You’ve decided to purchase a spotlight to light up your home. That’s great!
Lights are needed in a home to make it a place comfortable to live and find out about your surroundings, especially after the natural light fades away. But do you know that there are various types of spotlights available in the market?
In this post, we’ll be having a look at what are the types of spotlights you can find in the market, why you need to know about the various types of spotlights and more.
So without wasting any time, let’s jump in!
Why you must have knowledge about the various types of spotlights?
There are several reasons for which you need to know about the various types of spotlights. The main one being that not only it helps to light up your indoor space to improve visibility, it also protects your home from thieves when you fix spotlights throughout the exterior of the home.
These spotlights can be pretty helpful during the night time. In order to mitigate the risk of burglary and to get a pleasant feeling when you enter into your home, it is crucial to learn about the spotlights. When you have the necessary knowledge about the various types of this light source, you can purchase the one that suits your needs and requirements. In the coming section, we’ll take a closer look at the types of spotlights.
Types of spotlights available in the market
There is no doubt that spotlights are different from general lights. Just like the other common lights, spotlights have also gone through many technological improvements and advancements. In fact, spotlights are completely transformed to a whole new level thanks to technology. They are divided into 7 different types based on their functions.
- Ellipsoidal spotlight: among all 7 types of spotlights, this is the common spotlight that is regularly in use. It usually produces round shaped light beams. But the shape of the light beams can be adjusted by the usage of different iris, gobo and shutters. For most people, the round shaped light beams are enough as a light source.
- Fresnel spotlight: Augustine Fresnel, a French scientist has designed the Fresnel lenses and hence, this spotlight was given his name. The Fresnel spotlights are mostly used in lighthouses. The interesting fact about this spotlight is that it functions much like a floodlight. The light beam produced through this spotlight concentrate on illuminating one particular spot clearly. Yet, it lacks many of the benefits that other light sources have to offer.
- The piano convex spotlight: this is the first spotlight technology that was invented in the 19th Ever since its invention, the spotlight technology has gone through enormous amount of changes. Therefore, you’ll very rarely see that this type of spotlight is used in grand events.
- Beam projector: this is the only type of spotlight that works without a lens. It produces very direct and powerful beams of light. Since it doesn’t have a lens, the lifespan of the spotlight can be much longer.
- Follow spotlight: it is mainly used in drama theatres to illuminate a moving object such as the actor. This light is operated by a person and it won’t function through an automatic control system. This is because the trajectory of the light beam has to change constantly to illuminate the moving object, and in this case, the actor.
- Parabolic Aluminized Reflector spotlight: this is the go to spotlight for stage lighting in the entertainment industry. All PAR spotlights consist of filament, reflector and lens. They are all placed in a fixed position. This is the reason why when you watch an award show based on the entertainment industry, the stage setup in particular gives out a glowing vibe.
- Parabolic Aluminized Reflector pin spotlight: this type of spotlight uses low voltage to produce narrower and concentrated light beams. Since it is different from a regular PAR spotlight, it is able to illuminate very finer details and objects such as the face of a performer.
Where are spotlights mostly used?
It is very rare to see spotlights are used in a home environment. But that doesn’t mean that it can’t be used in your home. In fact, when you have a spotlight as a security lighting in your home, it keeps thieves and intruding passersby at bay.
Spotlights are mostly used in theatres, opera-houses, concert-halls and ballet houses to illuminate stage and the people perform on it. By using a spotlight, it becomes that much easier to highlight a particular object. Because of this reason, these type of lighting is used in museums and art exhibitions to illuminate certain objects.
Organizing and arranging the lighting effects isn’t an easy task. Therefore, all entertainment house hires professional illuminators to make the job a lot simpler.
Types of light fittings
When you purchase a handheld spotlight, it usually comes with either an inbuilt stand or a shoulder strap. But if you are planning to purchase a fixable spotlight, then you need a light fittings to put it in place.
There are several light fixtures that are available in the market. So, read the list carefully and choose the kind of fixture that fulfils your requirement.
- Recessed lighting fixtures: If you are planning to fix your spotlight on the ceiling of your home, then this type of lighting fixtures are a perfect choice.
- Track lighting and monorail fixtures: If you are planning to fit your spotlight to focus a particular area of your home, then track lighting and monorail fixtures are a go to option.
- Linear LED fixtures: Do you want to light up a hard to reach area? If yes, this type of lighting fixture can be your first choice.
- Chandelier fixtures: Planning to decorate your room with spotlights and other lighting effects? Then Chandelier fixtures are your best bet.
Conclusion:
Spotlights are great lighting equipment for focusing a particular area with powerful light beams. Through this guide, we hope that we are able to provide you a clear roadmap of the types of spotlights you will be able to find in the market. Always keep your needs and budget in mind before you plan to purchase a particular spotlight model.
Want to include your thoughts about this guide? Put them in the comments section below!
FAQs about spotlights
How to choose spotlights?
When you are planning to purchase a particular spotlight, there are several factors you need to keep in mind before you go all in on buying that model. They include price of the model you plan to purchase, battery and the light beam capacity of the spotlight, whether it comes with additional lenses to widen the spread of the light beam and the overall size of the bulb.
Why spotlights are used in lighting up a stage?
When a spotlight is used during a stage performance, it illuminates a certain area or focuses in lighting a particular object. There are spotlights that are used to light up the entire stage or certain spotlights are used to; light up a small object such as the face of a performer.
