NiteCore EZ AA-W (Warm tint) Comparison Review

[UnknownVT]

Once again through the kind courtesy of 4Sevens I have this NiteCore EZaaW (Warm tint) to look at.

It is basically the NiteCore EZaa but with a warm tint emitter.

But I felt it merited its own review.

Size -

no surprise here it is physically the same as the regular EZaa - if one looks carefully - there is a W designation after the EZ AA

Head -

hmmmm... perhaps the W version shows a bit of brown tint?

Comparison beamshots - using recently charged NiMH (Kodak Pre-Charged)

vs. NiteCore EZ-AA both High NiMH

obvious tint difference - but the brightness looks about the same. The Warm tint is a kind of yellow'ish pale tobacco tint....

vs Fenix L1D-RB100 (my favorite white tint) both high/turbo NiMH

the warm tint makes the RB100 tint look cool in comparison - the EZaaW is brighter.

vs. Streamlight Scorpion Xenon incand 2x CR123

the Scorpion incand is yellower - the EZaaW is obviously brighter - it ought to be, rated at 130 lumens vs. the Scorpion's 60 lumens

The EZaaW on Low -

vs. NiteCore EZ-AA both Low NiMH

again obvious tint difference - but similar brightness levels.

vs. Fenix L1Drb100 both Low NiMH

again obvious tint difference - but similar brightness levels.

vs. Streamlight Scorpion xenon 2x CR123

The Scorpion is brighter - as one would expect - even at this comparison it is still more yellow.

vs. S1801 1w Luxeon 1xCR123 (one of my early favorite tints)

How does the Warmer tint affect color rendition?

Macbeth color rendition chart -

The Warm tint shows up the reds and purples much better - yet still shows the blues well - the RB100 is surprisingly good in this photo comparison.

Please also see:

Puny LED flashlights (Not!) + COLOR RENDITION Comparison

INDEX to Follow-Up Parts -

Foliage beamshot comparison - Post #20

Compaison with LED light filtered through Serengeti Driver sunglasses - Post #26

Discussion of how the eye may prefer warmer tints at lower light levels - Post #33

Standardized Stairway beamshot comparison - Post #34

Color removed by deSaturation comparison between the EZaaW and regular cool white EZaa - Post #40

EZaaW uses mainly the Q3 5B - with illustration of the binning - Post #41

 

[f22shift]

great info here. 1st reply!

 

[Woods Walker]

I like the warm tint. Great review. :twothumbs

 

[Kilovolt]

Very interesting, thanks.

To the naked eye is the beam as brownish/greenish as it appears in the pics?

 

[UnknownVT]

To the naked eye is the beam as brownish/greenish as it appears in the pics?

It is brownish - as I called it yellow'ish pale tobacco tint.

I don't see green either in the flesh or on my CRT monitor.

 

[Kilovolt]

I'm using an LCD monitor of a laptop, maybe the greenish hue comes from it, that's why I asked.

 

[Moonshadow]

Still not convinced. The regular EZAA chart seems a better match to the daylight chart than the "warm" one with its exaggerated yellows and reds.

I'm sorry, but I still can't see what all the fuss is about. The so-called "warm" tints look just horrible in these beamshots - all yellow and brown. Do they really look as awful in real life, or have the photographs over-emphasised the colour differences ?

 

[Wade]

Well as one who does graphics work all day long the EEZw looks to be closer to real life..

As one who runs trails at night I think the warmer tint will make for better definition of roots, rocks, and other such things that go bump in the night. WW.

 

[Crenshaw]

The reason alot of us prefer Warm tinted lights, because it is garunteed to be at least as warm as we need, rather then a non warm emittor, which give a certain amount of randomness.

Crenshaw

 

[UnknownVT]

Still not convinced. The regular EZAA chart seems a better match to the daylight chart than the "warm" one with its exaggerated yellows and reds.

I'm sorry, but I still can't see what all the fuss is about. The so-called "warm" tints look just horrible in these beamshots - all yellow and brown. Do they really look as awful in real life, or have the photographs over-emphasised the colour differences ?

This is fair enough, tints are somewhat of a personal thing.

I wasn't that convinced either -
but there is a scientific explanation why warmer tints are useful at lower light levels -

ref: Wikipedia on fluorescent lamp:

" High CCT lighting generally requires higher light levels. At dimmer illumination levels, the human eye perceives lower color temperatures as more natural, as related through the Kruithof curve. So, a dim 2700K incandescent lamp appears natural, and a bright 5000K lamp also appears natural, but a dim 5000K fluorescent lamp appears too pale. Daylight-type fluorescents look natural only if they are very bright. "

Specifically please read -
Kruithof curve

The Color of White

" The traditional response to the question of the optimum light source for viewing art has been to use the same type of light in which the object was either created or intended to be seen by the artist. Prior to the use of modern high color temperature sources like fluorescent lamps, this would have been either natural light (preferably northern light which has a very high color temperature), or sources such as a candle, gas light or an incandescent lamp which have very low color temperatures. Based on the fact that many artists preferred to work in daylight, it has been assumed that daylight is the best illumination source for viewing art. Many museums have spent enormous sums of money on systems that incorporate high color temperature natural light, especially for galleries where oil paintings are exhibited. Is this assumption about using high color temperature natural light valid? According to research published over half a century ago, the answer is an unequivocal "no". "

 

[HKJ]

Still not convinced. The regular EZAA chart seems a better match to the daylight chart than the "warm" one with its exaggerated yellows and reds.

