How Our Eyes Work
Our eyes can be quite insensitive to some types of brightness changes.
Below is an excellent explanation from HDS, how it works, that people do not notice PWM, fluctuations in brightness, constant current ripple, regulated current with a feedback loop, circuit noise, and other circuitry that do not provide fully regulated output. A light meter, and sometimes other instruments such as oscilloscopes and cameras are Required to "notice" some changes in brightness, such as really fast ones, or gradual ones, or small lumen amounts.
Most people would Not notice the fluctuations in the V11R in use. Even selfbuilt, who Knows its there, does not care.
quote from HDS Systems in italics:
Your eyes have a non-linear (logarithmic) response to light, much like a camera. In order to notice a significant increase in brightness, you must double the amount of light. In photography, this doubling is referred to as an f-stop. For our purposes, the f-stop is a convenient unit of measure and we will use it when referencing relative brightness. To put this in perspective, if you suddenly change the brightness by 20%, you will notice just a slight change in brightness. In fact, if the change takes place over a couple of seconds, you may not even notice.
In my case, Im interested in Light Meter readings, because it informs me about potential battery life, among other things. I don't want a light that increases its brightness beyond where I set the dial, because that drains my battery faster than I want it to.
This is not to say the V11R is not a fascinating light, for many reasons, and Im not in any way criticizing or judging anyone that enjoys theirs. I do believe that ALL V11R, and ALL magnetic ring lights would probably exhibit similar unregulated flux as the V11R. This is not a single defective light. The Light Meter response I am discussing IS universal to the design. I invite anyone that would speculate otherwise, to put a Light Meter in play before repeating a phrase like "I don't notice in actual use"
I posted in this thread to discuss Light Meter readings of the V11R, because I discovered a fascinating flux in brightness.
"I don't notice it in actual use" misses my point, that the V11R does not have regulated output, that the brightness continues to drift in the direction of the last dial turn, and that even rotating the light in the Earth Magnetic field, will produce similar results as rotating the magnetic ring around the light.
On a light meter, the V11R changes brightness, at times by more than 30%. I think its worthy of a science class show and tell, about how the earths magnetic field effect can be seen with an LED!
fwiw, the Earth Magnetic field also pulses, within a narrow range, it has PWM, fluctuations, not fully regulated, hence the beauty of the V11R as a natural candle with fully entrained synchronization.
< begin marketing hype> Imagine a Warm nightstand candle that glows with the Rhythms of the Earth. Imagine the movement of your lover illuminated by the warm rhythmic glow. ;l-) < end hype>
