Finally, a warm tinted LED light, tint color does matter.

At last, the idea that light is not simply about being the brightest, but also about having useful color temperature. For me it started with the Dereelight 5A Q2 drop-in and this has been firmly planted in one of my lights......and now, Fenix has come up with a light with the same idea, a warm tint.

http://www.fenixlight.com/viewnproduct.asp?id=29

This confirms what Incan fans on here been saying for ages, tint does matter, especially outdoors.

So, which company is going to take the plunge and be the next to make a light or a drop-in that is not the brightest but has a better more useful tint?

I've replacing the LEDs in every light I regularly use with Q2 5A emitters. In the case of my earliest Cree lights, which are all P4s, that actualy means an improvement both in output and, especailly, in color rendition.

For as long as I've been "into" lights I've wanted a decent portable light source with a CCT of around 4000k. Before it was always a choice of incan at about 3000k, which offered no optino for dimming without color temp dropping even further, or LED at 6000k+, but nothing in between.

Some beamshot comparisons of the Dereelight Q2 5A:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/2530570&postcount=43
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/2531107&postcount=1
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/2538831&postcount=48

The_LED_Museum has beamshots and spectrographic analysis of a stock Ultrafire 502B
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/2604659&postcount=156
and with the DX Q2 5A drop in
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/2602870&postcount=154

Fenix is the 3rd company to go with the neutral warm white LED.

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2xTrinity where do you get the Q2 5A bin LEDs?
Cutter does not carry them. The closest I saw there is Q3 3A.

2xTrinity said:

I've replacing the LEDs in every light I regularly use with Q2 5A emitters. In the case of my earliest Cree lights, which are all P4s, that actualy means an improvement both in output and, especailly, in color rendition.

For as long as I've been "into" lights I've wanted a decent portable light source with a CCT of around 4000k. Before it was always a choice of incan at about 3000k, which offered no optino for dimming without color temp dropping even further, or LED at 6000k+, but nothing in between.

Click to expand...

Yes, I will be replacing all of my older "white" LED lamps for these warmer ones, regardless of the output....but I will wait to see who else is going to go in this direction next.

So far I think that for me the Dereelight drop-in is perfect for a single Li-Ion cell light, especially when using the AW C cell at 3300mAh.

Input Range: 2.8~4.2V
Output Range: 1.0A
Battery Type: 1x18650, 1x17670, or 1x C
Features:
constant output at it's fully input range
three stage output,100%-50%-5%

same here...
i've replaced the Q5 in my EX-10 with a Q2 5C - and i definitive love the tint .
Especially outdoors the better choice i think

I looked at the pictures on the Fenix website, and the cool white in every case looks better to me. If that apple is sitting on a sheet, the neutral white turns the white sheet yellow, and the red apple red-orange. Maybe its my monitor and in real life the neutral white LED does better.

BabyDoc said:

I looked at the pictures on the Fenix website, and the cool white in every case looks better to me. If that apple is sitting on a sheet, the neutral white turns the white sheet yellow, and the red apple red-orange. Maybe its my monitor and in real life the neutral white LED does better.

Click to expand...

Yes its hard to show exactly what is going on but once you try in real life, then its much clearer what is meant by warm tint. When I know that I will need a light then I choose either one of my incans or I pick up my 5A Q2 light for outdoors. Indoors or as a back-up I carry whatever is small and fits in my pocket.

On another thread, someone pointed out that they could not grill meat outdoors with an LED flashlight, because you cannot see when it's done.

These new ones might give good enough red rendition to correct that. Anybody grilling out this weekend?

I never used to think tint mattered until I got a 2008 Inova T1. The warm white tint on that light is amazing. Since then, I requested a hand-picked warm tint for my LF5XT (thanks Khoo!) and I've got a P2D R100 on the way. I am completely sold on warmer tinted lights.

I much prefer the look of cool-white indoors and outdoors, to my incandescents.

That is one of the things that attracted me to leds in the first place.

easilyled said:

I much prefer the look of cool-white indoors and outdoors, to my incandescents.

That is one of the things that attracted me to leds in the first place.

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+1

I have a very warm L1D Q5 head, and I don't like it as much as the cooler Q5 lights I have.

Warm tint does have a place / use outdoors, but I think for general use the cool white LED output is fine.

