Beam evaluations- Does showing in this format work for you?

[HitecDrftr]

After asking this question pretty far down in a previous thread and not receiving any feedback, I decided to create a new thread.

I took comparative beam shots of two lights, plus an ambient light shot and combined them in a 3 slide screen show. The shots change at approximately 1 second intervals and then loop, providing what I think is an interesting perspective on the beam shots. My question to the community is, after viewing the screenshow do you feel that presenting comparisons in this format adds any value for you? I would be obliged if you would take a look and provide your valued opinions. You can download the screenshow at my comcast site below. (Don't worry, I didn't craft a virus to infect your computer, just an executable file using a picture viewer called Irfanview.):tinfoil: Double click the file to begin the show, press the ESC button to stop it.

http://home.comcast.net/~rasanford1/Flashlights/Husky200 Vs Daylite160.exe

Thanks,

Hitec

 

[Oddjob]

Nice work Hitec. I think I have seen a few members do this using animated .gif images. I think that is very useful. It shows differences very clearly because I don't have to go back and forth with my eyes from one beam shot to another. In your beamshots I just looked at certain landmarks such as the fence behing the shed and when the piciture changed I could see the difference between the two beams. IMO this exe is best suited for comparing two lights. If you did this with three images then it would be difficult to compare the first image with the third.

 

[HitecDrftr]

Agreed, I had the same thought. Thx.

Hitec

 

[Kilovolt]

Nice way of making a comparison Hitec. :thumbsup:

What is the distance to the shed? I think you should try to put some sort of distance posts on each slide e.g. shed, fence, end of the garden...
This will give an even better idea of the beams.

 

[Icebreak]

Well, like your other thread where the proposition was made to create standardizations for human usability, this asks that an executable be downloaded. There will likely be little participation in that. I did look at it and it is was nice and useful but I really don't want my screen taken over. I wanted to emphasize though, that it was well done, useful and downright pleasant to look at especially for a flashlight guy.

Gifs have been used here for years and I think they are one of the best ways to show comparisons. I recently learned how to do them after getting a little point and shoot. Some of the guys shared which programs they were using. The first is an attempt to show how color effects depth perception. This was done with three flashlights, a 5W royal blue, a 5W cyan and an incandescent. Please excuse the rookie focus. The second is an attempt to show how invading a white beam with blue light will darken a red target and introducing an invasion of red light to a white beam will enhance a red target. It's rather busy but if you look at only one target the point might become more apparent.

 

[MrGman]

I like it as well and it is very useful, but it appears to me the images were not shot at the same manual exposure level for shutter speed and Fstop. The flood light looks brighter than the one with the tighter beam but I can see windows in the back ground glowing.

Everything should be at the exact same exposure level even if that makes the flood light pattern dim.

Do my eyes deceive me?

 

[Icebreak]

I see it too, MrGman. When looking at the little lights through the trees on the left it appears that the color setting may be different also...one of the pic titles has "daylight".

 

[HitecDrftr]

Thanks for the feedback so far!

Kilovolt- Distance to the shed door is 66ft, to the end of the fence is 164 ft. I did not initially measure the distance to the right, but agree that would also be a useful measure. (After measuring this morning, the distance from the middle of the shed to the third fence post to the right is ~ 36 feet, to the 2nd is ~28 1/3 feet, to the first visible post is ~20 feet) I posted the other two values in my original post. Not wanting to make the images look "doctored", I included the measurements in text rather than in the images.

The lateral (sideways) spill is greater for the Husky200. I think side to side spill is at least partially a function of the window diameters of the two lights. (2" dia. for the Husky, 1" dia. for the Daylite.)

Icebreak- Agree totally that downloading executables is intimidating, but I figure I know the source of the file and the forum admins. know my email address. Not to mention that the Comcast link has my name in it. It wouldn't be too awful hard to come back on me for litigation in the event I infected a bunch of people, and Comcast would probably jump on the bandwagon. Also, Comcast is pretty dilligent about scanning files that are uploaded to web pages.

What the downloaded file allows is full screen resolution as opposed to the 800x600 cap on images in the forum, which allows better study of the images. Also, as Oddjob mentioned, it allows you to focus on single points to make more accurate evaluations, as opposed to scanning back & forth between images. It's all about tradeoffs.

MrGman, I am using a Canon Powershot A400 (point-n-shoot) on a tripod in manual mode, ISO 400, with light sensitivity set at +2, and of course, no flash. Not being a camera saavy person, that is about all the manual control I can muster. That being said, the three images were taken within about 30-45 seconds of one another without changing any settings. I think the apparent differences in exposure are simply a function of the camera sensor reacting to the relative differences in light output of the two lights. I wasn't mentally evaluating the background when I was taking the pictures, (didn't even realize someone in the house had turned out a light until stacking the pics.) but I was evaluating the relative outputs of the beams, and what is depicted in the images is just how I evaluated the images mentally in real time, which was that the Husky had greater side to side spill and an awesome hotspot, while the Daylight had a greater overall flood quality and whiteness.

Hitec

 

[baterija]

Overall a very useful effort. With care taken about settings and a tripod to make sure the camera is in the same location, this kind of work can really show the differences.

Agree totally that downloading executables is intimidating, but I figure I know the source of the file and the forum admins. know my email address. Not to mention that the Comcast link has my name in it. It wouldn't be too awful hard to come back on me for litigation in the event I infected a bunch of people, and Comcast would probably jump on the bandwagon. Also, Comcast is pretty dilligent about scanning files that are uploaded to web pages.

Not intimidating at all, just enhanced risk without a lot of benefit. Even with you being legitimate and following good scanning practices, there is a chance the download could be infected unknowingly. Those who lurk, or come to us once, and don't have a reason to trust you, may skip the benefit of your work as well.

Aside from compression of using JPG, do you see a benefit of your packaging versus using an animated GIF?

 

[LukeA]

What the hell is it supposed to be anyway?

 

[HitecDrftr]

Aside from compression of using JPG, do you see a benefit of your packaging versus using an animated GIF?

Well, I don't have animated gif software, although I could probably use the online free stuff. I used Irfanview, which is a great free image viewing software that is small and fast, and allows you to easily make free standing executables and even screen saver screenshows, as well as the ability to easily crop and resize images.

The obvious advantage to gifs is that the forum allows them, but you lose the full screen size capability.


Hitec

 

[HitecDrftr]

What the hell is it supposed to be anyway?

I am guessing you didn't download it? :sigh:

It's just a similar way (to animated gifs) for viewing a pair of beamshots that allows you to focus on a single point or points in the slideshow to more easily compare the two beamshots. Just trying to get people's opinions.

Hitec

 

[heckboy]

Us Mac people can't see it.

later,
HB

 

[LukeA]

Us Mac people can't see it.

later,
HB

+1

 

[clintb]

+1

+2

I really don't wanna boot into a VM just to check out some pics. Mac friendly, please.