Bolster
Flashlight Enthusiast
Took my first ever beamshots last night, trying to determine shape and color of various floody beams (but did not attempt to compare brightness...in fact, I tried to keep lights in comparable ranges of brightness, to highlight beam quality and tint). Since Im looking for lights that help me work with my hands in dark places (most work is within 3 feet of my face), the beamshots are geared toward that application. Canon SLR set to daylight color balance.
The tripod upon which the lights are resting is 3 feet from a white-ish wall (the wall is actually a little to the beige side, so will magnify the yellow/red quality of the beams). The horizontal strip of aluminum on which the lights are resting is 3-1/2 feet wide...so you can get a relative idea of how much beam spread there is, among the various lights.
First, my trusty Zebralight H50 Q5, the champ in terms of lighting the largest area:
Second, a new Zebralight H501w:
Third, an inexpensive Energizer 6 headlamp with the lens modified...lens removed for bead-blasting back and front, to spread the beam more...which worked, it spread the beam from what it was before, by quite a bit. Here it is, post-modification, on its flood setting...what a joke. What flood? (In fact, you can hardly see a difference between this headlamps flood and its spot.) You can see why I dont like working with this light...tunnel vision...although its color rendition is pretty good for an inexpensive light.
I've also started carrying a diffused handheld light to get the work area lit. Here is a Fenix L2D Rebel with diffuser in place. Wow, that looks so much more green than I recall; memory makes me think it was more of a peach/yellow than green. But, the evidence says otherwise:
And recently I purchased this Warm Cree Lantern from Amazon, as another area light option. Now that's what I call warm!
You can unscrew the top of the Warm Cree Lantern and use it as a wide beam flashlight, as seen on the left side of this multi-beamshot (L2D diffused in center, H50 on right):
And here we have five together, to see the various tints. From L to R, Energizer, H50, L2D, H501w, and Warm Lantern:
Currently I strap one H50 and one H501w onto my helmet when working, and take either the L2D or the Warm Lantern as an area light (choice depending if I think I'll need throw or not--the L2D throws well for the distances I need).
Believe it or not, that extra wide beam on the H50 is really useful...when I use the H501w alone, I can tell it makes me turn my head more to see, than the H50 does. The decrease in peripheral vision is noticeable. With the H50, chances are, whatever you need to see is lit, if its close enough. However the H501w allows me to pick out the various colors of wiring much more easily, and see more subtle color variations (such as water stains on wood) than the H50 does. So the neutral tint of the H501w is well worth it. Having both the H50 and the H501 lit at medium levels gives me a best-of-both-worlds, long-runtime compromise.
The tripod upon which the lights are resting is 3 feet from a white-ish wall (the wall is actually a little to the beige side, so will magnify the yellow/red quality of the beams). The horizontal strip of aluminum on which the lights are resting is 3-1/2 feet wide...so you can get a relative idea of how much beam spread there is, among the various lights.
First, my trusty Zebralight H50 Q5, the champ in terms of lighting the largest area:
Second, a new Zebralight H501w:
Third, an inexpensive Energizer 6 headlamp with the lens modified...lens removed for bead-blasting back and front, to spread the beam more...which worked, it spread the beam from what it was before, by quite a bit. Here it is, post-modification, on its flood setting...what a joke. What flood? (In fact, you can hardly see a difference between this headlamps flood and its spot.) You can see why I dont like working with this light...tunnel vision...although its color rendition is pretty good for an inexpensive light.
I've also started carrying a diffused handheld light to get the work area lit. Here is a Fenix L2D Rebel with diffuser in place. Wow, that looks so much more green than I recall; memory makes me think it was more of a peach/yellow than green. But, the evidence says otherwise:
And recently I purchased this Warm Cree Lantern from Amazon, as another area light option. Now that's what I call warm!
You can unscrew the top of the Warm Cree Lantern and use it as a wide beam flashlight, as seen on the left side of this multi-beamshot (L2D diffused in center, H50 on right):
And here we have five together, to see the various tints. From L to R, Energizer, H50, L2D, H501w, and Warm Lantern:
Currently I strap one H50 and one H501w onto my helmet when working, and take either the L2D or the Warm Lantern as an area light (choice depending if I think I'll need throw or not--the L2D throws well for the distances I need).
Believe it or not, that extra wide beam on the H50 is really useful...when I use the H501w alone, I can tell it makes me turn my head more to see, than the H50 does. The decrease in peripheral vision is noticeable. With the H50, chances are, whatever you need to see is lit, if its close enough. However the H501w allows me to pick out the various colors of wiring much more easily, and see more subtle color variations (such as water stains on wood) than the H50 does. So the neutral tint of the H501w is well worth it. Having both the H50 and the H501 lit at medium levels gives me a best-of-both-worlds, long-runtime compromise.
