Here's another take on my original "Practical" Beamshots? (link)
Late last night I described how I saw outdoors with the River Rock 1.5w 2AA spot beam compared to various other flashlights -
please see this thread River Rock 1.5w 2AA.
I thought some more about this and tried to take some photos of the beams shone on the pampas grass late last night - for another varient of the "Practical" Beamshots .
Exposure was below my camera's metering range so it had to be trial and error - after a few tries I settled on the optimum for the Nuwai Q3 on 3.6V RCR123 and LightHound V3 - the brightest lights in this ad-hoc trial test -
so all the night beamshots were fixed at the same exposure settings -
ISO100, f/4.8, 3.2secs, fixed Daylight white balance - with the lens fully zoomed to 105mm equivalent.
Camera obviously tripod mounted, and fired via 2 sec delay -
flashlights were held as steady as I could rested against a post on my deck.
Lights were shone with their hotspot centered at the base of the front-most pampas head.
The daylight reference shot was taken this morning trying to frame it as close as I could to last nights beamshots - the position was probably within inches of last night's.
Camera settings were ISO100, fixed Daylight white balance, lens fully zoomed to 105mm (equivalent) -
exposure obviously had to be different - I used my camera's Evaluative metering - which set the camera at f/4.8, 1/640sec.
I tried to measure the distance to the pampas grass heads with my optical rangefinder - but it was below the minimum distance of 12 yards - so I stand by my estimate that it's over 30feet - so probably in the range of 30-35 feet - let's "call it" at 33feet or 11 yards.
Daylight Reference
Nuwai Q3 on 3.6V RCR123 .................................................. ..... LightHound V3 - 3watt 3.6V RCR123
River Rock 1.5w 2AA .................................................. ............ Fenix L1 v2.5 (fresh alkaline AA)
Costco 1w 2AA
These beamshots should speak for themselves........
But a few comments if I may -
there was some street lighting which turned kind of red/orange in these shots.
The Q3 on 3.6V RCR123 is spectacular....
The (cheaper) LightHound V3 (also on 3.6V RCR123) is even more so in this outdoors situation.
These two lights are simply in another class.
The River Rock 1.5w 2AA spot beam (to me) shows more in its hotspot than the Fenix L1 v2.5, and marginally better than the Costco 1w 2AA - for the latter one has to look at the outermost pampas heads - the River Rock spot includes them and illuminates them about as well as the center of the spot, whereas the Costco shot shows them much less illuminated - although as described previously the center of the Costco beam could be considered better.
I like the River Rock because its spot is very even and for outdoors an adequate/useful size.... and reversing my previously negativity toward spot type lights - to actually quite liking this River Rock 1.5w 2AA for outdoors usage.
The possible problem with these "practical" beamshots is consistency and repeatability -
the grass is going to be seasonal - there will be seasons when those fluffy heads just won't be the same or even there at all - and it is very weather dependent it could be raining or windy......
also during the Summer it won't get dark until much later - reducing the opportunity for me to do these.
Also for these shots it was F***ing Cold! out there last night!!!!
Late last night I described how I saw outdoors with the River Rock 1.5w 2AA spot beam compared to various other flashlights -
please see this thread River Rock 1.5w 2AA.
I thought some more about this and tried to take some photos of the beams shone on the pampas grass late last night - for another varient of the "Practical" Beamshots .
Exposure was below my camera's metering range so it had to be trial and error - after a few tries I settled on the optimum for the Nuwai Q3 on 3.6V RCR123 and LightHound V3 - the brightest lights in this ad-hoc trial test -
so all the night beamshots were fixed at the same exposure settings -
ISO100, f/4.8, 3.2secs, fixed Daylight white balance - with the lens fully zoomed to 105mm equivalent.
Camera obviously tripod mounted, and fired via 2 sec delay -
flashlights were held as steady as I could rested against a post on my deck.
Lights were shone with their hotspot centered at the base of the front-most pampas head.
The daylight reference shot was taken this morning trying to frame it as close as I could to last nights beamshots - the position was probably within inches of last night's.
Camera settings were ISO100, fixed Daylight white balance, lens fully zoomed to 105mm (equivalent) -
exposure obviously had to be different - I used my camera's Evaluative metering - which set the camera at f/4.8, 1/640sec.
I tried to measure the distance to the pampas grass heads with my optical rangefinder - but it was below the minimum distance of 12 yards - so I stand by my estimate that it's over 30feet - so probably in the range of 30-35 feet - let's "call it" at 33feet or 11 yards.
Daylight Reference
Nuwai Q3 on 3.6V RCR123 .................................................. ..... LightHound V3 - 3watt 3.6V RCR123
River Rock 1.5w 2AA .................................................. ............ Fenix L1 v2.5 (fresh alkaline AA)
Costco 1w 2AA
These beamshots should speak for themselves........
But a few comments if I may -
there was some street lighting which turned kind of red/orange in these shots.
The Q3 on 3.6V RCR123 is spectacular....
The (cheaper) LightHound V3 (also on 3.6V RCR123) is even more so in this outdoors situation.
These two lights are simply in another class.
The River Rock 1.5w 2AA spot beam (to me) shows more in its hotspot than the Fenix L1 v2.5, and marginally better than the Costco 1w 2AA - for the latter one has to look at the outermost pampas heads - the River Rock spot includes them and illuminates them about as well as the center of the spot, whereas the Costco shot shows them much less illuminated - although as described previously the center of the Costco beam could be considered better.
I like the River Rock because its spot is very even and for outdoors an adequate/useful size.... and reversing my previously negativity toward spot type lights - to actually quite liking this River Rock 1.5w 2AA for outdoors usage.
The possible problem with these "practical" beamshots is consistency and repeatability -
the grass is going to be seasonal - there will be seasons when those fluffy heads just won't be the same or even there at all - and it is very weather dependent it could be raining or windy......
also during the Summer it won't get dark until much later - reducing the opportunity for me to do these.
Also for these shots it was F***ing Cold! out there last night!!!!
Last edited: