As most of you know already, the so17xa is bringing new life to some of those lights which were limited to optics or the McFlood reflector in the past. I got a couple samples of the IMS reflectors in the mail today so I built a McLux head with a BB700 and LuxII to see how this reflector fits in with the other photon management schemes. Having the 2 stage switch lets me use a BB700 on a 1x123 power pak without feeling like I'm pushing the light too hard.
The beam is very similar to that of a KL4 with a lux III or the new Arc4. I believe I am repeating what many of you have observed already. I join with the others in stating that this is really a cool addition to the "bag of tricks"! I can see some new life for the 1" diameter heads of many of the popular lights. I think some type of spacer will be required for some retro-fits. I used a small O-ring around the lip of the reflector in this installation. Did I mention that these reflectors are cool! Thanks go to Greg at IMS for letting me in on the fun! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Since I love to do beam shots, I decided to pair this light with a PR-T also on an E1e with BB700 and two stage switch for comparisons.
Not a lot of difference in size and weight but the beams from these two do take you two different places.....
The distance to target was 36" and all images were taken in manual exposure with the same settings. The color correction is very interesting as these beams all are much closer to a "tintless white" to the naked eye. You can see in the beam shots that the so17xa has a more even dispersion of light with the larger hotspot and less radical drop off in the corona into the flood portion. Interestingly to me is the harsh contrast in the beam transition on the PR-T initially makes it look like the flood is dimmer than it really is. If you look at the grey lines in the grid, I think you can see what I mean.
I have posted some more information and a couple extra pictures on a web page HERE .
The so17xa provides a great beam in a nice small package! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
The beam is very similar to that of a KL4 with a lux III or the new Arc4. I believe I am repeating what many of you have observed already. I join with the others in stating that this is really a cool addition to the "bag of tricks"! I can see some new life for the 1" diameter heads of many of the popular lights. I think some type of spacer will be required for some retro-fits. I used a small O-ring around the lip of the reflector in this installation. Did I mention that these reflectors are cool! Thanks go to Greg at IMS for letting me in on the fun! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Since I love to do beam shots, I decided to pair this light with a PR-T also on an E1e with BB700 and two stage switch for comparisons.
Not a lot of difference in size and weight but the beams from these two do take you two different places.....
The distance to target was 36" and all images were taken in manual exposure with the same settings. The color correction is very interesting as these beams all are much closer to a "tintless white" to the naked eye. You can see in the beam shots that the so17xa has a more even dispersion of light with the larger hotspot and less radical drop off in the corona into the flood portion. Interestingly to me is the harsh contrast in the beam transition on the PR-T initially makes it look like the flood is dimmer than it really is. If you look at the grey lines in the grid, I think you can see what I mean.
I have posted some more information and a couple extra pictures on a web page HERE .
The so17xa provides a great beam in a nice small package! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
