Tint Test - L10 Nichia, SC600wII L2, SC62d, SC52w L2

First off, I have to admit I have a problem...this stuff is just way too addictive! I sold my SC52w and, hours later, I purchased another!

To my surprise and delight, the first time I turned on the SC52w L2, I would have thought it was a Nichia 219 if I didn't know any better. It's that nice!

As usual, the tints are somewhat exaggerated on camera but I think they show a fair comparison. And it was a challenge getting the modes to match, but I got pretty close. The SC62d was the only with spacing that didn't seem to match the others in a group photo.

First, all of them together. To the naked eye it's hard to tell, but the SC600wII L2 has the most green. This is especially evident on lower modes. I always thought it was pure white until comparing to my new SC52w L2. So overall, I'm happy with all of them.



In person, I can only see a slight difference in colors between each tint. On camera, it's almost not worth posting:













Crop at center of box to minimize variance in brightness due to different beam profiles:

Interesting. The colour comparisons all look very close. I'd be interested to see a cool white image for comparison, to see how much colour is washed out. To the eye, it seems a lot.

Now ZL just really now needs to step into the world of nichia !.

WalkIntoTheLight said:

Interesting. The colour comparisons all look very close. I'd be interested to see a cool white image for comparison, to see how much colour is washed out. To the eye, it seems a lot.

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Actually, I took one with my only cool white - EA4. But I didn't bother posting it because in this color test, it didn't seem to be much different. But on the white wall...ugly blue!

neutralwhite said:

Now ZL just really now needs to step into the world of nichia !.

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For the longest time I wished for this, but no longer! The tint on this SC52w L2 is so good, I really don't care anymore. Hopefully I can say the same about the upcoming SC62w. My (possibly) perfect torch!

markr6 said:

For the longest time I wished for this, but no longer! The tint on this SC52w L2 is so good, I really don't care anymore.

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Yes, I also really like the tint of my SC52w-L2. It's not quite as nice as a Nichia 219, but it's close, and the big efficiency improvement and brightness of the XML2 makes up for it.

I don't get the hype over the Nichia 219. I bought one of the Eagletacs with it and didn't like the rosy glow it gave to everything.

18650 said:

I don't get the hype over the Nichia 219. I bought one of the Eagletacs with it and didn't like the rosy glow it gave to everything.

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Even though I like it, I like the cooler Nichia 219 better. It's almost like comparing a NW and CW. The L10 and L10C I have are anything but rosy; a pure white ~5000K.

My Eagletac D25LC2 with Nichia is warmer than my other Nichia 219 lights. But I'm confused since there seems to be a lot of discrepancy between the descriptions online. Which emitter is actually in each of the lights? In this photo, I used the info provided by the manufacturers and sellers so don't hold me to it!


Against a tan-colored wall:




It's very difficult to show the warmer rosy-colored tint on camera. I placed the same lights under a piece of paper (top) and cranked up the contrast and black levels (bottom). That seemed to be the only way to catch the warmer tint.

I've noticed that the Nichia will be subtly better at rendering colors of certain objects when compared to similar tint LED like your cereal box most likely.
Where the Nichia stands out in color rendering is on skin tones, wood (furniture and outdoors).
Even certain foods like meats and breads stand out more with the Nichia than colorful candy which looks similar under different LEDs.

THE_dAY said:

I've noticed that the Nichia will be subtly better at rendering colors of certain objects when compared to similar tint LED like your cereal box most likely.
Where the Nichia stands out in color rendering is on skin tones, wood (furniture and outdoors).
Even certain foods like meats and breads stand out more with the Nichia than colorful candy which looks similar under different LEDs.

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I agree with the wood...probably the most noticeable. Same with most things in nature, flowers, green leaves, etc.

Thanks for posting all these, very interesting and it kinda makes me want an SC52w L2.
fwiw, if you underexpose by about 1 stop, colors become much more saturated and it helps to see the colors much better.

Also, do you shoot in raw? If so, you could set the custom white balance in ACR or Lightroom and post an exact color temperature for each light. If at all possible, an RGB histogram for each would also be very much appreciated

TweakMDS said:

Thanks for posting all these, very interesting and it kinda makes me want an SC52w L2.
fwiw, if you underexpose by about 1 stop, colors become much more saturated and it helps to see the colors much better.

Also, do you shoot in raw? If so, you could set the custom white balance in ACR or Lightroom and post an exact color temperature for each light. If at all possible, an RGB histogram for each would also be very much appreciated

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I do shoot in RAW. And yes, underexposing showed the "colors". I quote that because it's nowhere near the actual tint; i.e. the SC600w looked like a green LED. But just another way to bring out any hint of color. Heading out to dinner, but I'll try to get back in and show some with the white balance. Actually, I think I did try that using to begin with the cards out of curiosity and there wasn't much change. So I just left them as shot.

Very interesting. Thanks for posting this.

Out of curiosity, what modes are the lights in for the group shot?

Negroj said:

Very interesting. Thanks for posting this.

Out of curiosity, what modes are the lights in for the group shot?

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I didn't keep track; it was hard to get them all on a similar level. To the eye, they were very close. I believe the first one on the concrete wall they were all on medium (not sure which sub-level for the Zebralights). The three lights on the tan wall were on medium.

Man, you've got some nicely tinted lights, congratulations! Thanks for the photos, I know how much effort that takes, but it really does a good job of showing their relative tints and color rendering.

Great shots mark, the sc52w L2 is definitely much improved over the original as we've all discussed. Even though it's bordering the cool side of my own preference the SC62d is my favorite ZL to date. Size, capacity, tint, and for real world usable work/task light needs its hard not to love it.

markr6 said:

For the longest time I wished for this, but no longer! The tint on this SC52w L2 is so good, I really don't care anymore. Hopefully I can say the same about the upcoming SC62w. My (possibly) perfect torch!

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The tint from my Peak Eiger 219 is way too much better than that of my SC52w L2

KDM said:

Great shots mark, the sc52w L2 is definitely much improved over the original as we've all discussed. Even though it's bordering the cool side of my own preference the SC62d is my favorite ZL to date. Size, capacity, tint, and for real world usable work/task light needs its hard not to love it.

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I really like the SC62d and use it a lot. I can't wait for the SC62w to come out, as long as I get lucky with a good tint again! I'm also curious how much warmer the SC62c will look @ 4000K, but won't be buying one. In fact, depending on how much I like the SC62w, I may sell the SC62d.

rickyro said:

The tint from my Peak Eiger 219 is way too much better than that of my SC52w L2

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Can't argue against the 219s! I'm a sucker for them. I really wish more of the big manufacturers would offer them like EagleTac.

markr6 said:

Can't argue against the 219s! I'm a sucker for them. I really wish more of the big manufacturers would offer them like EagleTac.

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Yes, I've never heard a complaint about a bad tint on a 219. The neutral XMLs are great if you get a good tint, but it seems like there's a bit of a gamble with them.

I think manufacturers that play the lumen wars shy away from 219's. It's hard to list "great tint" on your spec sheet. 4sevens won't even use neutral XMLs in their lights, because they claim there's no demand.

Great job markr6 , thnx