Oh, I agree. I've been told the same thing and my research shows that. But, I don't have the money to make that large of a purchase.
Not whining because I know others are in worse circumstances but we are in a 50 year old theatre with the original lighting system. We just put in a new ETC light board but had to purchase a Fleenor unit so that our analog dimmers could talk to the digital board. The cost of the unit could have almost paid for new dimmers but we can't install them due to our two-pin lighting system. Plus the need for a $120,000 upgrade to our rigging system to bring it up to code.
AND, the performing arts high school here is having their entire building renovated and it was built in the late 70's, long after our theatre was built. And we have more theatre students, only two teachers as opposed to their 8(!), Do I sound bitter? I'm fine, really.........
Venting over. :)
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John Perry
Drama Instructor
Atherton High School
Louisville KY
Original Message:
Sent: 11-13-2015 13:05
From: Phillip Goodchild
Subject: LED Cyclorama Lighting Instruments
John, at a recent conference, a lighting seller was telling me that it might not be entirely cost-efficient to go with the full-on $2,000+ each LED replacements. He was recommending something more like $400 a unit, which would mean you could get 10 instead of 2. His logic was that the LEDs start to fade after a number of years (within 5 to 10), and his thing was that if you are going to add or replace lighting with LEDs, if you go with the LEDs you would want to buy all of them at the same time so that they 'fade together.' His other point was that lighting technology is moving along at such a cracking pace, that within 5 years (about the lifespan of your LED lights) you would refresh the lights again with a similar unit you started with, but it would be 5 years 'newer' (and therefore 'better').
I don't know if that helps you, but it sounded like reasonable logic. Are there any lighting folks who could confirm or debunk? Because getting 20 $400 LED lights sounds a lot more feasible than $2500 units! I would love to get me some LEDs...
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Phillip Goodchild
Theatre Arts Instructor/Assistant Department Head of English
Hillsborough County Schools
Ruskin FL