I need to buy two spotlights on stands. Can anyone tell me what are the basic lights I should use? What type? Halogen? White color? How many watts?
Is a cooling system necessary? I plan to use these for indoor and outdoor use when there are not enough lights.
How high should the stands be and where should it be located?
Thanks!

For a professional product I'd recommend some par cans on stands. They're a robust and versatile solution. They are simple to set up and are not too heavy. You probably need two to four 300W Par 56's or 64's depending on what effect you want to achieve. You can get gels to make them whatever color suits your show. They can be bought in packages with the required stands, leads and dimmer. I'm not sure of where you might get them in the Phillipines.

Here's an example from a supplier I found through google. Look for the complete par can packages. This isn't an endorsement of the particular product only something to show you the sort of thing I mean. There's plenty of others.
http://www.premier-lighting.com/sales/pars.htm

I use two tripods that holds 4 par can lights with a 150 watt bulb I believe. The ones I have are made to hold gels that color the lights, but these could be removed to let white light through. American DJ sells these here:

http://www.americandj.com/product.asp?Pr......Packages

Usually these lights get VERY hot and do need to be turned of to cool at certain points. You won't find cooling devices on pars, usually that gets into the animated or DMX controlled lights. I do a 45 minute show with them on, and have never had a problem. And think about it, stage shows use these with only a small break in between. As far as how high they need to be, these can be adjusted, and that all just depends on how far away you are from them.
If you have any more questions, please feel free to PM me. Good luck!

Taylor

Lou,

Wait to hear from Kevin from Living Illusions, he recommeneds Source 4 Pars for several reasons.

I am in the same boat as you, I am looking into buying some lights, tripod to hold them and some DMX things.

Still don't know what a dimmer looks like, or what the hell is a chaser, or DMX.


G0THIKE

Hi guys,

You should check out this site:

http://www.magicroadie.com

It has a great deal of info on lights, sound reinforcement, etc. The guy that runs the web site is a Café member.

Spotlights or fill lights. The PAR cans are great for fill -- but a spot (follow spot) is a different animal with its abilityy to focus and move on the performer......

I have used the traditional spots (Comet etc.) with 1500 watts and complete optics and filters riun by an operators.....but they are big to haul. Some of the newer high power ($$$) bulb units can now approach the brightness of an old arc spot and maintain portability.

If you are traveling a lot again Lou, the better gear will cost more -- but will last longer and keep you from jury rigging stuff........

If your show is mechanically appearing in the same space -- a bank of the neew movable lights can add drama and do miuch of the follow spot work --- but traveling makes these less valuable as the programs for head travel are not as scaleable to different sizes and depths as would be needed. The old operator lights as follow spots give the performer an ability to not only scale -- but to ad lib too.

Dr_saturn, BondJames628, gothike, MikeDes and Gregg,
Thanks for your replies. I am just looking for something similar to the Spider lights. I do travel a lot and these lights are just an option in case I do an outdoor or indoor party and there is not enough lights.
I don't understand what a PAR is? I also don't need a follow spot. Just two basic lights. What type do I need and how many watts?
Lou

A par is just your standard stage lighting device used in many theatrical enviornments. To learn more about lighting fixtures or other aspects of lighting, visit the link which MikeDes provided. Trust me, it is VERY helpful. As far as wattage, the link I supplied is the kind I use and they work great. They're enough to give you quite a good tan, so unless you're wanting these for long distances away or lighting for a large stage, then I would just go with those. I used them outside (not in the moisture of course) as well as inside, and they've always worked fine. Come to think of it, I've had them for two years and haven't even changed a bulb yet. Good luck!

Taylor