Changing LED Tint With Filters

[RBWNY]

So glad I found this thread! These little filters are very cool. I've had them about a week, and have already transformed several lights into more of a generally useable (& warmer) tint. I just hope they have the staying power to remain vibrant over time. I imagine if the lights are used on high less often, then the filter is less liklely to fade?

I certainly have no use for many of the primary colors, but have put many of the magenta/orange/pink/neutral hues' to good use. Most of the frosted and flame retardent filters aren't what I need, but the initial low cost paid for itself just with the ones I HAVE used so far!

If you're thinking about these....go for it, you can't lose :naughty:.

 

[nutcracker]

I just modded my HDS Rotary with 206 Q.C.T.O
That is the filter that should make daylight to 4600k.
And now my HDS looks pretty uncolored, neutral. I like it.

 

[Derek Dean]

Derek Dean,
I have Three Preon2s(R5), one fitted with Red, (1) Blue and (1) Green filters. I am going to try that experiment suggested a couple months ago by shining them against a AAA Eneloop battery with a white back drop, but have not gotten a suitable white peice of cardboard to use for a curved backdrop. Do you think it will work with just using computer paper as a back drop? I will take some beamshots when I finally get the experiment setup and post them.

GL

Any white sheet of paper will work for that fun experiment. I've included below the original post, by gcbryan, which outlines the idea.

Since everyone on here has multiple flashlights and presumably a filter pack as well here is an interesting light experiment.

Tape a red, blue, and green filter over 3 lights (one each of course). Prop up a white piece of cardboard or paper on your desktop as a background and stand an Eneloop (or anything really) about an inch in front of that white background. Turn on all of the flashlights and aim them all at the Eneloop. So you will have a spot of red, green, and blue all coming together.

Where they all come together behind the Eneloop will be white. Any area where they don't overlap at all will either be blue, green, or red. There will also be 3 shadows and they will be cyan, yellow, and magenta. If you position the lights just right you will also have some areas with just green, some with just blue and some with just red (just is behind the Eneloop where only one color gets through).

You will have 6 colors in all from just 3 light. Try moving your hand just in front of the white paper as well for a more dynamic effect...you will get the same shadow effect of yellow, cyan, and magenta. You might even be surprised to see that green and red makes yellow!

For anyone reading this who doesn't have your filter pack yet just use 3 clear drinking glasses and some food dye ($3 from any grocery store). Put some blue dye in one glass, red in another glass, and green in the 3rd glass and position each flashlight behind each glass for the same effect.

It's fun...what can I say!

 

[pocketlight]

ITPython, you seem a bit quick to call things "impossible". I know that when I first started playing with these filters, I spent many days trying various filters with various results. Part of the problem can be eye fatigue, or more accurately, brain fatigue, when I find that after trying various filters for an hour or so I realize that I need to take a break, maybe for a half-an-hour, maybe until the next night.

When I was filtering my XP-G based lights, I found it fairly easy, because the spot and the spill were basically the same tint, so one filter worked for the entire beam, but my recent experience with my first XM-L light showed the same thing you've found, that some LEDs can exhibit odd two or even three different tints within the same beam, making filtering a much more challenging proposition.

My choice with my Zebralight SC600 XM-L was to filter for the spot/corona, and let the spill go where it may, and I must admit that I've been very happy with the results. It's quite pleasant now.

Is it perfect. No, but it is MUCH better.

You've only been playing with filters for a couple of days. Give it some time, and try not to think of this as a way to the "perfect" tint, but a way to take an existing light that has a disgusting tint, and at least make it usable, if not downright beautiful.

How do you filter ONLY the spot/corona?? I have the SC600 and the spill is a really nice cool blue but the spot/corona is very green and its starting to notice it a lot, so i want to filter it.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Got Lumens?]

Hi,
Using the Lee Filter Swatch book I took a few photos using 4 Sevens Preon2 CW R5 hosts.
Filters used are Primary Red #106, Just Blue #079, & Primary Green #139.
Clickable thumbnails.
Enjoy
GL
. .

 

[Got Lumens?]

