Beam terminology

[Wil]

From reading this forum I've picked up a lot of terminoligy, some of it I'm not too sure about... I just want to get something straight, can you guys help me with this?

Flood: Wide beam with the light spread evenly throughout that area. Lights up a large area, doesn't travel very far.
Spot: Narrow beam with light concentrated in one small general area. Lights up a small area, travels very far.
Spill: A combination of the above two. (Or is it just light unintentionally escaping the intended illumination area?)
Focus: Not a beam characteristic. Just the ability to switch between Flood or Spot and anywhere in between.

I hope I have this right, please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Norm]

:welcome:

See here Terminology
Norm

 

[Wil]

:welcome:

See here Terminology
Norm

Ah, thanks Norm.

I was looking for something like that. I'm gonna be busy now...

 

[jh333233]

2 cents,
Ur definition of spill is wrong
Spill means the light which is away from the hotspot, i.e. non focused part of output

Spot should be named "hotspot" with your definition

 

[Swedpat]

:welcome:

See here Terminology
Norm

Hi Norm,

I still miss a clear written explanation about what does mean BEAM. Earlier I thought hotspot and spill together = beam. Then I understood "beam" does mean hotspot. But what is the name for everything? Translated from my language I would say LIGHT PICTURE/IMAGE. Can't recall anyone used that expression here, except from me. What would you call the entire light amount coming out from a flashlight? I think such a word should be included in the terminology.

Regards, Patric

 

[Norm]

Does this help? Taken as a whole this is a beam with the component parts labelled.

Norm

 

[wrf]

That picture is worth a thousand words -- very nice indeed!
Not from one of my lights though. All my recent lights contain component "donut hole".

 

[Wil]

Does this help? Taken as a whole this is a beam with the component parts labelled.

Norm

Yes it does, definitely! Thanks for that, it's a really nice and simple diagram.

 

[Swedpat]

I am still "fascinated" that there does not seem to exist a word for describing the entire part of the light coming out from the flashlight...
Hotspot, corona and spill are expressions I am familiar with. But if you want to express all of these in one or two words?
Light picture, light image, light - what???

 

[rmteo]

"Beam profile" ???

 

[Swedpat]

"Beam profile" ???

I actually thought about just this expression and discussed it in another thread earlier, but because "beam" does mean "hotspot" "beam profile" should mean the shape of the hotspot...

 

[rmteo]

To clearly and accurately define a beam's characteristics, you really need something more than these subjective terms. A much better way would be to provide the info like this: