KartRacer31
Flashlight Enthusiast
*PF4 is a Flashaholic get together in Califon, NJ. It's open to anyone who would like to attend.
The greatly anticipated 4th Photon Fest (PF4) is about to happen! Mark your calendars for Saturday, June 25th! This gives everyone about 4 weeks to get ready! (Man am I building this up or what!)
Well those of you who were at any of the first 3 PF's know what to expect. For those of you who were not here is a run down:
Date: Saturday June 25th
Start Time: High Noon (12:00).
End Time: way after dark, or stay the night and leave the next day. (see details below).
PF4 will be at the usual place, Scott's (Milkyspit) house in Califon, NJ. Please PM Scott (Milkyspit) for exact directions.
We usually start with a casual meet and greet. Of course the lights come out right away for a show and tell, and those who can't wait for the dark head into Scotts basement where it's dark.
Everyone is asked to bring something if they can: a bag of chips & dip, pretzels, etc, bottle of soda, cookies, fruit, whatever, something to snack on.
An additional tradition has been for those who can/want to, to bring a small give away item. Popular items in the past have been: key chain lights, pen lights, etc. These little inexpensive give away items are always appreciated. Last year someone with more artistic ability than me made a cool drawing commemorating the event, and gave copies to everyone, someone else provided blank name tags for everyone to use. A few guys offered up flashlight mods that went bad, in hopes that a new owner could make use of them, I think you get the idea.
Additionally many of us will have items for sale/trade, so bring some extra $$.
At some point we usually get a few pizzas or sub sanwiches for dinner.
Of course there is the mysterious "Field of Darkness" across from Scott's house, which contains a black hole that just eats up light before you can reach the tree line quite a distance away. Although many have tried, only few lights have been able to illuminate the tree line. However last year Ginsing showed up with some hyper lights, and one of them was such a monster it almost set the tree line on fire! Seriously, it was quite impressive.
And not to be overlooked is the annual trek (about a 1/2 mile walk) to the infamous quarry. An actual abandoned rock quarry, which apparently is sometimes used as a police shooting range now. Anyway we head into the dark reaches of the quarry, which gives an interesting backdrop for testing our lights.
In the past some CPF members out on the West Coast who could not attend sent out some of their cool mods for us to check out. Hopefully that will happen again.
One of the coolest things was when PK himself sent us some pre release Surefires (L5, L6, and two versions of the Beast) for us to look over and give feed back on.
And of course everyone is encouraged to bring as many lights with them as they can. What one person may think is a common light, another person may be contemplating buying, and will be very happy to get a chance to have a personal hands-on review of.
New this year: Scott has suggested that anyone who wants to sleep over is welcome to. Sleeping arrangements are as follows: On the couches/floor in his living room; Bring your tent and camp out in his back yard; Or for the real adventure seekers, camp out in the quarry!
I'm sure this date will work out great for some and bad for others. I'm sorry to those who will not be able to make it because of the date. It would have been impossible to try and coordinate the perfect date for everyone. For those who can't make it, hang in there, for PF5!
Well that's all for now. Hope to see you all there. --Tim
The greatly anticipated 4th Photon Fest (PF4) is about to happen! Mark your calendars for Saturday, June 25th! This gives everyone about 4 weeks to get ready! (Man am I building this up or what!)
Well those of you who were at any of the first 3 PF's know what to expect. For those of you who were not here is a run down:
Date: Saturday June 25th
Start Time: High Noon (12:00).
End Time: way after dark, or stay the night and leave the next day. (see details below).
PF4 will be at the usual place, Scott's (Milkyspit) house in Califon, NJ. Please PM Scott (Milkyspit) for exact directions.
We usually start with a casual meet and greet. Of course the lights come out right away for a show and tell, and those who can't wait for the dark head into Scotts basement where it's dark.
Everyone is asked to bring something if they can: a bag of chips & dip, pretzels, etc, bottle of soda, cookies, fruit, whatever, something to snack on.
An additional tradition has been for those who can/want to, to bring a small give away item. Popular items in the past have been: key chain lights, pen lights, etc. These little inexpensive give away items are always appreciated. Last year someone with more artistic ability than me made a cool drawing commemorating the event, and gave copies to everyone, someone else provided blank name tags for everyone to use. A few guys offered up flashlight mods that went bad, in hopes that a new owner could make use of them, I think you get the idea.
Additionally many of us will have items for sale/trade, so bring some extra $$.
At some point we usually get a few pizzas or sub sanwiches for dinner.
Of course there is the mysterious "Field of Darkness" across from Scott's house, which contains a black hole that just eats up light before you can reach the tree line quite a distance away. Although many have tried, only few lights have been able to illuminate the tree line. However last year Ginsing showed up with some hyper lights, and one of them was such a monster it almost set the tree line on fire! Seriously, it was quite impressive.
And not to be overlooked is the annual trek (about a 1/2 mile walk) to the infamous quarry. An actual abandoned rock quarry, which apparently is sometimes used as a police shooting range now. Anyway we head into the dark reaches of the quarry, which gives an interesting backdrop for testing our lights.
In the past some CPF members out on the West Coast who could not attend sent out some of their cool mods for us to check out. Hopefully that will happen again.
One of the coolest things was when PK himself sent us some pre release Surefires (L5, L6, and two versions of the Beast) for us to look over and give feed back on.
And of course everyone is encouraged to bring as many lights with them as they can. What one person may think is a common light, another person may be contemplating buying, and will be very happy to get a chance to have a personal hands-on review of.
New this year: Scott has suggested that anyone who wants to sleep over is welcome to. Sleeping arrangements are as follows: On the couches/floor in his living room; Bring your tent and camp out in his back yard; Or for the real adventure seekers, camp out in the quarry!
I'm sure this date will work out great for some and bad for others. I'm sorry to those who will not be able to make it because of the date. It would have been impossible to try and coordinate the perfect date for everyone. For those who can't make it, hang in there, for PF5!
Well that's all for now. Hope to see you all there. --Tim
