Torchlight for Nocturne Photography

Hello everyone! I'm new here and this is my very first post thread. Hope u guys can gimme some advise on torchlights.

I'm a night photographer and I know nuts abt the kind of lights you guys are playing. Recently I'm serious into nocturne photography i.e. light-painting in the night in dark places, using color gels. I was looking for a strong thrower spot beam torchlight. In the end I got a Johnlite "Search Guard" - a Rechargeable Super Bright (1,000,000 Candle Power) Quartz Halogen Lantern from Home Fix for S$39.50. It gives warm yellow spot light with a ring of halo light around the spot light which I think might affect the way I light-paint my scene in the dark. A fully charged in-built battery can last for abt 2.5 hours which I find not enuff. I read in some of my fav nocturne photographers' website and they are using Maglites. Well taking into accounts that they made nocturne pictures under moonlit nights.

I'm looking for a good torchlight that's durable and can throw light beyond 20 meters. My budget range from $100-150 preferably not with an in-built rechargeable battery. Any good recommendation from the serious hobbyists here? Where can I get the lights u recommended? Appreciate for yr time and effort.

Cheers!

First: I recommend an LED light for your needs. LEDs can be focused into more effective beam patterns than incandescent. Head over to www.flashlightreviews.com and after familiarizing yourself with flashlights in general check out the LED section, look for lights such as the:

+Surefire L2, L4, L5, and U2. (The L2/L5 were recommended as tops by the urban explorers I talked to.)

+The Pentagonlight L3.

+Some of the 5mm LED cluster lights; more LEDs is better.

Second: I recommend a light of at least 100 lumens. Expect runtime to be around 1-2 hours but carry spare batteries and don't worry about it.

I know very little about "light painting" other than what I have gleaned from urban explorers; BUT:

The best pictures I have seen have used a 5 watt Luxeon LED Light. A 5 Watt Luxeon light usually throws a "wall of light" that has no really bright hotspot and makes for a smooth beam that illumintates uniformly. Incadescents are harder to focus into a "floody" type beam with no hotspot and are generally no as effective for night light painting.

Now, none of the lights I have mentioned have built-in rechargeable batteries. All take CR123 batteries which cost about 1.50-2.50$ per battery online. Generally the lights you want are going to take 3 batteries and run for about 1-2 hours. Spares are easy to carry in different type carriers, one of which runs for 5.95 and can carry 8 batteries in the size of a paper back book..



+Wolf-Eyes M90X Incandescent 9 Volt Xenon Light (About 150 lumens): Note the obvious hotspot/dimmer corona than 5 watt light.



+Pentagonlight L3 5 Watt LED light (about 135 lumens): Notice the lack of hotspot and the smooth beam. This is what a "wall of light" looks like.




Sorry for the rushed post, I can comment more if you'd like tonight but I recommend finding a light for 100$, putting 30$ towards batteries and then 20$ towards battery carriers.

I'm with SpoonRobot, I prefer a Luxeon V for light painting - in my case, a Surefire L4. I LOVE it, it's plenty bright for urban exploration-type photography. BUT, it only gets about an hour or runtime, and if you're already using a million-candlepower spotlight then something like the Surefire would be a step backwards in brightness.

Oh, if you don't like the beam of your current light, a layer of Glad 'Press & Seal' on the lens will smooth the beam out nicely.

How big of spaces are you looking to illuminate? Are we talking about caves, forests, buildings...?

Have you ever tried using slave flashes? I've found them to be a little tricky at first, and it takes a bit of trial and error, but you can get some cool effects, especially when combined with light painting.

Most of the light photography I'm aware of, including the shots I've taken myself, is done with long exposures rather using very bright lights. If you're doing exposures measured in seconds, minutes, or hours, you don't need a lot of light to illuminate a scene. If your camera can't take exposures that long, forget about a light for now and put the money towards a better camera.

If you've already got a good camera, then any mid-range light will be good enough. A spotlight is overkill unless you're shooting large enclosed areas (e.g. caves) total darkness.

A well regulated light is desirable for light painting as it means you don't have to change your painting speed as the light's batteries discharge. I'd suggest a UK 4AA eLED or Streamlight Propolymer 4AA Luxeon. They both take AAs and run very well on rechargables. Total cost of ownership will be much lower than a CR123A powered light.

If you are into shooting caverns in total darkness, then you need a bigger budget and a HID light like an AE PL14 or a UK Lightcannon.