A quite unorthodox beamshot...

[orcinus]

I've got (well, technically, won) a Sony Ericsson G700 cell phone. One of the new models from their new "smartphones for the common people" series. And was very pleasantly surprised!

It comes with a flashlight app preinstalled, along with a nifty little shortcut on the home screen. FCOL, it even has modes! SOS, continuous on and 1 minute time-out!

What really sold me as a flashaholic, however, was the light it produces. No, not from the screen, from the "flash" on the rear side. They've put two VERY warm, GOLDEN-yellow, high CRI LED's behind a diffusor. The result is simply beautiful!

Without further ado, here's a comparison beamshot with a D10 (Cree) set to low:

Now is that sweet or is that sweet?

 

[PhantomPhoton]

Tint seems warm enough but how do you know it's high CRI?

Tested the runtime yet?

 

[Youfoundnemo]

can you set the "flash" to stay on or is it strictly a half second thing?? That is pretty cool though

 

[orcinus]

Tint seems warm enough but how do you know it's high CRI?

Tested the runtime yet?

Nope, but i bet it's pretty long
Regarding CRI - the colors just pop, regardless of the part of the spectrum they belong to, and people you snapshot in the dark don't look like zombies in the headlights

can you set the "flash" to stay on or is it strictly a half second thing?? That is pretty cool though

As i wrote, there's a dedicated flashlight app and shortcut. You can turn it on from the home screen, keep it on as long as you like, make it switch off automatically after a minute, even make it signal an SOS

 

[Youfoundnemo]

Thats really cool, I thought that the app was similer to the app on the iphone where it just turns the screen to full brightness

 

[Icebreak]

That's definitely sweet. If the mood strikes you, a posted example of a target such as food, foliage or folly would be appreciated.

 

[Kiessling]

I got a cheap Sony Ericsson that does that, too. A very nice feature indeed, and some very nice flood LEDs.
Those cheap Sonys do have a nice simple interface, too. For a phone, that is.

 

[dblagent]

I have a phone that runs Windows Mobile and there is an application out there that will make the flash an actual flashlight. I have it set to the voice recorder button on the phone because I never use that at all, hit the button light comes on until you hit the button again. There is also a 30 second run version of the software also that does exactly what you think it does. The program is called Nilisco Flashlight and it works for sure on HTC 6700 and HTC 6800 phones as I have personally tried it on those.

Program is free, try it if you have a Windows Mobile phone available!

Works surprisingly well on my current 6800, though not as good as the beamshot above! I am jealous!

 

[orcinus]

Program is free, try it if you have a Windows Mobile phone available!

I do, two of them (Samsung i600 and i780), but alas, neither has a flash.
I've seen quite a few cell phones and their flashes (writing reviews of them is part of what i do for a living) and while SE G700's LED flash most definitely isn't the strongest cellphone light i've seen (quite the opposite), it's by far the most pleasant in color and pattern.

That's definitely sweet. If the mood strikes you, a posted example of a target such as food, foliage or folly would be appreciated.

I've been thinking of doing exactly that, but i don't have any... erm... photogenic food around at the moment. I'll see about the plants and food tomorrow.

 

[jupello]

It comes with a flashlight app preinstalled, along with a nifty little shortcut on the home screen. FCOL, it even has modes! SOS, continuous on and 1 minute time-out!

Oh, that's pretty cool from Sony Ericsson to include "flashlight" in their mobiles.. and with modes too! :twothumbs
I have used my Nokia N70's "flash" led as backup light..but it requires 3'rd party program and I bet that the led does not have much heatsinking so cant keep it on for long..

 

[Ty_Bower]

Where can I buy one that isn't in a phone?

 

[EV_007]

Awesome! My Motorola Z6 ROKR has the same feature. I was actually surprised at the bright floody light that came out of this "flash" built into this cellphone.

I keep forgetting that I have it on there, as well as having a camera and video recorder. Only thing it is missing is a blade and butane torch. Then it would be the ultimate portable EDC Wrapped in paracord of course.

 

[dcbeane]

My orange Casio GzOne Boulder phone has a flashlight mode that uses the flash LED.
http://www.casiogzone.com/boulder/

 

[orcinus]

Yeah, there have been some Nokia and SE rugged models too with built in dedicated LED flashlights (usually on top of the phone). Didn't quite like the light from them...

Where can I buy one that isn't in a phone?

I dunno.
I can't see the emitters very well behind the diffusor and the lens. They seem to be 3x3mm squares (can't really be sure about the size, as the view is distorted by the lens) with a LOT of phosphor on and around the die.

I'll try to take a macro shot - maybe someone can deduce the make...

 

[herbicide]

They'll be high-output SMD LEDs from your description and the beam pattern (I had a Nokia with a couple of these at the base, and it was great for poking about in the kitchen at night).

Farnell sell them >>Clicky<<

 

[orcinus]

They looked a bit too huge for regular SMD's, but that's probably due to lens distorting the image...

 

[richardcpf]

I owned the K850 and it had 3 VERY SMALL leds which produced a perfect warm yellow circular beam.

But Nokia cellphones' "photoflash" are the brightest led-flash in the market, so bright i would say 2/3 of a xenon flash. So bad they cant be turned on constantly.

 

[orcinus]

Couldn't get any plants nor food to comply and stay put while i take a photo, so i took a shot of this poor thing trapped in a pot on the balcony:

Lit with a G700, shot with a Canon G9 (my 1Ds is being serviced and the Sigma SD10 is terrible at night shots) in RAW, processed on default ACR settings with the white balance picked off of the empty (white) pot in the background.

Now, i realize this doesn't tell you much without some sort of a comparison with other lights, so i'll try to do a proper head-to-head one of these days.

 

[Icebreak]

Beautiful. Thanks for the effort, orcinus. Very nice color. The gradient greens show up quite well under this light.

 

[varuscelli]

Dang it.

And I just talked myself into an LG Chocolate 3 a few days ago. :shakehead