly in Europe, the PC spotlight is the grandfather of stage lighting fixtures. The PC was designed very similar to the Fresnel spotlight—with the principle difference being that the PC uses a Plano Convex lens (hence the name) instead of a Fresnel lens. I have designed many shows in Europe and have used PCs extensively. Due to its excellent optics and powerful lamp, the PC is a surprisingly useful lighting fixture.

The Moving Light: The world of lighting changed in the 1980s with the development of the moving light. These fixtures are motorized and can be remotely controlled to change their focus, colors, gobos, and many other beam characteristics. Originally developed for rock concerts, it was only a matter of time when moving lights would be introduced into the theatre, television, and worship markets. Noting this unexplored market, in the early 1990s Vari-Lite developed its Series 300 models of moving lights that were designed primarily for theatrical and other noise-sensitive venues. Competing companies quickly followed suit. Today we enjoy a healthy competitive market of moving light manufacturers making better products at affordable prices.

There are basically two types of moving lights that are distinguished by the mechanical function of how they direct the beam of light. The most common type of moving light is the “Moving Yoke.” This type of fixture will direct the beam of light by panning and tilting the entire light. The advantages of the Moving Yoke is that you can point the light almost anywhere. The disadvantage is that the speed of movement is limited (due to the fixture’s mass).

The other type of moving light is called the “Scanner.” The principle behind the scanner is to direct the beam of light by reflecting the light off a small moving mirror. Because the mass of the mirror is much less than the entire fixture, it can move much faster than a moving yoke fixture. The disadvantage of the scanner is that it has a limited lighting focus range.

There are additional design differences. For instance, some moving lights are designed strictly as “Wash” fixtures. They can pan and tilt, project a soft wash of light (similar to a Fresnel spotlight), change colors, and change the beam spread. However they are not designed to project gobos or sharp patterns. “Spot” fixtures are designed to be a moving projector (like a Leko). They can project a sharp-edged beam of light that is useful for gobos, irises, and other effects. Some spot fixtures even have moveable shutters.

Moving lights are usually powered by very intense arc lamps which cannot be electronically dimmed. Instead, a mechanical dimmer is used for smooth dimming of the light. Some moving lights use incandescent lamps enabling them to blend in with conventional theatrical lighting fixtures.

Finally, a new type of lighting fixture is now taking the industry by storm.

Several years ago High End Systems introduced the Catalyst System that allows you to project video images from a moving yoke fixture. The DL-3 projector is extremely powerful and can be used for both moving video and lighting effects. The effects that these digital lighting systems can produce are amazing.

Of course, all this will change as technology develops and new lighting fixtures are introduced into the worship market. But even with all these advanced tools, you can still create wonderfully effective lighting atmospheres with only Fresnels and Lekos. Remember, the tools of the lighting designer are only extensions of the designer’s imagination. Just be sure to pick up the right brush to paint that beautiful stroke of color you see in your mind’s eye.

David Martin Jacques is a professional lighting designer and consultant. He has designed hundreds of productions in the United States and throughout the world. David also consults on new worship facilities and renovations. He serves as Head of Stage Design for California State University Long Beach.   EMAIL DAVID MARTIN