Finally, an LED light that rivals an incan's color rendering

js

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Just over four years ago now I posted a thread titled How long before LED light is really good?, where I asked the question:

How long, do you think, before the quality of light from LED's starts to rival the light from a good incandescent? I'm guessing three to five years, but does anyone have a more informed estimate? What's on the horizon for LED technology? Will there soon be another high quality/power LED besides the Luxeon? What advances are in sight?

Well, as it turns out my estimate of three to five years was just about right! With McGizmo's introduction of Nichia 083 High CRI LED's to our humble online community, the highest quality light I have ever dreamed of from an LED is now available! The light from these 083's does indeed rival the light from even a high CCT incandescent. Or surpasses it. I'm amazed at how wonderful it is; at how well it renders colors; at how bright and sunny it is while totally lacking the yellowiness of incans. It is the best of both worlds.

My experience with the 083's is due to a single light: McGizmo's SunDrop. Don suggests in the thread that the name "SunDrop" might possibly be a bit too ambitious, but I don't think so. It is my considered opinion, after living with this amazing little light for going on two months now, that the Sundrop does indeed fulfill the destiny of its name, and does in actual fact, in reality, put a goddamned drop of SUNLIGHT on whatever you shine it on! Does my amazement come across here? Because, it is amazing! I'm amazed. It's an amazing light. I was stunned when I first experienced it, and still today, I like to just shine the light into my hand and admire the bit of sun held there, and always use it around the house when I need or want the highest quality light. The SunDrop is magic. I know, I'm being very hyperbolic here. I'm sorry. But those of us who have experienced this light will attest to the fact that the reality deserves some hyperbole. paulr says in one of his posts that:

The Sundrop has almost killed my interest in other lights, I like it so much. I've been carrying mine every day for months, where I always used to switch from one light to another.

This is what I'm taking about. And, of course, being a McGizmo light, the SunDrop is impressive not only because of its light engine and high CRI light output, but also because of it's design and build quality. It is based upon one of Don's clickie C packs, which has the nicest clickie switch and silicon rubber boot I have ever used, and which features the trade-mark McGizmo ergonomic titanium body design with the flared end and grippy concentric rings. Two fingers fit very nicely in between the tail flare and the head of the light, making switch activation a joy. The lens, which is not flat, but which is in fact a focusing lens specially designed by Don, is sapphire crystal, and the o-rings are high quality EPDM. It's a real beauty of a light—very charming and endearing. Oh, and best of all, the silicon rubber switch boot is easily and separately user replaceable, so for those of us who dislike the feel of smooth slick squishy rubber, we can economically and conveniently change out the switch bootie as often as we like to keep it feeling crisp and new.

One drawback of the 083's is their lower efficiency compared to Crees and Seouls. This is the cost of very high CRI, unfortunately. However, it is still plenty bright for most uses—about 40 lumens—and has a good runtime on a single 123. (There is also a SunDrop XP which gets extended runtime from two 123's in a longer clickie pack, and of course the currently offered Sundrop 3S)

The other draw back of the SunDrop is that the beam, like the beam from the Mule, is a total flood, and really doesn't throw at all. This is not a problem for indoor use, and for near-field outdoor use, of course, and for many of us, throw isn't really absolutely necessary, or we carry more than one light anyway (those real flashaholics out there, right brightnorm!?!). For myself, for better or worse, I find that I absolutely do need throw in my EDC, and I refuse to EDC two lights, as I have other important things I want to EDC besides lights, like my Sebenza, for example. Nonetheless, for me, the Sundrop is the single best around-the-house-and-yard light I have yet had the fortune to use, and for most people, I suspect that the Sundrop's lack of throw would not be an obstacle even for use as an EDC light.

