Anyone else notice this about your incans.. (LED related)

Ever since I got this SL Propoly Lux I've been mostly using it for illumination. Tonight, as I was packing to go out of town tomorrow, I packed the SL and was shining it. Then I picked up my SF G2 from beside my bed and the incan light seems so sickly looking now that I've been seeing mostly just the whiter/blusih Lux LED light for a couple of weeks. Anyone else feel like that about a good quality incan such as SF after using LEDs for a while?

brad cook

Yeah, that's why I don't own a single incandecent anymore.
The LED light is just "too nice".

oops, double post

I have only one Incan for use these days, a SF TL-3. I keep it in my truck in case I need a "thrower". It's beam is definately not sickly, yellowish certainly, and the yellow tint may be percieved by some as being inferior to a good "white" LED. I will use it sparingly since it eats three CR123s per hour of runtime. For everything else, LEDs rule, in my opinion.

just try to use that LED in the rain and fog outdoors, you'll crawl right back to the sickly yellkow incandescent light.

270winchester said:

just try to use that LED in the rain and fog outdoors, you'll crawl right back to the sickly yellkow incandescent light.

Click to expand...

Oh no, I understand all that and I'm not about to get rid of all my incans. I'm actually considering buying an E2E right now. Just noticing the difference. Just too bad that the incans can't be as white as the LEDs.

brad cook

Am I the only person that does not have a problem with fog/etc and white leds? Maybe mine aren't blue enough? The trade off of seeing the beam through the fog, and actually seeing/reconizing the light refected is enough for me to use LED... I just can't make out stuff in dim yellow light as well.

Also, I'm the opposite of people who are bothred by HID car lights. Those don't bother me one bit, but yellow incandecent lights annoy the heck out of me. Also noticed that the yellower sodium vapor street lights tend to have a larger halo/haze around them than the whiter ones when wearing contacts (soft contacts do this as they aren't as crystal smooth as glasses)

Shouldn't red shifted light penetrate haze better? Just thinking about my B+W photography days when we used a red filter to see through the haze. Infrared works even better.

My incans do look more yellow now after using LEDs. That's the old brain photo lab in action.

As for throw, it's all in the reflector. A good Luxeon I in a good reflector like the Dorcy 3D has enormous throw.

Foglights on cars are amber. Guess you'd want a yellow/orange LED light if you faced a lot of rain/foggy conditions.

Learjet said:

My incans do looks more yellow now after using LEDs. That's the old brain photo lab in action.

Click to expand...

Exactly.

After this thread I went back to maybe check and see if the SF needed new batteries. I shined it again (after not having just seen the LED beam) and it looked fine. It only looks too yellowish I guess after using the LED a lot.

brad cook

Yes, I notice that too.

What I also notice is the nasty 'swirl' patten almost all the cheaper incans have. I have tons of flashlights stashed throughout the house due to the hurricanes we suffered through for two years down here in Florida, and many of them have a swirl patten that can't be worked out. I've gotten spoiled by the clean hotspot of the Luxeons.

LearJet: "That's the old brain photo lab in action."

Yep. yep. Works in reverse too.

Mess around with bright incans alot and nice leds look like they are blue.
Turn out the lights in a fluorescent tube lit office, play with nice LEDs, turn the lights back on and they look yellow.

Works with brightness also. Play with Hotwires enough and you'll think your PM6 is broken. Play with 50 watters and you'll think your Mag85 has a problem.

Chromatic adaptation is one example of brain photo lab. Check it out. It only takes a few seconds for your brain/eyes to do a demo for you.

I have both LEDs and Incandescents and it only takes a brief moment for my eyes to adapt to the color. But side-by-side comparison, then yes, the LEDs are whiter than the incandescents. When I run the incandescents without the LEDs, then the incandescent lights appear white to my eyes. Got no problems with HIDs here too!

Sleestak said:

Yes, I notice that too.

What I also notice is the nasty 'swirl' patten almost all the cheaper incans have. I have tons of flashlights stashed throughout the house due to the hurricanes we suffered through for two years down here in Florida, and many of them have a swirl patten that can't be worked out. I've gotten spoiled by the clean hotspot of the Luxeons.

Click to expand...

Surefires, enough said. They got the whole smooth beam thing down...

The arguement about being spoilt by LED's v incandescents is quite old now and most folks appear to feel that LED's give a better beam. However, for the foreseeable future I will continue to keep a mixture of LED's and incandescent lights, Why? Well incandescents don't yet have the range that incandescent lamps provide and they dont penetrate ambient light enough in some situations.

I personally much prefer the uniform beam and colour that the majority of white LED's put out. Once science overcomes the two issues I've outlined I'll glady dump incandescents!

Doug

IsaacHayes said:

Am I the only person that does not have a problem with fog/etc and white leds?

Click to expand...

Must be those big a$$ black eyes of yours "grey" :naughty: I bet you can see
scully and mulder in washington with those. :wave: Just kiddin' bro!

I do think most incan's are yellow but my MC and KPR112/3x123 mod are very white don't know why, just are. e2d ain't bad but it's more "yellow". but i have to agree with the cutting ability of a 60 ln and up incan.

By the way Merry christmas everyone! have a joyful day! VDG

Surefire P91 AND the G&P 9V lamps are among the "whitest" and more pleasant yellow rams of light I've seen :rock:
I use 'm for depth and contrast, spotting housenumbers from the car while I'm lost in the suburbs.... :hairpull:
Inside leds rule, from MiniMags with MJLEDs to Mag 2C's with Lux5's that light up the whole room!
I use LDF lenses to even out beams, works a treat! :santa:

270winchester said:

Surefires, enough said. They got the whole smooth beam thing down...

Click to expand...

Yea, they're very good. But when the hurricanes came through the first year, we suspected that they were gonna be bad and picked up a bunch of cheap incans, along with batteries and spare bulbs. Put them in different rooms in waterproof containers. Many trees around the house, and we were afraid to put too much into one area for fear of loss. Better maybe to have a bunch of cheapies you can use than one or two you can't.

For smoothness, I also have a couple of dive lights that work well in flood patterns.

I'll have to check on the Surefires, because right now I'm banking all of my purchases off of the hurricanes.

"...But Honey, we might need this if the hurricanes come through again..."

The SF A2 with its digital regulation has one of the whitest incandescent beams around. The color temp still doesn't come close to white Luxeons, but unless you are comparing the two side by side, your eyes will usually tell you the A2 beam is fairly white.