This topic has been discussed before and will no doubt be discussed again. I suspect that most of us fine tune our ideas and demands for lights as we proceed on our own learning curves of self discovery of light tempered with our unique needs for illumination. I for one have been pleasantly surprised at the level of acceptance and concurrence of the McLux with the McFlood reflector as being a desirable illumination tool.
I propose that it might be helpful to consider flashlights from two different perspectives; A flashaholic will grab a flashlight with one of two general intents in mind.
1) The light is turned on to see the beam and evaluate its properties.
2) The light is turned on to see objects in the surrounds as aided by light returned from the flashlight beam.
I think for most of us, these two conditions require contradictory radiation and disbursement of the photons available. I think there are two polar extremes here working at some level of our awareness and criteria. At the extremes, when viewing the beam, we want to see a tight and intense laser like beam that is visible at high noon on a wall 50' away. When viewing the surrounds as a result of photons released, we want a uniform and wide dispersion of light to give us a view, un altered by artifacts or nulls or hot spots within the beam.
In other words, on one hand, we want to look at the light and on the other, we want to use the light; viewing its reflection off our surrounds.
IMHO, the ultimate light source we use every day is the sun. This is the standard by which we have learned to evaluate colors and our world. When the sun goes down, we want our own sources of light to allow us to see in conditions where ambient light does not allow us to see clearly. Since our eyes have adapted as best they can to the ambient low levels of light and we don't have a sun in our pocket to bring on daylight, it behooves us to use our limited photons wisely. Compromises must be made and the better our choice of tool for the task at hand, the more satisfactory the results will be. Knowing the tools and proper evaluation of the task requirements will yield an optimal illumination.
Hey, I haven't rambled on CPF for some time but this is a topic near and dear. I'll stop the ramble and finish with some one line points and observations/ opinions:
* the sun has a 360 degree beam angle; hardly a spot light.
* price and technology aside, the ultimate flashlight, IMO, would have a variable luminous output as well as an adjustable beam from 180 degrees down to 2 degrees. Its color temp would be close to sunlight.
* to impress your friends, would you whip out a powerful high pressure washer or show them a fine misting head nozzle used for watering delicate foliage?
* A consistant color and even distribution of photons within the area to be illuminated will typically provide the best image on return.
* I recently replaced the Nichia 500's on an A2 with 312's. The flashlight now has a good even flood of consistant color and intensity in "low" and of course a great reflected narrower beam for throw in "high".
* Know your lights and understand your needs. Play with your toys and use your tools with skill.
* I propose that if you can see the task at hand or object in question with out strain and close your eyes without seeing white spots, you have been effective in illumination.
* Proper illumination provides clarification and provides an accurate return image.
* In the analogy of music and sound systems to quality light, it has been my experience that in both cases that the better the sound or light, the more the "volume" can be either increased or decreased and yet still be acceptable. Also, I suspect the choice of music and volume level might be different in the case of showing the sound system to someone as opposed to using the sound system for personal enjoyment or background fill.
I just spent almost a month on Maui where quality dark was available every night and the moon in its phases had dramatic effect on ambient. The value of a single LED can really be appreciated here and with large, open dark spaces it was easy to see the limits of penetration in comparing various flashlights and luminous output.
OK, I'll go back under a rock now............ /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif
- Don