How do you filter ONLY the spot/corona?? I have the SC600 and the spill is a really nice cool blue but the spot/corona is very green and its starting to notice it a lot, so i want to filter it.

Thanks in advance.

He means that he choose the filters based upon the hotspot and corona and how they looked and let the rest of the beam as he said fall where it may. The whole lens was filtered, hence all portions of the beam and thier inherent tints.
GL

 

[Derek Dean]

Got Lumens?, VERY NICE photos. What's interesting to me, is that all in one place we get to see how the primary colors combine to make white, but we also get to see how they are responsible for the secondary colors as well. Neat!

And you were absolutely correct that I was referring to using one filter to correct the corona and hotspot, and letting the spill go where it wants. Thanks for clearing that up. It sounds like pocketlight has an LED very similar in tint to the one I've got. I did spend a day cutting out small circles, rings, etc, trying to find a way to filter the separate regions independently of each other, but in the end, I wasn't happy with the results and found that simply applying a Light Pink filter for the whole thing worked best for my tastes.

No, it's not perfect. There is a slight violet tint to the spill, but the corona and hotspot are nearly perfect, and after using the filtered light for several months I'm completely happy with the results, and trust me, I tend to be a perfectionist, so if the slight tint variation of the spill was an issue I would have sold this light off long ago, as those kinds of things tend to bother me more and more over time, but instead, I still find myself enjoying white wall hunting, and outdoors, where it gets most of it's use, the beam appears to have no tint at all, just pure white light.

I will mention that about a month ago I did see a post over in the ZL SC600 thread from somebody who said they had successfully managed to filter the different areas of the beam, but they never elaborated on how that was accomplished, so maybe it's possible and I just didn't have enough patience.

So, you might want to check out the ZL thread and see if you can find those posts and PM the CPF member to see if they might be able to give you some advice on the matter. Let us know what you find.

 

[Got Lumens?]

Got Lumens?, VERY NICE photos. What's interesting to me, is that all in one place we get to see how the primary colors combine to make white, but we also get to see how they are responsible for the secondary colors as well. Neat!

Thanks Derek Dean.

And you were absolutely correct that I was referring to using one filter to correct the corona and hotspot, and letting the spill go where it wants. Thanks for clearing that up. It sounds like pocketlight has an LED very similar in tint to the one I've got. I did spend a day cutting out small circles, rings, etc, trying to find a way to filter the separate regions independently of each other, but in the end, I wasn't happy with the results and found that simply applying a Light Pink filter for the whole thing worked best for my tastes.

No, it's not perfect. There is a slight violet tint to the spill, but the corona and hotspot are nearly perfect, and after using the filtered light for several months I'm completely happy with the results, and trust me, I tend to be a perfectionist, so if the slight tint variation of the spill was an issue I would have sold this light off long ago, as those kinds of things tend to bother me more and more over time, but instead, I still find myself enjoying white wall hunting, and outdoors, where it gets most of it's use, the beam appears to have no tint at all, just pure white light.

I will mention that about a month ago I did see a post over in the ZL SC600 thread from somebody who said they had successfully managed to filter the different areas of the beam, but they never elaborated on how that was accomplished, so maybe it's possible and I just didn't have enough patience.

So, you might want to check out the ZL thread and see if you can find those posts and PM the CPF member to see if they might be able to give you some advice on the matter. Let us know what you find.

Derek Dean, The only possible solution I can see that would work would be to use a ring then another full filter ontop of that. So I would start with full filter getting hotspot just so, then testing second filters on top of that to determine that combination that works best for the spill and/or corona. Depending upon the size of the ring you cut once found during testing with full size filters, will determine how much spill/corona you want to look different. Have you tried diffussers with a filter? Maybe able to acheive better results using a diffuser ring inconjunction with the full size filter.

