Update #8
It's
been mentioned in the sales thread, but I ordered a bunch of 5mm Cree LED's in the hopes of finding a nice neutral one. They weren't originally intended for this A2 ring project, but there are a couple CPF'ers who would prefer a middle ground offering, somewhere between SF's angry blue and Nichia's (admittedly very warm) warm white, so I decided to whip up a ring and see how they perform.
The LED's
- Cree C513A-MSN-CW0Y0511: 8200mcd, 4600-5600k, 55deg, 75CRI
I ordered 100 and the tints I received varied wildly from a rather sickly yellow to almost cool white. I separated them as best I could into 3 groups - warmer, neutral, cooler.
The neutral ring was built from the best-looking LED's in the neutral group. So basically, out of 100 LED's, this was built with the 3 I thought were the nicest. Keep that in mind.
Since they're 55 degree flood LED's, they work well in the OP reflector of the A2 and put out a very smooth, very WIDE beam. The blue A2 is using the stock SF ring.
The boxes have become somewhat of a tradition for my beamshots, so let's get them out of the way.
See what I'm talking about when I say floody?
Cool White -- Neutral White -- Warm White
The warm white Nichia's do indeed have a bit of a blue hotspot that increases with distance. My camera amplifies it and it's nowhere near as prominent to my eyes. I like that they have a tiny bit of blue - it seems to help immensely with rendering color on blue/green objects.
Cool -- Neutral -- Warm
The neutrals definitely don't reach very far, but they put out a lot of light up close
Cool -- Neutral -- Warm
This was my best attempt to photograph the transition as the light drops down from incan into LED. I don't have a white wall anywhere in my house so the ceiling will have to suffice.
Cool White
Neutral White
Warm White
The Verdict
Pros
- very bright, probably as bright as the stock white ones (with more flood and less throw)
- not a hint of blue anywhere in the beam
- very smooth, wide beam
- the A2 reflector does a great job smoothing out any artifacts in the beam
- they mesh well with the incan bulb; dropping down out of high isn't unpleasant like it is with the stock white ones
Cons
- the light emitted is a very "dead" light (for lack of a better word... light grey); it's devoid of any color so it simply illuminates an area without really putting any feeling into it
- the tint lottery is in full effect; this ring was made with the best emitters of the bunch - the rest aren't as pretty.
- color rendering is pretty pallid - it makes me look like I have zombie hands
It's tough to make up my mind about these LED's. I'm personally a warm white guy so it doesn't feel right to be using an A2 that has "grey" secondary LED's. That said, it's hard to argue that they don't put out any blue at any distance and they have a very smooth and floody beam. I certainly think these would do the trick for someone who doesn't like warm white, but wants to drop the blue from their stock white ring.
Until next time!
Update (2012-01-24)
I carried this neutral white A2 around with me for a full week and I have to say now that the LED's have quickly grown on me. They put out a literal wall-of-light that's very smooth and has a nice neutral tint. Up close, they do pretty well with colors, though that drops off at a distance. Some comparison shots:
McGizmo High CRI Haiku (92CRI @ 5000k)
Nichia GS cool white (6700k)
Cree NW (5000k)
Nichia Warm White (~3300k)
The 5000k temperature is a little cooler than the 3300k of the incan bulb, but if you don't mind a bit of a color difference when dropping down out of High, they're an excellent choice.