There are plenty of good photos in the SunDrop thread, but I wanted to take some of my own that would capture just how good the light is from this thing. I tried a number of different setups in about a freaking dozen locations around my house, but when I framed it up and went back and forth, I just didn't feel satisfied that they captured the full amazingness of the Sundrop. In a number of cases, this was partly due to whites in the pictures being turned into even more whiter whites by the Cree LED in the Mule head, which frankly, looked pretty good, even though it was an artificial coloration, not a faithful rendering like the Nichia 083 in the sundrop. Further, nothing I came up with bettered (or even added anything to) the pictures in the Sundrop thread. Not surprising, I suppose, but frustrating nontheless.

Then this evening, I started "thinking outside the box" as it were and figured that I needed two main things: RED and a PERSON (a woman, in point of fact)—and in addition, also wanted a background that wasn't white: no white walls, no white backsplash, no white period. And, for good measure, wanted some other colors besides red. Well, it's maybe a little unconventional, and not as sophisticated as the amazing outdoor pictures Don took, but I do think it captures very well the superior color-rendering of the Sundrop. Plus, honestly, how can you go wrong with a beautiful woman in a bikini? So here they are: (oh, and I threw in the X-Rite ColorChecker chart, which sadly, is *cough* upside down—must have been distracted by the GQ cover, I guess)

meganfox_sundrop.jpg


meganfox_mule.jpg


You can clearly see the difference in skin tone, and the dramatic difference in the red cover. Also, notice the light golden, honey wood-color of the chest in the sundrop picture. That's how it really looks during the day, whereas the Mule light really skews it to a kind of pale greenish cool cast. And the Mule head also unnaturally amps up the blue border and Megan's eyes, although it's not a huge difference. More precisely, you can clearly see the superior color-rendering in the ColorChecker chart part of the pictures. Notice in particular the purple (3 over, 3 down from top-left), and the three redish/pinkish squares touching the purple. Sunlight itself wouldn't really do much better than the sundrop, in all honesty.

Also, let me reiterate about the neatness of this light. It's just a charming, wonderful little light that fits in the hand very well. It's a pleasure to use and look at, and the clip is, of course, the McGizmo titanium clip, the single best clip in all of flashlight-dom. No matter how you grab this light, the clip won't get in your way or annoy you. On the contrary, it even feels better in some grips precisely because of the clip. The clip does it's job very well on top of this, and is positioned properly at the very rear of the light for correct, bezel-down carry. If you clip this to the inside of your pants pocket, the head won't be sticking up a full inch like a SureFire light. Or you can just drop this little guy right into a pants pocket for very comfortable carry. On top of all this, the Titanium body feels really, really good to the touch, and the concentric rings don't get in the way of that, while at the same time providing a nice grippiness. It's a very well designed and thought-out light.

I highly recommend it for those people who, when it comes to light (and flashlights), are more interested in quality, than quantity. This is one for the flashlight Hall of Fame. Or my flashlight hall of fame, for whatever that's worth.

Thank you, Don. You've created yet another truly extraordinary light.
 
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Woods Walker

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Wow she is..... and the tint looks good too. The biggest issue I have with most LEDs are for night trail hikes as often tree liken under most LEDs look very much like the blue blaze state trails or white makers on the AT. A few times I followed the patches of liken/tree moss and had to back track to aviod getting turned around. No big deal as a few times I just setup camp and found my way in the AM however for the longer dayhikes that move into dusk/night it is more of an issue. Also the warmer tints help with mist and fog as it seems to reflect back less into my eyes if that is even possible.

I should take some photos of this liken/trail marker Phenomena. I think most people would be suprised just how near the liken which often grows in small patches the size of trailmarkers tooks to the man made markers under most common LED tints.
 
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js

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Woods Walker,

Yes. I know just what you're talking about, I think. This sort of thing is exactly why I have always championed the usefulness of incans--not that they are better than LED's, or anything like that--but just that in some situations, they do have their advantages over LED's. But then, I like to walk in the woods. A lot. It's a main preoccupation of mine, and I see from your screen name that you are a kindred spirit. So, yes, the Sundrop would have no trouble allowing you to distinguish between lichen and trail markers. Good story, BTW!
 

Kiessling

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Good post, and so true.

The SD really is a charming little light. You just have to love it and play with it. Touvh the fat sapphire lens and all.
And it is very useful, too.

bernie
 

Woods Walker

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I see the light is 40 lumens but funny thing is that 40 lumens in the woods seems to equal 100 in the city.
 

js

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Bernie,

Yes, it really is surprisingly useful. That high CRI LED isn't just for looks! hehe. For so many tasks, the Sundrop is just plain highly effective and practical. Whether it's finding an item in a deep floor-level kitchen cupboard, or getting the mail at night, or evaluating two sheets of chiyogami paper for a craft project, the Sundrop is unsurpassed and unquestionably useful.
 

js

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I see the light is 40 lumens but funny thing is that 40 lumens in the woods seems to equal 100 in the city.

Yes. And, further, as you noted in your first post, light that has a lot of blue-ish frequencies in it is a detriment in foggy conditions, as the blue light scatters a lot more in the fog than red light. So, yes, those 40 lumens have significantly more punch than you might think just from the numerical value.
 

Kiessling

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The SD is very comparable to the Zabralight H30, except for the gorgeous colors and the construction, of course.

Here's a beam comparison of the SD-3S, the current model with 3 speeds, and the H30, both on high. First on a white wall, then in practical use.

The pics are taken from my upcomig "low level" evaluation thread.

SD-3SvsH30high.jpg



RoomH30high.jpg

RoomSD-3Shigh.jpg



bernie
 

Woods Walker

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Yes. And, further, as you noted in your first post, light that has a lot of blue-ish frequencies in it is a detriment in foggy conditions, as the blue light scatters a lot more in the fog than red light. So, yes, those 40 lumens have significantly more punch than you might think just from the numerical value.

Yea the LED light just kinda goes belly up. Fun times in the freezing rain too. I never understood the reasons for this only that it was real enough to me.
 

tebore

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I just want to say if you're gonna post beam shots comparing tint, CRI or CCT PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use a custom white balance because cool whites come out too blue and warm and neutral whites come out too pink or yellow.
 

carnal

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JS,

I read all 7 pages of McGizmo's thread "High CRI and its significance".
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/199054&highlight=nichia+083

What informative stuff! You guys are to be loved for pushing these High CRI led's and McGizmo's Sundrop to the forefront of CPS! From a photographer and videographers point of view, this could be revolutionary.

How bout a "GROUP BUY" of the Nichia 083's? I already emailed McGizmo, asking to buy one.

ME WANTS!
Brian
 

js

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tebore,

I don't know whether you were referring to me or bernie, but I can assure you that the pictures posted above in my first post very accurately capture and characterize the color rendering differences between the two light sources. The differences you see in the pictures were not the result of incorrect camera settings or automatic program algorithms like Auto-White-Balance.
 
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js

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carnal,

Yeah. Don is awesome! too true. That High CRUI thread was a really great thread and it was a lot of fun to be a small part of it. I hope you have fun with your Nichia 083's!
 

Woods Walker

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Sorry to stray off topic, but that's one heck of a record collection...or a hell of a lot of laser discs.:crackup:

Interesting photos. Especially in the above two examples, I would rather have the white/blue than the incan color. Personal preference though...

The conditions I am thinking about are a world away from looking at someones record collection. With the holidays I am a bit overworked however after that I really should do a thread of just how most LEDs look on the trail and though various weather conditions in the field and compare that with incans and warmer tint LEDs. Maybe I will get a warm tint dropin for the G2Z and use the warmer Rebel EOS and mix it up with a Incan G2. Toss in a Inova T3, PT APEX and L2D Q5 for the cooler tint LED side. But don't know if my camera skills are up to the test or if anyone is interested. I am going to use the search to see if this has been done before.
 

js

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Interesting photos. Especially in the above two examples, I would rather have the white/blue than the incan color. Personal preference though...

