LED Lights vs Incandescent Bulbs

First things first; Before you chose which light you want to rent you need to decide which kind of light source you prefer. Most of the lights on this list use one of two types of bulbs or light sources and they are LEDs and Incandescent bulbs or lamps. And its usually up to the show designer and/or event planner to decide which to use. So we’ll start out with explaining the differences between the two.

First is the Incandescent bulb.

This is the light source that most of us are familiar with and even grew up with in our home. In a nutshell its a glass tube or housing that houses a small thin wire called a filament inside and when energy is applied to it it glows hot and produces light and because of its high CRI (Color Rendering Index) An Incandescent bulb produces an attractive warm light that lights up set pieces and skin tones very well.

Alternatively the drawbacks are their notorious energy inefficiency and heat production. Along with a full rig of incandescent lighting fixtures you also need loads of power circuits, cables, and distribution systems to make it all work. Not to mention the heat output by these lighting fixtures. You can literally fry and egg with some of these lights. Imagine a full rig of incandescent lights pointing at your stage and presenters… Not fun.

Now for LED light sources

LED stands for “light emitting diode”; without getting all technical, it basically means it’s a really bright electronic chip! Despite its brightness, it’s also small, so LEDs give off much less heat than other forms of lighting. This makes LEDs ideal for performers and presenters because they keep the stage cooler. And because green is good, LEDs also consume less energy! and because LED stage lights require much less power it means smaller distribution systems, less cables, and less power required from the venue or generators. And with the advancing technologies in LED the CRI is almost just as good a incandescents. Entire broadway theaters, many venues, and Television studios across the country are now exclusively using LED fixtures because the color rendering if fantastic!

Now we wont make decisions for you on which option is best but we will say we’re now exclusively LED at One Way Event Productions