Best Cyc Lights For Church Stage Lighting
Cyc lights throw a sheet of light. Traditionally with a “J” shaped reflector, they can sit on the floor or hang fairly close to the backdrop and throw an even sheet of light up and down.
Cyc (Cyclorama) lights throw a sheet of light and color. The bottom of the J is for the short throw and the top part is for the longer throw. The main purpose is to get even, full cyc coverage.
Best Overall Cyc Light
A cyc light may or may not be important for your church stage. They belong to advanced setup for a large stage. However, if you choose to use them, do look at the Elation TVL CYC RGBW COB Cyclorama LED Light by Elation Professional. It is 150W COB RGBW LED and it is the best overall cyc light that you will find.
Elation TVL CYC RGBW | 150W COB RGBW LED Wall Wash
- 150W COB RGBW LED
- 90 deg x 113 deg Elliptical Beam Angle
- 64 Internal Color Macros
- Smooth Color Mixing and 16bit Dimming
- Selectable Dimming Curve and Strobe Effects
- It produces a 90-degree X113 degree elliptical beam angle.
- It contains 64 internal color macros.
- The unit has a smooth color mixing and16 bit dimming.
- This unit produces a HARO edged sheet of light.
- The closer they are together, the more even your wash will be.
- Dark recessive colors will be strong, but you must include a heat shield on your gel if you are using the darkest of colors.
- Order a silk, frost gel with your lights for a softer edge to the color that they produce.
- Primary colored frost gels work well with these lights.
- To determine the right amount of distance in your cyc. Put one unit on the floor and keep moving it away until you have covered the entire cyc. Then bring down the line set that is right above the middle of the unit and there you have the perfect line set to hang them on.
- The closer together the cells are to each other, the better color mixing you will get. If you are going to use 4 colors, consider the stacking mode rather than the linear mode.
- Use two safety cables to handle the weight of the unit.
LED units make the color mixing simpler than with old school type lighting units.
For smooth coverage, trial and error is the key. Try an experiment on the floor to determine the perfect distance between units for the most uniform coverage.
Best Bang For The Buck Cyc Lights
Much less expensive and more practical for your church stage, the Kamerar Bright Cast V15-345P has much to offer for around 1/3 of the price of the Elation lights.
Especially unique and interesting is the fact that the LED panel is flexible and can be bent to whatever your system requires. Produced by Kamerar, it has many outstanding features:
Kamerar BrightCast V15-345P Bi-Color Flexible LED Light Panel
- FLEXIBLE, YET RUGGED: Bend your LED Panel to shape it to your lighting needs with the Kamerar BrightCast V15-345P. Each LED chip is reinforced with a metal backing plate for improved durability and stability.
- 256 BI-COLOR LED CHIPS: With CRI>96 LEDs, render colors naturally and faithfully. Make your reds, greens and blues look just the way they should with outstanding light quality.
- MAXIMUM DURABILITY: With an IP67 rating, the LED Panel is water resistant, drop-proof and dust-proof. The LED panel is protected against rain, splashing and accidental submersion in up to 1m of water. **Please note that the LED panel is not designed for continuous submersion in water.**
- COMPLETE COLOR CONTROL: Each LED chip features both daylight and tungsten LEDs so you can set it anywhere between 3200K to 5600K.
- POWER OPTIONS: Mount your V-Mount battery on the control handle to power it with a battery, or connect an AC adapter to use it indoors. **V-MOUNT BATTERY IS NOT INCLUDED.**
- V mount powering is available.
- It is flexible, yet rugged.
- You can bend your LED panel to shape it to your lighting needs with the Kamerar Bright Cast V15-345P.
- It has improved durability and stability because each LED chip is reinforced with a metal backing plate.
- It has 256 Bi-Color LED chips with CRI>96 LEDs. This means it renders colors naturally and faithfully.
- It provides outstanding light quality with reds, greens, and blues displaying properly and richly.
- With an IP67 rating, the LED panel is water resistant, drop proof, and dust proof. This provides for excellent durability.
- Though not designed for underwater use, the LED panel is protected against rain, splashing and accidental submersion in 1m of water.
- The unit has complete color control. Each LED chip features both daylight and tungsten LEDs so you can set it anywhere between 3200K to 5600K.
- Power options are available. It can be powered with a V-mount battery mounted on the control handle or connected with an AC adapter for indoor use. (V-mount battery is not included.)
- It weighs only 5.8 pounds.
- It is fairly small, 16 X 3.,2 X 12 inches, and you can purchase a carrying case for it if needed.
You can always start with one and then add more as you experiment with different lighting set-ups for your church stage. You can do anything you want with this fine cyc light!
Best Budget Cyc Light
Budget Cyc lights are hard to come by but the LED Three Butterfly effect Light by Emily Lighting could give a limited effect on your stage. They are 3 separate LED lights that cast a “butterfly” of light all over your stage. They are priced at $148.00 each.
However, the light that I reviewed in “Best Bang for the Buck” cyc lights above could very well also be your best choice for a “Budget” cyc light. Therefore, I am repeating that recommendation as the “Best Budget Cyc Lights”.