You know, that was actually part of what I was talking about when I was recounting why it was so difficult to get a satisfying set of pictures contrasting the Cree with the 083: even though the Cree was clearly skewing the colors, the skew was actually pleasing in some ways, and certainly not a problem. This is why I have always preferred LED lights indoors, for the most part, but have nonetheless insisted that incans have their place, mainly in outdoors usage. Anyway, the point is just that I was looking for a set of pictures that would both capture the difference, and show a situation where the poorer color rendering was objectionable--obviously, immediately, clearly, not in any way a positive skew from reality. Low CRI, yellowy incans are both skewing things and objectionable in most situations. Most LEDs are skewing things but are at the same time not objectionable in most situations. This is why the skin-tone and red colors were so important in the success of the final pictures: there's nothing positive about skewing those things towards the cool blue end of things, nor of messing with their color balance. We all know what skin tone should be and what bright red should be!

But, keep in mind that the Sundrop pictures in bernies post are NOT the "incan color"! They are sunlight color--true color, or fairly close to it. The Sundrop isn't an incan and isn't yellowy. It's balanced.
 

BabyDoc

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JS, this you wrote a wonderful review. Being an owner of a SunDrop myself, I can attest to everything you said in your review. You have captured its real essence, and it is difficult for me to add much to what you have so eloquently written.

However, it should be stated that in some situations, correct color rendition is not just a nicety; it is a necessity. Many months ago, as a pediatrician trying to use an ordinary LED flashlight to look at throats, I was quickly frustrated that I couldn't tell a normal throat, from a pink throat, or from a red throat. They often looked nearly the same. One afternoon using a Fenix L2D, I missed what later I saw looked like an obvious strep throat. The throat looked normal, but the rapid strep test was postive. Since the patient hadn't left the office, I went back and looked at her again with an incadescent light and couldn't believe that I missed seeing strep with the Fenix Q5. I was about to give up on using LED's when I started a thread on the forum, asking for suggestions for better color rendering LED flashlights that could be used in a medical setting. Most people couldn't appreciate my problem, but Don did. He sent me a PM and asked if I would like to try out a light he was thinking of marketing down the road. And of course, I did. He sent me a a Mule with the Nichia 083 HIGH CRI installed. He rigged an acrylic hemisphere for a lens on the front of the light. Anyway, it was love at first try. Partly because of my feedback and encouragement, Don went ahead with the SunDrop production. Of course when the first wave of the production SunDrops became available, I just had to buy one. I believe I received the first one in the wave. Anyway, I have been using and loving the SunDRop ever since. In case you wonder why I just didn't stick with the incadescent, there are several reasons. The SunDrop provides brighter, more even illumination over a longer time, than any incandescent could. Now that I have used the Sundrop for several months, incadescents while fine with reds and pink, make flesh tones look too yellow. While I still carry other lights, (how many flashaholics carry just one?), the SunDrop stays at work in my lab coat pocket and is used several times a day. The Mule prototype still sees professional service, but now at home with people stopping in on occasion for free medical advice.
 
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js

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BabyDoc,

I just love real world examples like that! Great post! And I totally agree that good CRI isn't just a nicety. In some situations it is a necessity. I have heard this time and again from various professionals: sometimes you really do need good color rendering. Until recently, that meant an incandescent, but now, with the Nichia 083 and the SunDrop, that has all changed, and as I pointed out, the Sundrop has as good a CRI as most if not all incans, while at the same time having a pleasing, non-"yellowy", light on a white wall. It's got beauty and brawn. Personally, I never found the yellowy light from a good incan to be objectionable, but I know I am in the minority on that. But, in any case, I totally love the 083 light. It's really great. An incan may still be better in fog due to it's lack of the upper range of colors and prominence of the lower end, but the Sundrop would be close. If only it threw . . .

Ah well, we can dream, and judging by McGizmo's past performance, those dreams just might come true in the form of a McGimo light . . .
 
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