Yeah I have alot of faith in fenix but the cool white pictures look better to me in all those pictures. This makes me think it might be cool if someone were able to make a light that could change tint. Im sure the tk20 will be a great light though.

The TK20's have finally arrived and the color truly is very warm - color definition is greatly enhanced and far more natural than with cool white LED's.

I'm trying not to use my 5A drop-in from DX too much. If I do, I know I'll have to change out all my other lights' emitters because the colour is so much better. Not sure I want to do that, though!!!!

MattK said:

The TK20's have finally arrived and the color truly is very warm - color definition is greatly enhanced and far more natural than with cool white LED's.

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The real test is how well they show reds. Most LED's, regardless of the tint, render reds as slighltly purple and they tend to mask pinks altogether.
Greens take on a bluish cast, too with most LEDs.

IMO, it isn't the tint of the LED that matters as much as the tint the LED gives to the world it illuminates. Often the two don't go hand in hand. The reason for that is that the so called white tint of the LED (whether it is warm or cold white) is a spectral mix of different colors. Among the many colors making up that white, there is a usually a relative excess of blue and a relative deficiency of reds. You don't see the problem when illuminating a wall. You do when you are illuminating red or green objects.

There are exceptions. The high CRI Nichia 083, found in the McGizmo Sundrop, has a tint no different than another warm LED, yet it gives a CRI of 93. It does a great job on all shades of reds and pinks, as well as with all other colors. It has a more balanced sprectal output of all of the color frequencies than a typical LED. It's only problem is that it doesn't have a high output, something not missing with the TK-20.

Hey Doc, so you have a sundrop right?

What is the tint on that one? I'm looking into swapping some emitters on some of my lights, just curious about tint vs CRI etc.

I'm looking into some warm white seouls with 93 CRI. Those are similar to the sundrop, less flux, better CRI.

I'm curious about warm white crees (probably 5A ish), not sure if that's what the TK20 has. I wonder if these render colours properly too? I think the CRI is about 75-80, but tint is very warm.

I was trying to help a friend BBQ meat at night, but my L0D cree just didn't cut it, colour-wise, so he went back to using his crappy incan.

I now can see a lot more value in colour rendition (felt a bit sheepish that my high tech light was not as good as his cheapo incan).

MattK said:

The TK20's have finally arrived and the color truly is very warm - color definition is greatly enhanced and far more natural than with cool white LED's.

Click to expand...

How do the tint and output compare to the INOVA T1 & T2? If the output and tint are comparable to the INOVAs this light has a lot of potential.

Reds look red, pinks look pink.

Far warmer than the Inova T1-T5 MP models and far warmer that Cree WD bin emitters - it makes even the warmest K2 TFFC's and Cree WD's look blue. The color, as seen on a white wall, looks almost like an incan.

gunga said:

Hey Doc, so you have a sundrop right?

What is the tint on that one? I'm looking into swapping some emitters on some of my lights, just curious about tint vs CRI etc.

I'm looking into some warm white seouls with 93 CRI. Those are similar to the sundrop, less flux, better CRI.

I'm curious about warm white crees (probably 5A ish), not sure if that's what the TK20 has. I wonder if these render colours properly too? I think the CRI is about 75-80, but tint is very warm.

I was trying to help a friend BBQ meat at night, but my L0D cree just didn't cut it, colour-wise, so he went back to using his crappy incan.

I now can see a lot more value in colour rendition (felt a bit sheepish that my high tech light was not as good as his cheapo incan).

Click to expand...

Yes, I do have a Sundrop. The Nochia 083 HI CRI has a very warm tint. As I said before, it isn't a power house. It only puts out 30 lumens with a single CR123 cell. It is strictly a flood light; no hot spot since there is no reflector with the light. I did put an acrylic lens on mine, however, to redirect the beam for medical use to examine the oral pharynx. It is just great for that.

MattK said:

Reds look red, pinks look pink.

Far warmer than the Inova T1-T5 MP models and far warmer that Cree WD bin emitters - it makes even the warmest K2 TFFC's and Cree WD's look blue. The color, as seen on a white wall, looks almost like an incan.

Click to expand...

I prefer a white wall to look white when I shine a light on it. (rather than orange or red)

I don't think than an incan makes things look more natural at all. Just more red.

At night, I'm used to moonlight outside. The cool white leds look more like enhanced moonlight which looks more natural to me.