Let's talk brightness, or making things brighter

What a great question!

I hope whoever answers the question will give some rules of thumb as to how to apply the answer. For example, I'm sure the answer will vary depending on whether the object you are lighting (1) would otherwise be in complete darkness absent your lights, and (2)is glossy white or flat black. In other words, if the answer is that fleshtones in a darkened theather should appear 75% brighter with twice the light, how can one crudely calculate how much more light will be needed in other situtations - for example, in a cloudy outdoor situation [I'm assuming you can't get enough light to make much of a difference outdoors on a sunny day.]

A related question that person could answer is: When you set a a DMX value at 127, is the objects going to be half as brightly lit as it would be if the value is set at 255? In other words, are DMX dimmers linear or are they scaled to compensate for the fact that doubling light does not double brightness.

Thanks

Doubling up doesn't double brightness. It increases maybe 50% at best. To give an example, the show I am working on now I have 7 6" 500w Fresnels focused upstage and 4 750w ParNels downstage. The ParNels destroy the Fresnels. I have to have the ParNels at about 50-60% and Fresnels on full to match them. Now, If I turn on only 4 of the Fresnels, I need to turn the ParNels down to about 35-40%.

Not a real good way of putting it but you get the idea.

Hobson, if your dimmers are prefectly linear then yes, half the power. However, it won't necessarily be half the brightness since dimming doesn't scale linearly with intensity. This is often why light boards have different dimming curves you can apply to dimmers.

Well, that's certainly helpful. A lot. Really.

See, what I am doing is I have the 8 64 LED Pros, I have them in 2 banks of 4, on each side of the stage. To supplement, I have 4 Mega Bar 50's covering the same "quadrants" but mounted at the foot of thge stageto help a bit(they'd work better if I'd utilize them more!, an ongoing project, don't ask about the pre-work effors I am on now!)

Even getting 25% brighter would help. Using the Mega Bar 50's would help. Maybe getting those Profile panels would also help. Maybe doubling up on the Mega Bars would help, along with a Profile Panel(2 Mega Bar 50's flanking a Profile panel, at 4 banks at front of stage...) might help.

Not an ideal situation, but for $1200 retail(Jingles, feel free to remove the price) for 4 mega Bar 50's and 4 Profile Panels, plus extra for shortie DMX cables and IEC pass-thru power cables, I'd be fairly well set. This leaves money left over for other goodies I need to purchase a well.

STILL, not an excuse to not get the Opti Tri Pars from Elation. Just have to hold off a bit longer. There's still the December show!! I definately want and need those Elation cans!!

I figure, between the lighting investment for the short term(and it's good long term stuff as well), and the wireless IEM for my personal use, I'm set until December, when by then, enough checks will have rolled in and my busy August/September, I should be able to splurge on the Elation cans.

UNLESS someone has another idea? I'm all "in ears!". Audio Technica M2 for my own personal usage, just has to clear from the console bridge to my belt pack a few feet away. I can't be tied to the console during these shows!