What Are The Types of Moving Heads Lights?

Delving Deeper Into Moving Head Lighting

Let's go a little more in-depth with moving heads, the technology they use, the difference between LED and traditional lamp systems, how cost affects capability, and a breakdown of the often confusing terminology.

Technology Moves Forward

Advancements in technology have seen the capabilities of moving head lights change significantly since their introduction, especially so since the mainstream switchover to LED lamp systems, which are constantly evolving in power output and physical size.

LEDs have changed what is possible with all performance lighting fixtures. A traditional moving head spot light, for example, was always a single colour: a white lamp and coloured filter lens, as were Par Can lights and everything else. The ability of LEDs to produce RGB from a single source has changed everything, with even a low-cost DJ Par Can being able to produce a palette of colours on demand with no filtering or shutter systems required.

Moving heads tend to use a mix of the old and the new for their purposes though, as coloured LEDs though extremely bright, generally do not have the power to produce the required level of focus or distance. So, they get around this by using a high-power white LED and a motorised colour wheel, which works in a similar fashion to a gobo wheel, but replaces the pattern inserts with colour lens filters. This gives them the power required, and the capability to produce solid and mixed colours.

It's worth noting again that this is constantly changing due to LED advances. Smaller moving heads aimed at DJs and smaller environments are now available with multicolour LED lamps as their main output. They will generally be marketed as being for DJs and smaller events, and their performance is perfect for those requirements. They would however not be suitable for more professional applications such as theatres or concert stages, as they simply do not have the necessary power for those distances.

LED vs Discharge Lamp

Staying on the subject of LED power and capability, there comes a point where LED still has to step aside for the more traditional tungsten lamp for several reasons. That’s not to say either is better or worse than the other, it's more about the suitability and overall capability in certain applications.

Let's take one of our own fixtures, the BeamZ Tiger 7R, as an example. This unit makes use of a 230-watt 7R discharge reflector lamp in place of an LED source. It’s designed for use on outdoor concert stages or large auditoriums, where the high-intensity penetrating power of its heat-source lamp provides immense control of the beam over long distances. In comparison, a high-power (150W-300W) COB LED is known as a cold light source, and of course, is incredibly bright, but just can't maintain the same level of beam intensity or focus over a long distance, with a spot just naturally fanning out to become more like a wash.

It's simply about the right tool for the right job, and both light sources have their uses, benefits, and downsides, depending on your specific needs.

Cost vs Capability

When shopping for moving head lights you will find quite a range of options, designs,and of course costs. The price differences can be significant and to the untrained eye it may not be obvious as to why.

As with all effects lighting, it's best to think of there being two distinct levels, consumer and professional, with consumer covering everyone from the home party enthusiast to mobile DJs and live musicians, while professional is fixtures designed for touring rigs, nightclubs, or theatre installations.

It comes up often in PA and lighting, but the differences are purely based upon the ability of a unit to perform in certain environments, under specific stresses, and how it copes with those tasks for extended periods of time. For example, a mobile DJ doing weddings may have a pair of moving heads mounted on podiums, synced on a sound-activated performance or preset show. These are on for maybe 6 hours per weekly event, and are pampered in a nice case between uses. Compare this to nightclubs for instance, where the moving heads are mounted high up in the ceiling rig, never getting cleaned, active several nights a week for 8 hours a night, on a heavy movement DMX controlled show. It makes sense that one of these needs to be built a little tougher than the other in order to be reliable.

With LED power and advancements in technology, a £200 DJ moving head will share a surprising amount of features with a £2000 professional luminaire fixture and will give an incredible performance that would not long ago have cost you three times that price. The range of affordable moving head lights has never been better, with capable units starting at under £100, which is crazy for a fully motor-driven effect system. Obviously, the pro systems bring with them advanced control features, more powerful outputs, and heavier engineering to cope with a harder working life, but the low-cost fixtures will never disappoint when used in their intended settings.

What Does It All Mean?

Of all the lighting systems, moving heads have a lot of technical terms and names associated with their workings, which can be a bit of an info overload to the prospective buyer trying to compare units. Let's break them down:

• Pan and Tilt

  The party piece of a moving head, its ability to pan (horizontal movement) and tilt (vertical movement). The range of motion can differ depending on the design and cost of a light, but most moving heads will have a wide range of positioning available.

