5K Neutral White Lights

[BigDogg795]

A few months ago I made the leap into Neutral White lights when I picked up a Nitecore EC4SW. Immediately I fell in love with the tint and went on to pick up a few other lights I thought were "neutral", including a Malkoff and Nitecore TM03 CRI. Both lights were much warmer than I anticipated for a neutral tint. I'm thinking about getting a P12 in Neutral White but I'm worried it's going to be warmer than the tint on the EC4SW. Does anyone out there have both? Or who has the EC4SW and something else that's similar that takes a single 18650?

 

[twistedraven]

Zebralight has a decent amount of lights that are 5k.

 

[AB8XL]

EagleTac make many with the Nichia 219b & c LEDs.

 

[mckeand13]

Your definition of "neutral white" may be a bit off, leading to some disappointment with certain color temps.

Neutral White is generally 4000-4500K. There's no standard defining this so that's open to interpretation, but I'd venture to say most people on this forum won't consider 5000K neutral white.

 

[Modernflame]

5000k is still a bit blue and more or less straddles the border of CW and NW.
My advice is to give the true nuetrals a chance. I own a variety of lights, but I reach for my 4000k lights most often.

 

[markr6]

I have the EC4SW and I think the 5000K is very nice. Straight up white with no color/tint, so I'd call it neutral white. But in general "neutral white" seems to be such a narrow spot - something like 4400-4800K. 4000 is getting very warm IMO.

 

[Tachead]

Cree defines neutral white as 3700-5000K.

 

[twistedraven]

In an ideal world where everything had the spectral balance of a black body, 5400k would be perfectly neutral. Since LEDs have big blue spikes, big cyan dips, and big red rolloff, it's harder to objectively say what is neutral and what isn't.

In general, I think anything that's 4000k to 6000k can be considered neutral once your eyes have adjusted to it.

My experience with LEDs is that I have found 5000k to be the most neutral looking in most circumstances.

 

[Tixx]

4-5k is my neutral range. My experience is that below 4k you can get a little too orange and above 5k starts with the blue tint.

 

[KITROBASKIN]

In an ideal world where everything had the spectral balance of a black body, 5400k would be perfectly neutral. Since LEDs have big blue spikes, big cyan dips, and big red rolloff, it's harder to objectively say what is neutral and what isn't.

In general, I think anything that's 4000k to 6000k can be considered neutral once your eyes have adjusted to it.

My experience with LEDs is that I have found 5000k to be the most neutral looking in most circumstances.

The above is what some of us agree with, but if folks would refrain from using the word neutral, more clarity would exist. Also the tint plays a major role.

 

[Modernflame]

What looks normal depends as much on time of day and ambient light as personal preference. CRI is also a factor. OP, if you're interested in more on the subject, I recommend the Tint Snob thread on this forum.

As a recommendation, the Elzetta AVS flashlight produces a beam near your desired color temperature.

 

[iamlucky13]

Regarding the differing opinions about what is neutral:
What appears neutral is somewhat personal, and very contextual.

For those of using our lights around our homes after dark, which usually have mostly 2700-3000K warm white lighting, somewhere around 4000K is typically perceived as neutral, and this is roughly what most of us in the flashlight community have come to describe as neutral. Also, the Purkinje effect (reduced relative sensitivity of the eye to red at low light intensities) causes us the tint we perceive as neutral to shift to lower color temperatures at low light intensities.

When used in dark shadowed places during daytime, or in situations where there are other high color temperature light sources and higher illumination levels, usually 5000K or slightly above seems more neutral. That's also more likely to be the case even after dark if you're one of the folks who likes daylight tinted light bulbs.

If you want an objective definition, sunlight is somewhere around 5500K, and this color temperature also has it's peak roughly in the middle of the visible spectrum, so there is a spectral balance, too. Rationally speaking, I think that's as good of a definition of neutral as I could offer, but when I or most other people are talking about flashlights, we still usually mean something more like 4000-5000K.

 

[iamlucky13]

As for specific lights that might fit your expectations, Maukka has tested the EC4SW and his copy measured just shy of 5000K, so you seem to be after the right target if that light is your baseline:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...re-EC4SW-measurements-(2x18650-neutral-white)

The Emisar D4 has a couple versions sold specifically with ~5000K emitters. There's a 4885K and 5700K XP-G2 version, which I have not seen in person, and a 5000K Nichia 219C version, which I own, and in many situations appears as clear, neutral white as any light I've seen (but as I suggested in my previous post, in lower light situations, it appears slightly cool, and a 4500K light I have seems more neutral).

The Jaxman E2 is a budget light, and not very high output for an 18650-powered model, but is available in a 5700K high CRI version, although I suspect 5700K may appear slightly cool even to your eyes.

Zebralight models with a "D" suffix in the part number are usually 5000K. Those with no tint suffix are 5700K. Those with a "W" are 4500K and may appear neutral to slightly warm. Those with a "C" are 4000K and will probably seem warm to you.

I think a lot of the Fenix lights will also be around 5000K, but Fenix doesn't specify color temperature, so I can't say for sure.