The Tint Snob Thread

[jon_slider]

The 3000k Olight is interesting Jon... Can you post a beamshot of that light illuminating something (by itself)?

Sure, but. you will quickly learn that a single beam, photographed with an iPhone using auto white balance, is essentially meaningless, it does not inform tint, nor CCT at all:

but, I enjoy posting pics, so, thanks for asking. I include a few others, to make the tint differences more obvious

here are the lights in the following shots

now a shot to compare the Maratac Nichia to the Worm Nichia
these lights, (illuminated by a Fenix E01):

and for good measure, these lights, (illuminated by daylight in my kitchen)
modded Olight i3s, stock Maratac w Nichia, stock Worm w Nichia, and stock Fenix E01

 

[G. I.]

All those 4000-4500K LEDs called "neutral white" aren't really. 5500-5600K (daylight) would be. In printing and photography that's the main colour temp of the proofing lights.

 

[jon_slider]

All those 4000-4500K LEDs called "neutral white" aren't really. 5500-5600K (daylight) would be. In printing and photography that's the main colour temp of the proofing lights.

Im guessing you are talking about a photo taken using Sunlight as the illuminant.

when talking about flashlight illumination, words like neutral can refer to either or both, tint And/Or Color Temperature

the 3000k light Ive been posting has a Yellow Tint, the 6000k? E01 has a Blue tint... the 4000k Maratac has a slight yellow tint, and Imo the 4500k Worm has a very close to Neutral Tint.. (neutral as in, on the BBL, not yellow green as in above the BBL, or magenta, as in below the BBL)

Im always interested in photos, show us something from your flashlight world.. certainly a photo taken under a light source of 5500k should be proofed at 5500k, but, you would not proof a photo taken under a 3000k light source with a 5500k white balance, would you?

 

[G. I.]

you would not proof a photo taken under a 3000k light source with a 5500k white balance, would you?

Yes I would, that's the point of colour proofing. But this is not the scope of this forum. My point was that I'd like to see *really* neutral daylight 5500-5600K LEDs – of course without bad tints in the halo and with high CRI – in flashlights, not just in studio equipment. Portable LED technology has a lot of room to improve yet.

 

[twistedraven]

Get yourself a Jaxman E2.

 

[iamlucky13]

All those 4000-4500K LEDs called "neutral white" aren't really. 5500-5600K (daylight) would be. In printing and photography that's the main colour temp of the proofing lights.

Neutral is contextual. If you viewed a 5600K light at night when most of the other reference sources are 2700K, it will look very blue.

But when you're in control of the entire lighting context, as you should be for proofing photos, 5600K is arguably best, because it puts the peak roughly in the middle of the spectrum and provides similar balance in the extreme. As much as I like warm lights, I am aware of the weakness in blue rendering.

If you're interested in high CRI, neutral, daylight tone, Zebralight has a couple you should look at. I'm thinking in particular of the SC600Fd III Plus, and it's headlamp equivalent. It's a floody beam only, and 5000K, but that's very close, but there are more variants expected to come out. My personal speculation is a more throwy high CRI flashlight based on the XP-L2 will be released in the next year.

I'm considering creating a custom work light based on a 5600K, 93+ CRI Yuji chip, but that's not a chip suited for a flashlight.

 

[staticx57]

You can get 5700k 90CRI nichia 219b emitters and build a light around them. They are nice, I have a single and triple with them

 

[jon_slider]

Get yourself a Jaxman E2.

x2
tint snob approved:
Jaxman E2 measurements (Nichia 219B, bargain high CRI 18650)

 

[the.Mtn.Man]

Photographs are pretty much useless for comparing tints because there are countless factors that make it pointless, from the kind of camera to the subject matter to the white balance to the exposure to how it looks on someone's monitor, and so on. You need to see it with your own eyes to make an accurate evaluation.

 

[kaichu dento]

Photographs are pretty much useless for comparing tints...