I'm sorry, but I still can't see what all the fuss is about. The so-called "warm" tints look just horrible in these beamshots - all yellow and brown. Do they really look as awful in real life, or have the photographs over-emphasised the colour differences ?

You can try looking at some beamshoots I did outside here, it is not with the EZ, but some bigger lights. It is very easy to see what lights has a warm emitter.

 

[fixitman]

The neutral/warm tints are NOT going to win white wall hunting contests, that's for sure. But in my personal testing, look MUCH better than cool tints when outdoors, especially if there is a lot of reds and browns.
My best example is spotting a rabbit with an eagletac P10A2. I had both the cool and the neutral with me. With the cool tint, rabbit looked gray, and was a bit hard to see against the green and beige of the grass he was sitting in. With the neutral tint, he was definitely brown, and easily seen against the grass.

I just received my EZAAw the other day. The tint is a little bit pinker than the P10A2w's tint, but is acceptable. I just wish this light was a little shorter, maybe a bit floodier, and came with a pocket clip. Other than that, I think it will replace my old LODce as my EDC.

 

[BigBluefish]

I think know I'm going to have get one of these little lights. I've been muddling over this, the LD01 and the Connexion X2...all small two or three level lights to be dropped in a pocket. But with the cool white emitters...ah, any of them were just another LED light....

The warm tint is what is now selling me on the EZAAW (oh, yeah, and fixing the circuitry!) I spent a good deal of time the last week out in the woods with my new SureFire E1E (I know, an incan, ...) and outdoors, I really prefer it's tint to any of my LEDs. Pity it only has 90 minutes of runtime. :shakehead

So now, I think I'm going to stick to getting warm-tinted LEDs exclusively (um except for the SureFires....now if they'd put some good warm tint emitters in the E1L or E2L & LX1, these outdoorsman's lights would really be great for use, well, outdoors!)

 

[DM51]

That's a very striking contrast between the warm and regular tint. It looks quite tobacco-colored, as you have noted, and that may be too much for some people, but it is far less yellow than the Streamlight incan, and is a fair compromise between the two.

What is also interesting is the effect on the color chart. The reds and oranges are rendered much better.

 

[clg0159]

Thanks for the comparison! I also like the option of the warmer tint in the EZ AA. It does indeed appear to render the closest to the daylight control.

 

[dealgrabber2002]

I remembered someone told me that incan is much better in foggy situation. Is it because of it's tint? If so, would a warm led be as good in foggy situations? Thanks.

-E

 

[UnknownVT]

I remembered someone told me that incan is much better in foggy situation. Is it because of it's tint? If so, would a warm led be as good in foggy situations?

For years car fog lights were amber yellow - both to see and to be seen by.

Some believe it was a myth - but they were used for too many years by too many people to be totally unfounded. In France for example selective yellow fog lamps were mandatory until 1933.....

Selective Yellow at Wikipedia

Amber yellow is supposed to increase contrast at low light levels -
another example is shooting glasses in yellow.
I personally have EDC'd a Yellow Photon 2 light on my keyring for over 10 years.....
and my favorite sunglasses are Senegeti Drivers which have that tobacco tint and seems to enhance definition and contrast for me.
So although this warm tint does look "brown" to me - colors seem to stand out (pop) more......

 

[Axion]

For those that are wondering, I think the beam shots exagerate how warm the tint really is by quite a bit. To my eyes there is a warm tint, a bit more so than my warm Malkoffs, but nothing like those pictures show.

In use the warm tint is very natural to me, whereas cool tint LEDs make everything look so flat and lifeless.

 

[Bonky]

I believe that the red wavelength, being longer, tends to penetrate and "wrap around" objects better, just as HF radio signals will wrap around the earth and propagate far whereas VHF and UHF freqs are strictly line-of-sight.

 

[UnknownVT]

most people believe the main benefits of warmer tint are outdoors on foliage etc. (similar to the LED vs. incand debate)

So I took some pictures of leaves illuminated by the EZaaW and the regular EZaa cool white tint (exposures were identical).

even though the eye response is not the same as a camera -
in this case the photos seem to reflect quite well what I saw with my eyes.

The regular cool white tint seemed to look kind of grey-blue, whereas the warm tint - not surprisingly was warmer - more sunlight like.

Note: although there appears to be higher contrast between the top and underside of the leaves in the cool white tint, overall I think the warm tint seems to have it, especially away from the hotspot center.