My Shootout 4 shots

[mtbkndad]

Hi Everybody,
Here are my photos. There are quite a few and I did not want to do contact sheets so that the images would be larger and more useful for examination.
I have limited them to 640 pixels wide so that should help some with download time.
The target was the lowest horizontal cross bar of the tower 250 yards away. It was very challenging to get the beams centered on that bar from this distance. One problem is that HID hotspots are not always centered in the corona and this will change the appearance of the beam pattern slightly on the ground. I did my best to get a balance with the lights since I was doing the aiming of everything.

I have ordered the lights in terms of how well I felt they lit up their tiny ( the cross bar) target, regardless of how much overall lumens they put out, from lowest to highest.
I do not have all of the low powered mods in this post. It is already quite long in it's current form.

Also, as is my custom, I did the shots from behind the lights so you can get a good idea of the total light output and beam pattern that each light produces.
My Canon S2 IS was set to f3.5, 3.2" . I leave the ISO standard and the color balance automatic. This is because I feel gives a truer picture of what I am actually seeing then if I use a daylight setting. The lights that look blueish or greenish really do look like that in comparison with the lights that don't have the same appearance. This is particularly true of the lower powered lights that are really being used on a target either beyond their useable distance or at the fringe of their useable distance.

Control
--------------------------

Enzite 10 watt
-------------------------

Mac Mini HID
-------------------------

28 Watt Black Widow
-------------------------

Superlight 28 Watt
------------------------

Microfire K3500
-----------------------

Beast 1
-----------------------

Volcano Mod
--------------------

HB1 50 watt
-----------------------

Yellow Jacket at 35 watts
-----------------------

N30
-----------------------

Secret 35 watt HID- Not available in US, but uses the same reflector and bulb as the up coming L35.
----------------------

Polarion P1 35 watt
----------------------

X990
--------------------

Polarion X1 (Mr. Ted Bear's)
-------------------

Polarion PH 40
-------------------

Sam's POB
--------------------

Polarion X1(mtbkndad's)
---------------------

XeRay 50
--------------------

Polarion PH 50
-------------------

HB 2 New Bulb- At dinner I mentioned to Phil about HID's getting brighter as the break in. He just built this one the day of the shoot.
---------------------

15 MCP Thor
---------------------

AI/Titanium Illuminator
--------------------

Yellow Jacket at 65 watts
--------------------

HB 2- Bulb with some burn in time
--------------------

Costco HID- The Costco HID and Mega Illuminator are very close and could go either way. I put them in this order because the Mega Illuminator was clearly aimed a bit high.
--------------------

Titanium Mega Illuminator
-------------------

BarnBurner 75 watt
-------------------

BarnBurner 80 watt
-------------------

Larry K. 600 watt
-------------------

Larry K. 1000 watt
--------------------

Costco 80 watt mod
---------------------

HyperBlitz
--------------------

300 watt Blackhawk Locator Light
--------------------

Now for the Cropped shots.

Enzite 10 watt
---------------------

Mac Mini HID
--------------------

28 Watt Black Widow
--------------------

SuperLight 28 watt
--------------------

Microfire K3500
--------------------

Beast 1
--------------------

Volcano Mod
-------------------

HB 1
--------------------

Yellow Jacket at 35 watts
--------------------

N30
-------------------

Secret 35 watt
-------------------

Polarion P1 35 watt
-------------------

X990
-------------------

Polarion X1 (Mr. Ted Bear's)
-------------------

Polarion PH 40
-------------------

Sam's POB
------------------

Polarion X1(mtbkndad's)
----------------------

XeRay 50
----------------------

Polarion PH 50
----------------------

HB 2 new bulb
----------------------

15 MCP Thor
----------------------

AI/Titanium Illuminator
----------------------

Yellow Jacket at 65 watts
----------------------

HB 2 50 watt bulb with some break in time
----------------------

Costco 35 watt HID
----------------------

Titanium Mega Illuminator
-----------------------

BarnBurner 75 watt
-----------------------

BarnBurner 80 watt
-----------------------

Larry K. 600 watt
-----------------------

Larry K. 1000 watt
-----------------------

Costco 80 watt Mod
-----------------------

HyperBlitz
---------------------

300 watt Blackhawk Locator light
---------------------

Take Care,
mtbkndad :wave:

 

[adamlau]

Images courtesy of mtbkndad, stripped L to R in the order posted by mtbkndad:

Wide Angle​

Cropped Images​

 

[dwminer]

Without doubt, some of the best serious of pictures I have seen. Thank you
Dave

 

[Patriot]

Thank you mtbkndad!

Great pictures as you had earlier stated.

I noticed that the 80W BB was aimed lower than the 75W BB.

Same with the Costo and Illuminator, which you noted.

Always impressive performance from the X990 considering the technology and its age now.

The Eznite appears to be under performing for whatever reason. Even the spill is more dim than the Mac's.

Was the Locator filmed on the ground because of cable length or weight or both. That thing is astounding for the size of its reflector!

Thanks so much for posting these.

 

[mtbkndad]

Thank you mtbkndad!

Great pictures as you had earlier stated.

I noticed that the 80W BB was aimed lower than the 75W BB.

