FM1794 Comparisons

[cl0123]

Two FM1794 bulbs came with a recent order of FM's 2x18650 C-C tubes, about 10 days ago. A quick PM last Friday to Fivemega and he sent out the missing o-rings right away. With some freshly charged AW Protected 18650 cells, I tried my hands on doing beam shots. :sigh: Have mercy!


(All f8 1/4s; flashlight hand-held about 4" to 6" above lenses axis)

I must say, the wide-angle floody beam pattern of the FM1794 bulb is very impressive. I tend to like "wall of light" type of beams because they are most useful to me, whether around the house or office. Perhaps it is the smallish 6P bezel but regardless, the output lit up quite a wide area that literally stretches from ceiling to ground. Of course, the WA1185 set up is still the real winner because even the side-spills are revealing some details on the photo. It is unfortunately my very last 1185 bulb and I hope Litho somehow would get around to send down some more my way.

Stacking up all the test-pieces

With Aloha,

Clarence

 

[Brizzler]

Good work! :thumbsup:

Very much the sort of comparison I've been looking for recently.
My only suggestion for "next time" might be to consider using a smaller aperture setting or increased shutter speed so that the hotspots of the beams are not quite so overexposed.

Also, am I right in suspecting that in pic 2 it was not a KT4 but a standard M3 bezel holding the EO-M3? :thinking:

 

[cl0123]

Also, am I right ...?

You're not left


Good catch and thank you, my friend. It was late at night fiddling with the texts edit and of course the eyes-brain-coordinations were slow... whatever lame excuse it was.

I agree with stopping down perhaps a couple more stops on the exposures as well. I generally aim to capture what I actually saw with my own eyes and these photos did not do any justice. The FM1794 + MOP literally lit up the entire room with a soft pleasant beam. On the other hand, it does not quite have the intensity of the WA1111 nor the WA1185 bulbs. Perhaps next time, I should just bracket a few shots of each light.

Another surprise was the turbo head KT4. I first saw a turbo head behind another fellow CPF member's car and got the impression that it is all about throw. Looking at the ring size produced by the KT4 head, it actually covers a lot of real estate than the Z46.

Next time, I will also jig up something like a clamp or channel to hold the light. Hand-holding above lenses like I did distorted and created some weird center-spot shapes. Actually, I have a much deeper appreciation of the beam shots posted by other fellow CPF members. :twothumbs

With Aloha,

Clarence

 

[Brizzler]

No excuses needed!

I'm currently mostly interested in the throw of these set-ups... And this is hard to tell from the hotspots in the photographs, but in your experience/view, does the FM1794 set-up outthrow the EO-M3? And compared with the HO-M3T? If I can get that much punch from a smaller light, I might do without the chunky turbo head... And while you're at it, how much greater roughly is the throw of the WA1111 set-up compared with the HO-M3T...?

Thanks a lot!
Your thread really does almost perfectly answer the questions I posted in a thread a couple of days ago, but got no replies to.

 

[Icebreak]

Well done, cl0123. This is a very useful beamshot comparison. Thank you.

 

[cl0123]

It's dark outside with low clouds and a little bit midnight drizzles, CPF-charged photons became restless and begged to release their fangs... ok, inane creativity got carried away...

The following is a set of outdoor shots intended to gauge light-reach. Target is the top of a highrise building on the far side from two blocks away. Conservatively guesstimating, it is about 200 yards away from the camera. Next time, I shall try something perhaps like 100 yards instead.


The FM1794 was installed with a MOP reflector. I do not have any but I suppose Fivemega's smooth reflector would offer more reach. To the naked eyes, the FM1794 only lit up the target a tint brighter. I added a Malkoff M60 to the test hoping to see some surprises, but unfortunately, there was none and pictures don't lie. The real winner is of course the WA1185 powered by 3x17670. The rest of the bulbs were all powered by 2x18650 AW protected lithium ion cells.

I'm afraid the comparison photos were poorly exposed again, but to the naked eyes, the WA1111 does appear brighter than the HO-M3T. The center-spot brightness may appear similar between the two, but the WA1111 delivers more usable spills than the HO-M3T. Someday, I ought to get myself an EO-M3T to test it out, but right now I am just having a ton of fun trying to make my EO-M3 lamp lighting up consistently in my favorite M3 light.

The control was over-exposed by +2/3 stops because I thought it is pointless to look at something pitch dark. Looking at all the photos lining up in front of me, now I think I should have dialed down (and listened to Brizzler) to show greater contrasts instead. Oh well, good first practice for me anyway. With regard to the blurry pics of the 1185 and HO-M3T, I am just thankful those were not somebody's wedding pictures. I was already using the 1-second delay-release function, but my clumsy wolf hand must have forgotten to let go of the camera. Why don't modern cameras use the good old cable release? No, I ain't gonna get one because the same money can buy me a couple dozens of WA1111.

Some hardware updates allowing the lights to take advantage of the higher capacity of 18650 cells.

With Aloha,

Clarence


Vantage point daylight shot

 

[Brizzler]

:wow:

Thanks a lot for the effort!

Your neighbours in the tower shown must love you for lighting up their rooms
:lolsign:

 

[cl0123]

I am taking the 5th.

BTW, all you saw were 6 seconds worth of exposures. Hope it did not disturb the nice neighborhood.

Now that you mentioned it, I agree it is a bit, uhm, overly creative. In fact, about 50 yards from the foot of that building is where several of the city patrol cruisers make their pit-stop every night. I need to take a good nap and stick with tried-and-true beam shots into the woods or golf course.

Of course, what I really want is to do my beam shots in the football field in the background, taking advantage of the yard lines and everything. Let me to go talk to the principal. :candle:

With Aloha and plenty ,

Clarence

 

[Rayne]

Nice comparison shots with the different bulbs. I thought that area looked familiar. Good luck getting permission to use the field at that school.