Need 2 Numbers from You! For Beam Angle Calculations

[Bolster]

Hello CPFers. I'm doing some more work on the Flood Beam Headlamp List 2011 thread. I'm trying to list the Beam Angle for each headlamp listed, many of which are missing. (For some reason manufacturers often omit this measurement, which is an important one to consider when purchasing a floody headlamp.)

I need 2 numbers from you...both are easy to measure and will take you less than 2 minutes:

- Beam Diameter and
- Distance from headlamp to wall

The numbers should be recorded with as much accuracy as possible, although it's often challenging to know exactly where the beam "stops."

I need measurements for the following headlamps:

PT Corona
Irix Icon II - Thanks RonM and Spaulding
Pixa 1 & 3 (probably nobody has these yet)
PT Apex (flood mode)
Petzl Myo RXP (diffused mode)
Energizer Hard Case Pro (flood mode)
RayOVac Sportsman Xtreme 1-AA (flood mode)
Mamut Lucido TR1
Princeton Remix
Black Diamond Storm
Petzl Tikka XP or XP2 (diffused mode) - thank you TurboBB
BlackDiamond Sprinter
(...and any other floody light headlamps I may have overlooked. Any light with both spot and flood, I'm only looking for data on the flood or diffused mode.)

If you own one of the above headlamps, would you please consider taking a moment of your time and sending us distance and diameter so Beam Angle can be calculated?

Many thanks! :twothumbs

 

[tedh]

You know my obsession with external diffusers...what about the Fenix HL20 with the diffuser? I don't think you have numbers for that one, do you want them?

Ted

 

[turboBB]

Hi Bolster, thx for maintaining the flood list, very handy. I'll grab these for you later tonight:

PT Remix (do you need Red as well?)
Petzl Tikka XP 2
Petzl Tikkina
eGear HL130 (focused in flood mode)
LedLenser H7 (focused in flood mode)

And... "taking one for the team" (mwua ha ha ha ), I'll have the Pixa 3 here in about 2-3 weeks (says Amazon).

Cheers,
Tim

 

[Bolster]

@ TedH: I'm an information whore, so yes, I'll take any info on flood beams you care to share...thanks! Do you have a thread on diffusers you maintain by chance? If so, haven't seen it, and would like to link to it.

@ turboBB: Outstanding. (Red? Why not.) Sooo...you are taking point on the Pixa3? You da man! I'm suspicious that the Pixa 3 (rather than Pixa 1) is the one with the nice flood beam...but that's just a hunch and a guess at this point.

 

[tedh]

No, I haven't done a diffusers thread, but that is a good idea. Or maybe a "headlamps with diffusers"? That may be more appropriate as a subcategory for your floody light thread?

I only did the one DIY thread for a H51 diffuser. Going to try something similar for the Spark ST5.

Ted

 

[Bolster]

It would be a good thing to add...whether it's a "link to" or in the thread, either way. If I were you I'd make a separate "diffuser" thread which you can update as needed as new stuff comes out!

 

[turboBB]

I got caught up with some OT for work so can't get this tonight but will aim for before end of the week as I plan on taking beamshots and taking lux readings as well. Will post back by Friday night.

EDIT: I also have the original 3 level H501 so will be using that as a reference point for the other HL's since that's a well known light and kinda the standard when it comes to a no HS flood.

Also, does anyone know where I can purchase one of those wall ruler w/the X & Y axis in inches? I know it's not absolutely necessary but will make things a lot easier.

Thx!,
Tim

 

[Bolster]

You're going to laugh, but I used to just tape a yardstick to the wall with masking tape. Then I got one of those flexible "dressmakers" rules that is some kind of plastic-reinforced fabric and rolls up. You can get those at any fabric store.

If you can perch the light on a tripod, you can mark the edges of the beam with bits of masking tape, then measure between them with a tape measure.

Looking forward to your Friday post!

