Beamshot camera settings questions

I've looked at a ton of beamshots over the past month. The one time I noticed a shutter speed setting, it was for 1 second. Wouldn't this cause the light to appear brighter than it actually is? I guess when shining a light in the dark onto a surface it may be a good setting to show "true" brightness, but what about the beam of light through the air? Wouldn't this setting falsely intensify the "light saber" effect?

The reason I'm asking is because I'm in search of lights that can create a good "light saber" effect that can be used in place of flares and a flare gun for signaling. I feel that a light that is effective enough at this could be better than flares because:

A - batteries are smaller and easier to carry than flares
B - the light can be pointed directly towards the people you want to gather attention from
C - you can signal by flickering the light on and off
4 - Lights can be used in wooded areas without the risk of creating a forest fire
5 - A flashlight is generally more useful than a flaregun with flares

If I could find a light that makes a good substitute, I'd like to own one and also gift a few. I just purchased a Dereelight Night Master. I'm also considering the budget HID's available on Ebay although I would need to purchase one for testing. This is getting expensive. What are your thoughts? Thanks for the feedback!!

For something small and gives a good beam, a light with an optic might be good. A tightly focused optic can give you a bright beam with no spill, so the "light-saber" effect is more pronounced. I'm still catching up on the lights released over the past few years, so no specific flashlight recommendations from me, best thing I could think of is a flashlight with an aspheric lens.

Some reviewers also show beamshots at various exposures. As for why 1 second is used a lot, I have no idea. You could make it look dimmer by using a lower ISO setting.

Gunner12 said:

For something small and gives a good beam, a light with an optic might be good. A tightly focused optic can give you a bright beam with no spill, so the "light-saber" effect is more pronounced. I'm still catching up on the lights released over the past few years, so no specific flashlight recommendations from me, best thing I could think of is a flashlight with an aspheric lens.

Some reviewers also show beamshots at various exposures. As for why 1 second is used a lot, I have no idea. You could make it look dimmer by using a lower ISO setting.

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Thank you. Your suggests and feedback help me feel that I'm on the right track then. The light I just got in the mail (Dereelight Night Master) has an aspheric lens and has the highest Lux readings I've seen (at about 90,000) Now, I just need darkness to fall. :twothumbs

Both shutter speed (1 sec) and aperture as well as ISO setting affect the exposure. One sec seems to be a good starting point for the beams to show up.

You can even use a half a second, but then you may need to open up the aperture and or increase the ISO.

This may belong in the Darkroom section.

Ahhh sorry. I didn't previously see the darkroom section.... Thank you though!

fiberguy said:

... The light I just got in the mail (Dereelight Night Master) has an aspheric lens and has the highest Lux readings I've seen (at about 90,000) Now, I just need darkness to fall. :twothumbs

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So that's their next version of the DBS, I see.

I always like if the reviewer posts up the apeture, shutter, and ISO levels, but including those takes time.

EV, that makes sense. One second exposure does clearly show the beam of the light. But would's the number of particles in the air affect that as well? Or is that going too much in depth for a simple beamshot?

If you really want to be seen, a portable, practical flashlight will only be any help at night away from other lights. Flares are meant to be day-visible, and no portable light is very visible from off-axis during the daytime (Or against other light sources).

Many beamshots are meant to show beam shape. Cameras perceive light very differently from eyes, so you can either underexpose spill or overexpose the spot, or use complex image-mixing processing techniques.

Do pilots consider a vertical beam of white light to be a distress signal? Flares are universally a distress signal, especially in threes.

AnAppleSnail said:

Do pilots consider a vertical beam of white light to be a distress signal? Flares are universally a distress signal, especially in threes.

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'' Look, another flashlight junkie.''

But for

I think you will not spot a saber when you are further away then the 'saber' is long.
I claim this from experience, I have one light that's capable of cloudbouncing, at new year eve I have walked away 600meters, it was visible but not as proud as from closer.
The spot on the cloud must have been visible from longer distance, but this day the clouds were to high. Not a reliable target for emergencys.
Try it, it looks more bright when holding the light then when standing further away.
The same for the movie-lights with premieres; you see the spot before you are close enough to see the beam.

So for random directional signalling its pretty useless. Except if you want to direct friends to your fishing spot.

For signalling as communication, such as between ships in the old days, its totally diferent, you dont need as much intensity then.

Edit: found the adapter for SD card for my phone