Not sure which light you will try this on, But I have found that hole punches work excellent for smaller bezeled lights. I have found larger 1" and 1-1/2" hole punches, but they weren't readily available and were expensive. Since most bezels are metric sized, at least you could start with a circle to ease the trimming process. At the Dollar store el'cheapo tools section I found a set of six 3/16" - 1/2" for $10.
GL

 

[Derek Dean]

Thanks for ideas, GL, the hole punches would definitely make it easer, but honestly I'm so happy with the results I've gotten with a single filter I don't see any point in bothering further. In real use the very, very, slight violet tint of the spill beam is completely unnoticeable, especially if I'm using a setting of 65 lumens or higher.

It's funny, I had actually considered returning the light after first turning it on...... I just couldn't believe how funky the tint was, so funky that I didn't think a filter would even help....... but it simply took a bit more patience to find the "right" filter, and presto chango, I was a happy camper again.

 

[Got Lumens?]

Thanks for ideas, GL, the hole punches would definitely make it easer, but honestly I'm so happy with the results I've gotten with a single filter I don't see any point in bothering further. In real use the very, very, slight violet tint of the spill beam is completely unnoticeable, especially if I'm using a setting of 65 lumens or higher.

It's funny, I had actually considered returning the light after first turning it on...... I just couldn't believe how funky the tint was, so funky that I didn't think a filter would even help....... but it simply took a bit more patience to find the "right" filter, and presto chango, I was a happy camper again.

Hi Derek,
Sorry if I overlooked it, but could you post a before and after picture?
Thanks
GL

 

[psychbeat]

Hmmm

I was thinking of starting a new thread but I'll ask here.

Are the losses of using one of the more subtle filters greater than going from cool to warm emitters?

I'm wondering if there's any reason to gamble with neutral tints as creating your own seems fairly easy with most lights/hosts etc.

It might be a neat test to measure a U2 before and after filter and T5 neutral.
I've been disappointed with some of my recent neutral drops not being the temp I was hoping for.

I also wonder if lux is affected more than total lumens?

Hmmm

 

[Got Lumens?]

Hmmm
I was thinking of starting a new thread but I'll ask here.
Are the losses of using one of the more subtle filters greater than going from cool to warm emitters?
I'm wondering if there's any reason to gamble with neutral tints as creating your own seems fairly easy with most lights/hosts etc.
It might be a neat test to measure a U2 before and after filter and T5 neutral.
I've been disappointed with some of my recent neutral drops not being the temp I was hoping for.
I also wonder if lux is affected more than total lumens?
Hmmm

Psychbeat,
Each filter lists the spectrums and loss factor. So it would depend upon which LED you start with and it's binning. I have tried XM-L U2s and also XM-L T5s, although the T5s I have are pretty good all in thier own. I have the 2 Sparks SL-6s, one SL-5, and an Armytek Predator they all have wonderful tint without any additional filters. I primarily use the diffusers with the SL-5 and predator that doesn't come with a frosted lens. Do you have a swatch book? I can test my lights, but in the end it is your lights and what you see and want that counts .
GL

 

[psychbeat]

No I haven't ordered a book yet.
Almost all of my lights are neutral already.
I was thinking of future lights - as in buying cool and using filters rather than one that's already neutral.

I'm just wondering if filters + cool are more or less efficient than warmer or neutral emitters in their own

 

[Derek Dean]

Hi Derek,
Sorry if I overlooked it, but could you post a before and after picture?
Thanks
GL

GL, If you look on page 6 of this thread, post #161 has a .gif animation that shows a color chart which I lit with the hot spot of my SC600 with no filter, and also with a variety of Lee filters.

Post #164 shows how the entire beam looks, both with no filter and a variety of Lee Filters. I've ended up using the Light Pink filter.

Psychbeat, I pondered exactly the same question. I had waited for the SC600w all summer, but after reading MANY posts in other threads about folks who were disappointed with the "neutral" LED they had gotten in other brands of lights I decided to go ahead and get the cool white tint and filter it myself. No regrets.

I think it depends on a number of factors whether I would consider getting a neutral LED or a cool white and filtering it myself. For instance, what kind of track record does the brand have with providing acceptable "neutral tint" lights? ZL has a pretty good track record, Fenix...... well.........