 

[turboBB]

Actaully, I just recalled that Ikea has those free paper rulers which would be perfect for this since I plan on doing 1M beam shots. I can have the wife stop by and pick up a few of those when she's there. ;o)

 

[turboBB]

Ok, it's getting a bit late here but I just managed to take down these readings. The camera and the HL's were set consistently 24" from the wall. Detailed explanations and beamshots to follow tomorrow but here's what the headers mean:

Beam - width in inches (using best guesstimate before the central hotspot falls off appreciably to my eyes)
Angle - degrees of beam as measured using a paper protractor (again best guesstimate)
X - simple calculation to see correlation between Angle / Beam
LUX - Max lux reading in center of beam
BTY - battery used (all freshly charged)

Cheers,
Tim

 

[Bolster]

Wow! You already measured Beam Angle! THANKS TruboBB!

 

[turboBB]

And the beamshots...

Control (1/5 f2.7):

The room is lit by two CF Lamps and the wall is light grayish (w/a hint of blue).

All HL beamshots (left at 1/13 & right stepped down to 1/80 | f2.7 | Daylight WB) taken on High and where applicable in flood mode. I selected Daylight WB as that gave the most balanced color rendention for all the shots. While the tint is not completely accurate, it is fairly representative in that the PrinectonTec Remix's nearly pure white beam is accurately portrayed (to my eyes).

First up, we have the venerable ZebraLight H501 (1st gen 3 levels):

LL Coast H7 (flood mode)

Definitely the thrower in my collection of HL's. Decently bright but poor choice for power source (3xAAA). As mentioned by a few others, I'd love to upgrade this to a CR123 or at least 3xAA power source but that doesn't seem likely given the integrated brightness lever. On a positive note, given the LED is housed in an aluminum enclosure, this will be a candidate for future upgrade to XP-G or XM-L.

eGear Focus Control 200 (HL-130) (flood mode)

Got this from BatteryJunction as it has a neat focus control (similar to the LL H7) and lots of great features and modes with single 5mm RGB LED's available as well. I've read somewhere that LL has a patent on the focus control so not sure how eGear was able to implement for their HL's. Perhpas they licensed it (does anyone know?). I sent the first back as the lens was extremely stiff and very difficult to operate, however the replacement isn't much better.

PrincetonTec Remix (White / Red)

This HL has perhaps the best tint of all the HL's I own. I got this w/the 30% off sale from LL Bean, too bad they didn't have the Remix Pro (CR123) otherwise I would've grabbed that instead given I'm not crazy about the 3xAAA power source. This has quickly become one of my favorite HL's although I wish there was a larger difference between the H/L modes. This has a strong hotspot but transitions decently out to a flood (next widest beam after the H501). I was surprised by the Lux reading where it trounced the H7 in flood mode.

Petzl Tikka XP 2 (flood mode)

The flood mode is achieved by sliding up a diffuser however, due to its use of an optic, it creates more of a giant hot spot than a true flood.

Petzl Tikkina 2

I got this HL for my little princess as she was clamoring for a pink one after seeing her big bro's HL. This HL uses two 5mm LED's (Nichia?). I plan on swapping them out with some RadioShack 276-0017 given the overly blue tint. This is more of a spot than true flood.

That wraps up the beamshots for now, I plan on taking some additional comparo beamshots (including outdoor ones) after a ZL H31w and Pixa 3 joins the collection.

Last but not least, to illustrate how the beam angle was taken, I center each HL on the paper protractor and determine what the beam spread was:

ZL claims 80 for this light, however I'd say the usable beam is roughly between 135 and 45 beyond where I consider the beam to drop off considerably in brightness so then 135-45 = 90.

Cheers,
Tim

 

[Bolster]

TurboBB, the H501 and the TikkaXP2 both qualify for the Flood Beam Headlamp List due to even floody beams that are sufficiently wide. I have plenty of H501 shots, but can I borrow yoru Tikka shot? With attribution of course.

 

[turboBB]

Defintiely, feel free to use any of the pics above and if you need the originals just PM me.

Cheers,
Tim

 

[Bolster]

Anybody else? Of my list above, I've only been able to cross off two...