jeffosborne
Enlightened
Inspired by a recent post regarding various optics made for the Rebel LED, I purchased a few that looked promising. I chose parts with wider angle beams in order to modify one of my Rebel LED lights that I use for photography. From Future Electronics I ordered the Carclo 10414, $1.01 each, the Dialite OPC1-1-WIDE, $1.03 each, and the Fraen FLP-W4-RE-HRF at $2.00 each, all shown below. They are all 40 degree beam angle optical lenses, and all about 85% efficient.
My opinion of the collimators used in some of the flashlights I own has been mixed. Of course those collimators are spots, not wide angle, but they often have undesirable artifacts in the beam, with rings or jagged edges. Fortunately, all the samples I tried have very smooth dispersion, and soft edges! The Carclo and Dialite parts have a frosted look to the top surface, which helps to smooth the beam no doubt.
Seeing that the tiny Carclo part would mount easily to one of my existing lights, I went to work.
This light has three 80 lumen per watt neutral white LEDs, mounted to a light weight heat sink that is 1.75 x 1.75 x .5". The spacers at the corners support a protective cover made of plexiglass. There is no driver on board, just the 3 LEDS wired in series, and a 4' cord that terminates with a coaxial type plug. I use the light with one of three 10.8 volt belt-clip battery packs that have built-in regulators.
The back side of the light has a super magnet embedded and epoxyed in the fins. This magnet attaches the light to a pin-on button that I wear on my shirt. I wear the button kind of high and to my left on the shirt, for best use with the camera in my right hand. I also have mic stand and light stand mounts for the magnet, for desktop and studio use.
At 850ma drive current, the light gives about 450 lumens, and is fine as a fill-in for low light situations. But the Rebel's beam angle is a wide 140 degrees, and often I want more light on my subject. With the lenses added I can have more light, with a narrowed beam angle of course. These optics all have an 85% efficiency rating, so I do loose some light to the lens itself.
To mount them to my light, I applied a tiny amount of epoxy to the bottoms of each leg, aligning the lens to the center of the LED as best I could. Here's a black and white photo of the optics in place:
This is the light with current set to 100ma, and camera exposure forced very low. The center LED was a warmer bin, the warmest neutral white that Phillips offers. But the combined light blends nicely.
The completed light with protective plexiglass cover and nylon hold down screws:
Here is one of the Li-Ion battery packs I use with this and other lights. It has 3 switched battery outputs, and one regulated output with a center-off toggle switch that selects 100ma, 350ma, or 850ma current levels. A heavy duty belt clip is riveted to the back side. It is a Pac-tec enclosure and has three 18650 batteries.
These before and after beam shots of the light tell the story of the Carclo optics. In both photographs, the light is 12" away from the white 32 x 40" matte board.
Before installation of the lenses:
After installing the optics:
The very soft edge of the beam will give a pleasant effect for photos. This is a welcome addition to my other non-focused lights for photography. I will strive to get some real world sample photos with the modified light and post them soon.
Jeff
My opinion of the collimators used in some of the flashlights I own has been mixed. Of course those collimators are spots, not wide angle, but they often have undesirable artifacts in the beam, with rings or jagged edges. Fortunately, all the samples I tried have very smooth dispersion, and soft edges! The Carclo and Dialite parts have a frosted look to the top surface, which helps to smooth the beam no doubt.
Seeing that the tiny Carclo part would mount easily to one of my existing lights, I went to work.
This light has three 80 lumen per watt neutral white LEDs, mounted to a light weight heat sink that is 1.75 x 1.75 x .5". The spacers at the corners support a protective cover made of plexiglass. There is no driver on board, just the 3 LEDS wired in series, and a 4' cord that terminates with a coaxial type plug. I use the light with one of three 10.8 volt belt-clip battery packs that have built-in regulators.
The back side of the light has a super magnet embedded and epoxyed in the fins. This magnet attaches the light to a pin-on button that I wear on my shirt. I wear the button kind of high and to my left on the shirt, for best use with the camera in my right hand. I also have mic stand and light stand mounts for the magnet, for desktop and studio use.
At 850ma drive current, the light gives about 450 lumens, and is fine as a fill-in for low light situations. But the Rebel's beam angle is a wide 140 degrees, and often I want more light on my subject. With the lenses added I can have more light, with a narrowed beam angle of course. These optics all have an 85% efficiency rating, so I do loose some light to the lens itself.
To mount them to my light, I applied a tiny amount of epoxy to the bottoms of each leg, aligning the lens to the center of the LED as best I could. Here's a black and white photo of the optics in place:
This is the light with current set to 100ma, and camera exposure forced very low. The center LED was a warmer bin, the warmest neutral white that Phillips offers. But the combined light blends nicely.
The completed light with protective plexiglass cover and nylon hold down screws:
Here is one of the Li-Ion battery packs I use with this and other lights. It has 3 switched battery outputs, and one regulated output with a center-off toggle switch that selects 100ma, 350ma, or 850ma current levels. A heavy duty belt clip is riveted to the back side. It is a Pac-tec enclosure and has three 18650 batteries.
These before and after beam shots of the light tell the story of the Carclo optics. In both photographs, the light is 12" away from the white 32 x 40" matte board.
Before installation of the lenses:
After installing the optics:
The very soft edge of the beam will give a pleasant effect for photos. This is a welcome addition to my other non-focused lights for photography. I will strive to get some real world sample photos with the modified light and post them soon.
Jeff