Same with the Costo and Illuminator, which you noted.

Always impressive performance from the X990 considering the technology and its age now.

The Eznite appears to be under performing for whatever reason. Even the spill is more dim than the Mac's.

Was the Locator filmed on the ground because of cable length or weight or both. That thing is astounding for the size of its reflector!

Thanks so much for posting these.

Thanks for the compliments.

The Locator was shot from the ground because it exceeded the 15 lb weight limit of the head on my tripod. I believe is it at least 24 lbs.

You are right about it's performance with it's tiny little roughly 5" reflector.

Take Care,
mtbkndad :wave:

 

[Patriot]

Bob, have you ever estimated the lumen output of the Locator or has it been previously discussed?

I wouldn't have any clue as to whether it's 45,000 lumens or 75,000 lumens...or more. I'm more impressed with that light than any light I've ever seen demonstrated before! Simply amazing.

 

[JetskiMark]

Thank you for taking the time to post your excellent shots.

These are a pretty accurate representation of what I saw that night.

The Locator seems normal and everything else is lacking in comparison. If there were only a way to squeeze everything into a host the size of a POB.

 

[DM51]

A superb record. I've added it to the "Threads of Interest" sticky.

 

[Illum]

:wow: :kewlpics:

Thats a heck of a difference between the two barnburners
I mean geez...5 watts [75 vs 80] but the 80 watt had such a smooth hotspot:huh:

Thread saved, thanks for the pics!

 

[karlthev]

Just amazing! Thank you!


Karl

 

[BVH]

Hi Daniel! Thank you! Been waiting for these.

I now wish I had held the Locator at the same height as all the other lights. Next time. The shot was taken when the LAPD cop had shown up and we were anxious to shoot the last light and head home. The beam color looks a bit more blue than I remember. I'm working on a very small and light-weight battery pack for it so I don't have to lug 100-plus pounds of SLA with me. I splurged and have 4 DeWalt 36 Volt A123 packs coming. Not sure if I will use them as-is or if I will strip them out and use them in the MEC Solderless Power Tubes (great little item - modelelectronicscorp.com). I should be able to go with up to 8S5P for maybe 12 to 15 minutes I'm guessing based on about 5 minutes with my CBP 4500, 28.8 nominal Volt pack from my LarryK14.

Patriot, the only guess I'd venture is IIRC, I've seen figures in the 90 to 95 Lumens per Watt figure for HID in a few places so based on that, maybe it puts out 27,000 Lumens using the lower number and 28,500 on the higher number? It sure seems like more but who knows. Also, if this ballast is non-regulated like the Welch Allyn 10-Watt, I'm only powering it with about 25 Volts instead of the 28 it is rated at. My A123 pack setup will be set up to provide 28 Volts or higher under load. We'll see if it makes a difference.

 

[Patriot]

Interesting about the lumens Bob. Like you stated, it does seem like more. It there something special about this configuration that keeps it below 95 lumens per watt? Since they get more efficient, to a point, as the watts go up I figured this would be much higher 120+ lumens per watt if extrapolated out to 300 watts. But yeah, like I side I really don't have a clue and I don't know if it works like that. I don't know what the theoretical efficiency limit is. I sure would love to know though. Rigs like yours fascinate me.

 

[mtbkndad]

The Locator seems normal and everything else is lacking in comparison. If there were only a way to squeeze everything into a host the size of a POB.

I know what you mean. I would love to have that much light even in a AI sized and weighted package. For that matter a Costco size light would even be fine for me.
That light has lots on unnecessary stuff for hand held use like the mechanical components for the joystick control, etc. I wonder how big the actual ballast is in that light?

Take Care,
mtbkndad :wave:

 

[seery]

Thanks for taking the time to share them with us.

For me, the wide angle shots tell much more of the story.

:thumbsup:

 

[LuxLuthor]

Yeah, I also join with many thanks in seeing how well this was done. This does seem like the best shootout to date, although having a few subject points to guage the distance is always good....but this type of field shot really shows the distance beam patterns. There are some really great performers here. Again, really great job. :thumbsup:

 

[Flashanator]

:bow::bow::bow:

Awsome pics,

Again you get a real representation of these lights with this quality.

 

[mtbkndad]

Yeah, I also join with many thanks in seeing how well this was done. This does seem like the best shootout to date, although having a few subject points to guage the distance is always good....but this type of field shot really shows the distance beam patterns. There are some really great performers here. Again, really great job. :thumbsup:

I would have liked some intermediary objects too, but this was the best location we looked at that night. I think I started to drive everybody a little crazy as each prior location that evening, I had reservations about and said "next". I believe this was the 4th spot we checked that night.
The freshly mowed and rained on field made a great canvas for the beams.

Take Care,
mtbkndad :wave:

 

[Flashanator]

How would I go about getting a 80w HID kit for my mega Illuminator?


That costco 80w HID is awsome. I love it.......

 

[BVH]

The Locator ballast pretty much completely fills the bottom "can" of the light - length and width. I don't think even with everything cleaned out of the Costco HID, that the ballast would fit. It's an "open" ballast in that everything is exposed within the can.

 

[BVH]

Added some pics of the ballast over here:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=199764