How easy is it to get the bezel open? I prefer to have the filter inside the front glass cover. It was easy to open the SC600, but the H600 headlamp sounds like it would be a problem.

What kind of light loss is associated with each method? Using the SC600 as an example, there seems to be a 14% loss of light between the SC600 and the SC600w (750 lumen top end or 645 lumen top end respectively). My Light Pink Lee filter has a transmission rate of about 62%, so about 38% loss, more than double the loss of the neutral LED version..... but..... I knew that going in, and decided that the SC600 was a bright enough light that I could take that kind of a hit, and getting pretty close to exactly the tint I wanted for my EDC was worth it TO ME.

Many of the lighter filters (quarter minus green for example) have between 10% and 15% loss, so I could easily go with one of those and have a tint similar to the neutral LED, but like I said, I don't mind the loss because even now, I almost never use more than the 200 lumen setting as my high, and having a tint I REALLY like is high on my list of priorities.

In any case, if I was going to get an H600 headlamp, knowing that ZL has a good track record of acceptable neutral tints, and knowing that it would be hard to open the front cover, I'd probably opt to buy the H600w neutral tint version of that light.

If I was going to buy another SC600, I'd probably get the cool white version again and just filter it. That way I start with the brightest version, and then get to pick my own tint, and for a tint geek like me, that's the only way to go .

If I was going to buy a Fenix light, I'd probably opt for the cool white version and simply place the filter on the outside of the front glass cover, which is exactly what I did with my LD01, because I've read to many bad reports about the Fenix neutral LEDs.

 

[psychbeat]

My main headlamp and almost all of my other lights are p60 based which I can pretty much order in whatever tint bin available.
There's still a little bit of a lottery of course.
I'm mostly wondering which is more efficient in general.

 

[Derek Dean]

phsybeat, I guess what you'd need to do would be to have the cool white AND neutral versions of a particular light, then filter the cool white version so that it's tint appeared as close as possible to the the neutral version, and then measure the output of both lights. That's a good question.

 

[Harry999]

psychbeat,

I have both the SC600 and the SC600w. I acquired the SC600w a few days ago and only because I trust my local Internet retailer who checks items before he sends them to me. I previously used the SC600 for just over a month with a filter. The tint was absolutely great with the filter on the SC600 but there was a noticeable loss of lumens.

The SC600 is my urban outdoors light where I want to have maximum cool white lumens if required to cut through ambient light. I therefore stopped using the filter and purchased the SC600w knowing I could change the tint through filters to one I liked if I had a problem with the 'stock' tint. Fortunately there was absolutely no problem and I had a light with a great tint - absolutely no green on any level!

Clearly in my experience and per the yield loss that can be easily calculated from the details provided with each filter in the Lee filters swatch book a stock neutral led will provide more lumens than a filtered cool white tint converted to neutral but as Derek Dean notes it comes down to what your preferred regular edc lumens usage is and how important a tint is to you.

I certainly consider use of filters on some of my edc lights. Others have a naturally pleasing tint to my eye and so I leave them alone. Where the filters are great is that it allows you to buy a stock light with the expectation that you can still have the tint you want by creating it yourself.

 

[psychbeat]

I 100% agree with u guys on the idea of making your own tint vs hoping a 5B2 is really going look like its supposed to according to the binning chart.

I'd LOVE to see shootout with an IS and see the lux and lumens gained or lost that's all

Anyways I've been meaning to order a swatch book since coming across this thread a while ago.

Thanks guys!

 

[Got Lumens?]

Derek Dean,
Here's a first for the thread. A Lee filter that increased the lux power of the light on low level . Calculated 1M Lux without 0.1175. Calculated 1M lux with 0.475 lux.
#271 Mirror Silver
GL


. . . Click to Enlarge

 

[THE_dAY]

Derek Dean,
Here's a first for the thread. A Lee filter that increased the lux power of the light on low level . Calculated 1M Lux without 0.1175. Calculated 1M lux with 0.475 lux.
#271 Mirror Silver
GL

Nice!
Did you just place it over or is it glued down?

A 4 times increase in lux, very impressive!