Color rendition beamshots: incan, GD, Rebel, Nichia 083, Seoul high CRI, and Cree 5A

[Magic Matt]

Sadly most browsers don't support Animated PNG which has 24 bit colour and 8 bit alpha channel. The technology went too far towards Flash and MPEG to ever come back.

From the images, I'm finding the Cree 5A a clear winner to me - I just like the lighting better than the others.

 

[mudman cj]

I have gravitated to the Cree 5A and 5B because they provide good enough color rendering and depth perception for me without sacrificing too much output. They just occupy the 'sweet spot' IMHO. I sold off the Seoul 4000K light I had but still have the Nichia 083 mainly for reference. In use I just don't mind the difference between these spectra and that of the Cree 5A or 5B.

I will not purchase any more cool white LED lights unless of course I do so with the intent to swap out the emitter.

 

[LEDAdd1ct]

mudman, do you have any beamshots of the latest Nichia high CRI emitter?

 

[mudman cj]

I just finished putting one into the Q3 that previously hosted a Nichia 083. Let me see what I can do. Give me a few days...

 

[LEDAdd1ct]

 

[mudman cj]

Sorry for the wait and thanks for your patience. I just finished putting the Nichia 083 into another Q3 host and had the opportunity to compare the 083 running at 333 mA side by side with the 183 running at 800 mA. The difference is just not great enough to warrant the effort of taking another set of beam shots IMO.

The tints are quite close to one another and they render colors equally well. The only difference is the increased brightness of the 183, but given the much greater drive current the difference is not impressive. Part of the reason for this is certainly due to the floody nature of the beam, which does not produce much of a hotspot. If there were more of a concentrated hotspot, then I would expect to notice a greater difference in throw especially.

Overall, I still like the high CRI LEDs, but the sheer output of a XR-E Q4 5B behind a Surefire X series optic for throw or a 5A/5B MC-E for flood is still the sweet spot for balancing output vs color rendition/depth perception/comfort IMHO.