Par cans (parabolic aluminized reflector lamps) are simple and lightweight, with no moving parts, essentially a PAR lamp mounted on the back of a can-like cylinder, which extends to form a snoot and ends in a gel frame slot. They are designed so that light is projected from the reflector in parallel rays which then pass through a spreader lens: very narrow spot, narrow spot, medium flood, or wide flood. This optical design enables a very punchy, bright beam with more light output per watt than any other incandescent light. A single 1k PAR with a very narrow spot lens is as bright as a 10k Fresnel, but with a much smaller beam size.
They can pound light onto a performer or produce strong shafts of light in the atmosphere. The wider-beam pars can fill a stage with a wash of color and the narrow pars are often used in film and TV work to splash a bright streak of sunlight across a part of the set or bounce light off the floor. PAR lamps are available in a variety of sizes, the 8-in diameter PAR 64 lamps being one of the most common.