...unless you have something at least somewhat reliable to seem against, which is why greenery, and better yet, a human hand, are better than using backgrounds of unknown nature.

 

[jon_slider]

a human hand

totally agree
hand photos can be extremely informative, to me

if someone wanted to know what a 3000k XPL looks like compared to a 4-4500k N219b, this photo would be informative

and if I wanted to compare hi CRI and Low CRI LEDs, this photo would also be very useful to me:
Thanks to twistedraven for these

in the above photo I can clearly see that the highest CRI lights produce the most realistic hand colors

 

[Impossible lumens]

Get yourself a Jaxman E2.

Ordered one. Thanks. I got from gearbest and I hope they don't send me the Xm-l2 version. I've had them mix things around on me before.

 

[the.Mtn.Man]

...unless you have something at least somewhat reliable to seem against, which is why greenery, and better yet, a human hand, are better than using backgrounds of unknown nature.

Subject is just one variable among many.

 

[the.Mtn.Man]

totally agree
hand photos can be extremely informative, to me

if someone wanted to know what a 3000k XPL looks like compared to a 4-4500k N219b, this photo would be informative

Not really, because, at least on my monitor, it looks like the white balance is skewed in favor of the beam on the right which makes me suspect that the beam on the left is not accurately represented.

 

[kaichu dento]

Subject is just one variable among many.

Exactly, common knowledge, but we use all the input we can to make our choices.

 

[MAD777]

I posted the following in another thread, but it's appropriate here....

I learned that tint is more important than lumens. My theory is that the human eye "interprets", whereas a light meter "measures".

The better tints help the eye/brain interpret the scene, therefore we "see" more.

That's why, when you go to a Blue Man Group concert, you can't really focus on them. So, I go only to Red Man Group concerts......

 

[LeanBurn]

I agree. My little ~10 ish lumens Yuji penlight is a tint and CRI powerhouse. I prefer it to 100 lumens of neutral and exponentially more to a cool or purple tint light. My eyes seem to be more calm and able to pick out more discrete details more quickly and easily than any other light I own.

 

[jon_slider]

The better tints help the eye/brain interpret the scene, therefore we "see" more.

terminology
tint is not necessarily the same as color temperature (CCT)
we see more with higher CRI, not just different tints

look at the two nichias, one is much cooler than the other, yet both have better CRI than the rest of the LEDs

note that the 5700k XHP has a green tint AND low CRI, compare it to the 5700k Nichia and you will see that CCT has nothing to do with Tint, nor CRI, they are all separate variables

I agree. My little ~10 ish lumens Yuji penlight is a tint and CRI powerhouse.

glad you're happy. I cannot tell what tint, CRI or CCT your penlight is, and its not the lumens that make it a powerhouse

maybe include info on what LED is in your penlight, along with its specs, and a photo showing its tint compared to a Nichia, both shining on your hand, like this:

it seems to me, this thread is supposed to be about "Tint" but actually it is also about CRI and CCT

my Tint snobbery makes me avoid green and yellow tints, I also avoid low CRI, and I avoid Cool CCT (to me 5700k borders on Cool)

Im not trying to make my flashlight look like daylight, I don't need a flashlight in daylight. My personal application of flashlighting is to produce light that is more like sunset than noon, and in the case of the 3000k XPL, its about producing low brightness similar to a candle, in a CCT similar to a candle..

point being, for low light levels, I prefer lower CCT, and for high brightness, I prefer higher CCT.. but in all cases I prefer high CRI

choice of CCT and CRI all depends on the application of the light.. But I think we all agree that green tint is not desirable, at any CCT and at any CRI..

 

[iamlucky13]

But I think we all agree that green tint is not desirable, at any CCT and at any CRI..

Or do we?
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...ight-options&p=5016566&viewfull=1#post5016566

Just kidding. I couldn't resist digging that up.

 

[LeanBurn]

My penlight is 95+CRI, 3200K.