# Floods vs. Spot Lights



## edwood saucer (Aug 21, 2006)

I didn't know until recently there was a difference between spotlights and floodlights.

Spotlights dont have diffusers in the lens. I did not know that. So I wonder if HD or Menards sells both types as when I go in I usually just buy colored flood lights?

Last year I used colored floods and didn't know why my front yard looked different than what I've seen in pictures of various yard haunts. I really like the saturated look of the colors.

Thoughts?


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## slimy (Jul 12, 2006)

Flood lights generally have a larger light area. Spot lights cover a smaller area, but do so much brighter. These are general terms used by lighting professionals. The home market, however unfortunately , uses both terms quite interchangeably. So just because it says 'spotlight' doesn't mean it IS a small area coverage REAL spot light. 

The 'saturated' look of the lighting colors is best obtained with LEDs. Spots, Floods, whatever you want to call them, LEDs look awesome in photographs.


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## edwood saucer (Aug 21, 2006)

I've been manically building LEDs - just got the strong guys in last week.


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## Revenant (Mar 17, 2007)

Ah, thanks for segueing the topic to LED's in the spot vs. flood thread! 

Most LED mini-spots that people use make obvious circles of light on the targets (headstones, whatever). I know the divergence angle of the LED is built into it, but is there any sort of cheapie lens that anyone has used to spread the mini-spot a bit and make it a micro-flood? Or do I have to look for LED's specifically that have wide angles? It can be slim pickins variety-wise when looking for good bulk deals on lights sometimes.

I love the ability to illuminate and color a tight area, but hate that blatant 12" circle of light in the middle of the target and don't want to move the lamp so far away that the light is lost.


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## heresjohnny (Feb 15, 2006)

I have found that LED spots with 7 or more LEDs can be set up to have a wider angle and smooth light. Stay away from 10mm or a small number of 5mm if you want to light a larger area, for example this or this

I have seen people on this forum get a good floodlight effect using colored lights in a 5 gallon bucket.


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## Revenant (Mar 17, 2007)

so what size LED's (and how many of them) did you use on those 2 props johnny? (or were those just an example of prop sizes and not LED lighting?) If I had to use incandescents, I'd just use a floodlight instead of a big ol' bucket. My desire is full, smooth lighting (with small concealed light sources) of specific areas... if you can light your props and leave everything else in darkness, you can really control your overall visual impact so much better. And make your area look bigger too.l


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## scare-m (Jul 16, 2007)

Johnny

The LED output you display is exactly what I am looking for. Can you please provide the specs for these ones specifically? ie LED size, resistor,#of LEDs.


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## heresjohnny (Feb 15, 2006)

Those are 7 LED spotlights built with the technique here http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=7113, using 5mm, 13,000mcd Blue ultra bright LEDs. I'd suggest finding the LEDs first, then using the calculator in the how-to to find out the resistor values and layout.

The pictures are to show how LED spots can light larger props; the scarecrow is 7' tall, and the tombstone is about 2 feet wide. I just put the spot lights on the ground and shoved them around until they looked good, nothing fancy.


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## edwood saucer (Aug 21, 2006)

Thanks Johnny. I just got in a bunch of 10000+mcd 5mm's in blue, green and red. Wahoo - I'm excited about getting your type of result.

I havent been about to obtain that flat light look with my lower output mcd's. I get 5 little halos at close distances. Any thoughts on that?


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