ARC AAA vs Peak 1LED AAA vs Peak N Beamshots

ARC-P 1AAA(left) vs Peak 1"U"LED 1AAA(right)




Peak "H"LED N cell(left) vs Peak 1"U"LED 1AAA(right)


Test wall was off-white in color, very slight cream color which might make the Peaks look a little more yellow. Since this is my first time at this, I used different batteries for the set-up shots and then put brand new bats in for these shots. Both images were at the same camera settings. Auto White Balance was used and I manually focused on a post-it (w/ text) before the picture was taken.
No software changes were made to the pics other than down sizing.
Images look most accurate when the monitor is turned up - but only to the point when black remains black and not gray.
Not sure if I can see the artifacts of the ARC's beam in the image. It was most noticeable on the wall as the light was turned on its axis. Both Peaks beams were very smooth especially the AAA.
The Peak AAA looks a little stronger than the image shows and the Peak N cell looks noticeably better live than its image as well. I think the Peak AAA beam gradually decreases and with these shots its hard to see (it looks a little larger live)- but I wanted to stay below saturation so it made that surrounding area too dark and not/barley visible.

I also measured the current on these lights with stock batteries so you can get an idea of run times. Batteries have about 4 min use on each.
Also note I did the measurement w/ probes while holding LED and bat on table so the connection was not the best and current could be slightly higher with a tighter connection. I did notice as I changed connection force that the readings were stable (Fluke 87).

Peak 1 LED "U" 1xAAA => 144 mA. (AAA => 1.523 V no load)
Peak 1 LED "H" 1xN => 93 mA. (N => 1.549 V no load)
ARC-P 1xAAA => 290 mA! (hard to keep stable contact)(AAA => 1.529 V no load)

Please comment on how I could improve my shots;
I know I need to show the spill (didn't have time on this one). /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

The single led looks like it has a good beam. This was aluminum HA, right? Is the reflector bare or does it have the coating in it? I would really like to see some close to the wall spill shots of these lights. The shots look good. I have noticed that the N cell always looks a bit dimmer in a photo than it does live, also. ?? Have no idea why. Interesting to see the current measurements, too.

Yes on HA, and it looks like all three lights have a shinny bare Al reflector.

Peak Looks Great /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif No Hint of Blue, good color rendering... even on photograph...shows off white color...

Arc Appears as Blue, because of LED...

Thanks, Luxman! Great job /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Probably will end up buying both AAA lights /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowlaugh.gif

Thanks for the comparison, Luxman!
Looks like we all have a choice now, photon quantity VS beam quality. Since the Arc AAA-P and Peak 3 LED Ultra cost the same you can have serious output no matter what you pick.
I have been using the original Peak 3 LED HO for the last 9 months and have become addicted to the "snow" LEDs. I might pick up another Peak 3 LED snow Ultra if their Luxeon version is delayed much longer.

Thanks All for your comments,

This was a very interesting learning experience.
Also good way to learn different aspects of my new SLR camera.

The Peaks don't quite look like "Live" because the shot did not capture the decreasing intensity of the beam but it rather seems like "cut off". The problem is if I had increased the exposure to show the spill better, both, and especially the ARC center areas would look excessively bright - which IMO makes the whole image look less "live".

I think if you like the way the Peaks look in these shots you will like them more when you see them "Live".

Also, Thanks B@rt for your help on image displaying/uploading process.