Nothing wrong with the clip on the SC53c N.
No, nothing at all, and we would expect not, as it is brand new, except, of course, what I already mentioned that you have inexplicably contradicted without support when it is widely known: ZL's clips get loose over a short time with not much use, and they eat pockets. We may consider these as serious flaws. Its stiffness and proudness is short lived.
I certainly don't see any reason to spend half the cost of the light on a new clip,
Well, you know, either you're serious about flashlighting or you're not. Use the Zebralght clip every day, by the end of the year you'll not only need new pants, it will begin to escape you, and then you can replace the clip along with the entire light that got away from you. If you missed it, the cost of several pairs of pants and a new Zebralight makes the cost of a clip that does not eat pockets nor lose its ability to remain firmly clipped to them after decades of heavy use more than worth it as it pays for itself many many times over, especially on top of only paying for the materials, labor, and workmanship needed to create it, customize it for you, and ship it to you.
My recommendation was neither frivolous nor for any benefit to myself whatsoever. I made it out of compassion and from the perspective of years of experience. The anodized aluminum Zebralight clip not only will lose its ano and scratch easily, it also has sharp edges that can cut into skin with little effort, on top of succumbing to the stress of normal use, losing its stiffness and its ability to succeed in its purpose. The Zebralight stock clip is, in a word, crap, and it is unbecoming of such a high quality flashlight.
Two year old pants. ZL clips destroy pockets within two months of daily use.
Low profile, deep carry.
This clip is superior to Zebralight's stock clips, more durable, hand made with high quality workmanship out of better materials.
Pro clip, not for amateurs, but instead for any that recognize the value of not losing an expensive flashlight and untold pockets to a poor quality clip fashioned from the cheapest materials, such as the stock Zebralight clip.
the color balance set to 5000k
First of all, "k" means "one thousand," while "K" stands for kelvins. 5000k = 5,000,000, the number with no unit, and sometimes 5,000 kilometers, while 5000K = 5k kelvins. Also, not for nothing, one can not set "color balance" to a color temperature. Color balance is the adjustment of the intensities of colors, typically referring to the primary colors of red, green, and blue. Adjusting color balance changes the overall mixture of colors in an image and is used for color correction. White balance, otoh, which is what you mistakenly referred to as color balance, balances the
color temperature in your photograph by adding the opposite color to those in the image to bring the color temperature back to neutral. To properly set white balance one would not arbitrarily choose a color temperature out of thin air, as you did, but requires calibrating to an 18% grey card, being half way between white and black, in the available ambient lighting, which produces an accurate rendition rather than what could be considered false advertising.
While your images reveal a certain talent which is impressive, and are in and of themselves quite beautiful, they have no relation to reality and will confuse any that are not aware of these details, and disappoint them when they discover for themselves what the SC53c N beam shot actually looks like IRL.
And if you love the color temperature they appear to be in your images, as I do, why not go with an LED that actually produces that color temperature, somewhere between 2700K—3200K, instead of a much cooler 4000K?
I would give almost anything to have a stock Zebralight that produces such a warm temperature as your first image instead of such a pale lifeless neutral, which is the reality of the beam when white balance is properly calibrated.