• Beam Angle

  This is how tightly focussed the light beam will be. A narrower beam angle means a tighter, more intense light beam, while a wider angle produces a softer, diffused beam of light. Many newer LED moving heads actually allow this to be altered during use.

• Field Angle

  This is the actual width of coverage the light will provide. Think of the light beam coming from the fixture as a cone shape, shining a circle onto a stage for example. The centre of the circle is 100% intensity. Field angle is measured from the two outer points of that circle, where the intensity is 10%. It’s a ‘usable lit area’ figure given as an angle.

• Gobo

  A gobo is basically a stencil, which could be a pattern, a logo or image etc. In a moving head you usually have several gobo discs that are fitted into a rotating wheel, allowing each one to be moved in front of the light beam. Gobos can be made of glass or metal depending on the complexity of the artwork going onto them. Patterns are cut into metal gobos, where glass will be printed or etched. Some moving heads have fixed gobos, and others are user-changeable.

• Gobo Shake

  Fairly self-explanatory. The gobo or gobo wheel will be vibrated by a motor to produce a unique effect to the image or pattern being produced. Many moving heads include this but its rarely used outside of nightclubs.

• Colour Wheel

  For high-powered moving heads, the main light source will be a white lamp, be that LED or a tungsten reflector lamp. To allow colour production, a rotating disc or ‘wheel’ is used, with selectable coloured lenses and an ‘open’ position for white. Modern multicolour DJ moving heads won't require this as their LEDs are colour-changing.

• Rotatable Prisms

  A moving head is basically a spot light (like a big torch!) so only produces a single beam of light, which can be coloured and adjusted for width and intensity. What a prism does is allow the fixture to produce multiple beams from that single source, allowing for a variety of effects that can include split colours. Many larger moving heads will have a pair of prisms, with the number of facets (sides) dictating what's possible.

• Illuminance

  Also known as Lux. This is a calculated figure that represents the total amount of light a source produces when projected onto a surface. Professional lighting uses Lux as it gives a real-world calculation of light in a defined space. You will see a similar word called Lumens used for lightbulbs and lamps, but this is purely light output so is an open figure. One Lux is measured as one Lumen per square meter.

• Electronic Dimmer

  Traditional dimming was either with a mechanical metal shutter blocking the lamp, or was done by bleeding off the supply voltage to the lamp, which are both fine, but fairly crude and give mixed results that are dependent on the lamp and the unit's power supply etc. Singularly that doesn't matter, but when you want two or more moving heads dimmed to produce identical outputs, its hit or miss, with one being slightly brighter even though they are set the same. Electronic dimming and LEDs have changed this, with accurate dimming available from 0-100%, controlled via a processor to ensure an exact output. Linked units will synchronise and produce identical results.

• Colour Temperature

  A term that’s much more common since the switchover to LED lighting. The temperature of light is the shades of visible colour it produces, measured as warmth or coolness and given as a Kelvin scale figure, usually from 1000K to 10,000K, with daylight being around 6500K for reference. For an LED moving head, the scale given tells you the range of measured temperatures the unit can produce.

• Frost Effect

  Simply a filter that will diffuse the light output. It has the effect of softening the edges of a beam while retaining the beam's shape. Mostly used in stage and theatre productions.

• Flash Rate

  Many moving heads include a stroboscope mode that allows for timed flashes rather than the standard steady output. The flash rate is the timing of those flashes, and is often adjustable in speed. Stones are a fast effect, and the speed will be given as a Hz (per second) rate.

• Focus

  An adjustable focus, either manual or motorised, allows you to tailor the definition of the output to suit specific distances, which is especially useful for clarity when projecting a pattern or image gobo onto a surface, allowing you to sharpen the image.

• Zoom

  Found on many hybrid moving heads and wash units, the inclusion of an adjustable zoom to the optics allows for a wide wash output to be pulled in tighter to provide a beam or even spot. Zoom is a powerful tool on a moving head, making it extremely versatile.

• DMX

  Digital Multiplex Control. The industry standard for connecting and controlling the features and functions of any effects light system. Modern moving heads come with a plethora of pre-programmed shows that allow plug-and-play use, and sound-to-light activation. These are fine for casual users, but any serious lighting rig will be DMX controlled as it gives you complete adjustment over your fixtures, allowing for synchronised shows and colour changes dictated by you to suit your particular needs. Lights are connected to a DMX controller or software through 3-pin or 5-pin XLR-type cables.