What color tint is your El Capitan ?

[marinemaster]

I just received last week a El Capitan. Is a nice light but the tint is towards yellow. I was told they are pure white but this is far form it. This is I think a 2011 production run. What color tint you guys have/received, pure white or yellowish ?

 

[parnass]

I purchased a narrow SS El Capitan from a previous owner. It has a tint which is more on the warm side than the cool side, though not extremely yellow.

 

[Curt R]

Tint is as someone said, "in the eye of the beholder". Different people will see
different tint colors with the same light when compared to a different light
that they see as 'white'. And if you are careful and observe, most will see a
difference in tint between your left eye, and the right one. The eye changes
over time in that it loses light and color sensitivity. The standard is that you
need to double the light on an object every 13 years to see the same detail.

We see color with three receptors; blue-green, green and red-green. We are
most receptive to green light and the tints of green. This if heredity in action.
New leaves are easier to chew than old dark green leaves. Those color receptors
will change sensitivity and numbers independently, and that will change your
perception of color.

White light served no practical purpose millions of years ago. So if someone
states that a particular light is 'Pure White', that is his opinion because that
is what he sees. Someone else will say that it has a green, yellow, blue or pink
tint to it. All white light has some color tint variable to it.

When we buy a reel of 1000 LEDs we spend the extra to get the premium bins,
and that may be any one of eight different tint bins. We get no choice.

In the end, we make lights to be used as tools, and not to hunt white walls.
Some may think that we are a custom builder of lights. That is not true. We
are a manufacturer of lights, some of which we will modify to an extent for our
customers. Yes we are in the custom area of the forum, that is because there
was no other location seven years ago when we started making lights.

There is now a manufactures site, and that is kind of funny, because some of
them have no ability to manufacture anything, just import from China.

Curt

 

[Beacon of Light]

Curt, out of those 1000 LED reels you buy, are the tints fairly consistent that they send you or is it a big tint lottery?

I remember when I first joined CPF here years ago when CREE LEDs were the next big thing but the tint lottery on those were horrible and ringy. Things have gotten much better since then. I remember buying one of the first available XP-Gs back in September of 2009 with 4Seven's Limited Edition Titanium Quark XP-G. It was a pretty disappointing green, but subsequent XP-Gs I've bought from them is now more noticeably white and have followed this consistent path.

Reason I am asking Curt, is I bought some Eigers last year when the XP-Gs were sort of a new offering from PEAK even though they were around for a year or so before that, and they were fairly white, but not as pure white as some XP-Gs I have, but the newest Eiger QTC reminds me of the first Quark Ti AA XP-G with the noticeable mint green casting. That said it is a pretty big contrast from the Logan QTC which is what I would call pure white.

Basically is what I am asking is, can a buyer request a whiter tint than pure green? I like the older Matterhorns that have the Snow LEDs as they were a perfect example of a pure white in my opinion.

 

[RCantor]

Tint is as someone said, "in the eye of the beholder". <SNIP>

In the end, we make lights to be used as tools, and not to hunt white walls.
<snip>
Curt

The implication that tint makes no real world difference does not agree with my experience. I use my lights in the forest at night. My life depends on them. XML tint bins of 4500K - 4750K and up are bluish compared to 4250K and down and by 4750K give poor depth perception. When shining on plants cool lights just let you see the 'surface' (the outer perimeter of the plant vs what's beyond the outer leaves). Perhaps it's the increased humidity scattering the blue light, perhaps there's some other explanation. A LEO told a story about missing a perp hiding in a bush. I find myself slipping on moss when I thought it was on the ground but in reality it was a covering over sticks.

Warm lights are no better. A 3000K LED makes brown objects hard to distinguish. Both neutral and warm give good depth perception and alow me to see into green plants (between the leaves) so that sticks under the moss show up.

So neutral lights are critical for me. In XML that's a single light at 4000K to 4350K, or at most 4500K (I've not had the opportunity to use a 3750K XML). XPG seems to have a wider acceptable range. I have tried using 2 XMLs, a 4500K and a 4000K. When they are shined on the same landscape they combine to form a very useable light.

That's why I'd love to see a triple XML with 1 4500K and 2 4000K (Or 1 each 4500K, 4250K and 4000K) with a QTC dimmer. Varying the brightness based on the environment is another important trait. I'd love to buy a Peak light like that. I bet if someone showed one of the prominent opinion leaders in the LEO world the difference between what you can see with a neutral light that you can't see with a brighter cool light they'd be hooked.

 

[beerwax]

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[beerwax]

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