Beam Shot Time Lapse Videos

[entoptics]

Here's some time lapse videos of hallway beam shots. I've been fiddling and reworking the videos, so I decided to make a new thread, which I can update easily as I finish more. Hopefully, weather and time permitting, I will have some outdoor shots soon.

Please watch in HD and I recommend pausing and rewinding to see things you are particularly interested in.

iTP EOS A3 vs EagleTac T20C2 vs MagCharger vs NiteCore D10
1/8th sec, f9.0, 800 ISO, Nikon D5000 @ 24 mm

iTP A6 Polestar vs EagleTac P20A2 MKII vs Quark AA2 vs NiteCore D10 Tribute Edition
1/8 sec, f9.0, 800 ISO, Nikon D5000 @ 24 mm (Update 6-17-10)

iTP EOS A3 vs Maglite 3D, MiniMag, and Solitaire
1/2 sec, f9.0, 800 ISO, Nikon D5000 @ 24 mm

NiteCore D10 Tribute 14500 Li-ion vs NiMH
1/2 sec, f9.0, 800 ISO, Nikon D5000 @ 24 mm

EagleTac T20C2 vs MagCharger
1/2 sec, f9.0, 800 ISO, Nikon D5000 @ 24 mm



Please feel free to offer suggestions (and send me lights to review ) so I can improve. I feel like this is a really effective (if time consuming) way to truly demonstrate otherwise abstract concepts like run time and brightness.

 

[entoptics]

Reserved for later insight...

1) A distinct problem with this type of beam shot rendition is the viewer's tendency to focus on the brightest spot in the video, and the tendency for the hotspot to be over exposed relative to the spill. This means lights tend to be weighted towards their hotspot by the watcher. Notice the backpack/ceiling, hallway floor, and side of the tub to get the full effect.

 

[Fooboy]

Most awesome beam shots ever.

Thanks for taking time to do that.

 

[Cole07]

Wow that iTP sure is bright compared with that Nitecore. They are close to the same!

 

[shipwreck]

wow, those are cool vids!

 

[entoptics]

Wow that iTP sure is bright compared with that Nitecore. They are close to the same!

Actually, the NiteCore D10 is considerably brighter than the EOS on max. Much of the brightness is showing up in the spill in those photos, and the wider hotspot.

A distinct problem with this type of beam shot rendition is the viewer's tendency to focus on the brightest spot in the video, and the tendency for the hotspot to be over exposed relative to the spill. This means lights tend to be weighted towards their hotspot by the watcher.

Notice the backpack/ceiling, hallway floor, and side of the tub. The D10 is WAY brighter than the EOS, and the bigger lights are WAY brighter than the D10.

The EOS A3 is awesome, and brighter on Hi than the 3D Maglite (and not too far behind it on medium mode), but it can't hang with the higher end lights in terms of shear output.

 

[Cole07]

Actually now that I look at it a lot closer you are right. But even at that it still isn't incredibly far off. And its only a AAA light

 

[BigHonu]

Excellent job!

 

[Gazerbeam]

Your videos are the best illustration of output and runtime that I have seen! It's great to see you honing your skills, their getting better! All the time and hard work you put into creating these is highly appreciated, keep up the good work! :twothumbs

 

[entoptics]

Thanks all.

Please suggest "head to head" cage matches you'd like to see from my lineup. Now that I have a good Adobe Flash template, I can crank out specific death matches much easier.

You can pretty much see everything available in the picture, and I have time lapses for all of them except the Stanley because it doesn't stay dark long enough and it's not much brighter than a MiniMag.

Wish I had an arsenal of lights, but I do have most of the "common" bases covered ± a few lumens and minutes in each niche. My old man is gonna loan me his SF E1L and the EOS A2 I gave him for Christmas, so I'll fire them up when I can. Won't see him for a couple weeks though.

 

[andyw513]

Nice work on these vids, I think this is a great format to compare/contrast lights with. If only my camcorder would go beyond 2 hours...

 

[Vesper]

Very nice. Thank you - I watched each several times. Is the 14500 you used in the D10 protected?

 

[swxb12]

I feel like this is a really effective (if time consuming) way to truly demonstrate otherwise abstract concepts like run time and brightness.

Indeed, thanks for the amazing work. :thumbsup: My favorite runtime thread to date.

 

[entoptics]

...Is the 14500 you used in the D10 protected?

Yes. It's this 900 mAh UltraFire from battery junction. In my experiments, the D10 runs almost as long on a Duracell 2650 mAh NiMH. Since there's no brightness gain on the D10 using 14500, the high cap NiMHs make a cost effective "Li-ion substitute" for users who run the light frequently and don't need LSD shelf life. In fact, for my purposes (frequent use EDC), I think the only real advantage of the 14500 in the D10 will be cold weather performance.

The T20C2 is running this Tenergy 18650 protected 2600 mAh. I wasn't paying attention when I ordered them, and got ones without a button top. Had to put a little blob of solder on the end as the polarity nub, but both cells have worked flawlessly so far.

 

[entoptics]

Updated with my dad's lights. iTP A6 polestar, EagleTac P20A2 MKII, and Quark AA2. Head to head with my NiteCore D10 Tribute, all running Rayovac 4.0 NiMH LSD cells.

iTP A6 Polestar vs EagleTac P20A2 MKII vs Quark AA2 vs NiteCore D10 Tribute Edition
1/8 sec, f9.0, 800 ISO, Nikon D5000 @ 24 mm (Update 6-17-10)

I've also refined the video production a bit. Hopefully I'll have a SureFire E1L Outdoorsman (Single Mode version) in the mix within a couple days.

 

[ANDREAS FERRARI]

I don't know how I missed this the first time around?

Great work entoptics and thanks for bringing this back!

I love the format and am looking forward to any updates.:thumbsup:

 

[fishinfool]

Very cool vids. :twothumbs I like how that cat was peaking his head around the corner wondering what the hell was goiong on. :laughing:

 

[entoptics]

Thanks for the compliments. I'll have the SF E1L up soon.

Again, PLEASE suggest improvements.

Also, If you want to see any specific head to heads, just let me know. My current lineup is...

EagleTac T20C2 (1st gen, warm tint, smooth reflector)
NiteCore D10 (14500, Rayo 4.0 LSD, Duracell 2650 mAh)
iTP EOS A3 Upgrade (SS and Al, low, med, high)
Maglite MagCharger, 3D, Mini 2xAA, and Solitaire
Stanley Maxlife 369 (3 mode 6 LED and single mode 1 LED)
*iTP A6 Polestar (High only)
*SureFire E1L Outdoorsman (old single mode, KX1 head)
*EagleTac P20A2 MKII (high mode only)
*Quark AA2 (Max and high mode)

An * indicates my dad's lights, which are going back this week, so the photos I've got are all I'm gonna have. The other lights I could shoot more time lapses of other modes and batteries.

I also have 30 yd wilderness beamshots of all my lights with fresh batteries and all the maglites after 1 hour of runtime.

 

[LED_Thrift]

This is an outstanding idea entoptics, thank you so much for doing these. It's a great way to really compare outputs, beam pattern, tints and runtimes quickly. I can't think of any way to improve these.

I'm a big fan of the Eagletac 2xAA lights. They performed very well in your videos. I was suprised that the iTP light using 6 AAs didn't have a longer runtime compared to the 2 AA lights.

you mentioned that the only advantage of using a 14500 cell in the D10 would be cold weather performance. There was a thread a few months ago where someone tested cells in cold conditions and the NiMH cells did very well at temps below freezing. I think the tests were in temps about 10F below freezing. I've used mine in similar temps and they do perform well.