Need suggestions for two small, bright flashlights.

Like many others, I'm new to this forum and I need to be pointed in the right direction. I'm 67, an avid amateur photographer and I'd like a couple of flashlights so I can both see where I'm going and do some light-painting of objects at night while holding the camera's shutter open.

I think an LED is what I need. A "white" light is preferable, and I want something much brighter than the old 2 "D" cell flashlights with the old bulbs.

What I want:
Waterproof or fancy isn't important, but durability is.
1. A small, bright flashlight that uses one or two AA batteries
2. A larger flashlight (also bright) that uses 2 or 3 D cells and, hopefully, brighter than # 1 above.

I like in the US and would appreciate places to order the lights from.

Thanks, Kent

#1: Nitecore D10. Bright and variable, which could come in handy for light-painting. It's not fancy, but it is very well-built. Go for the Q5 version to make sure you get a nice pure white tint.

kentga said:

2. A larger flashlight (also bright) that uses 2 or 3 D cells and, hopefully, brighter than # 1 above.

Click to expand...

Why do you want flashlight 2 to use d cells?

brad

:welcome:

Coincidentally, I've shown a couple of lights to a professional photographer recently. He played with them and amongst all, he prefers Nitecore D10. He love the variable brightness control which he used it in a couple of his shots. Naturally, he ended up getting one.

Hey,
welcome to the fourm from another photo enthusiast. What sort of light painting are you planning? Making designs/images with the light or lighting objects/scenes?

If painting scenes, then you probably want a very floody light with smooth beam (lack of hot spot). If you want to draw with the light then you probably want a tighter beam.

Also, you need to make sure that the light is current regulated, not PWM, if you want to avoid a stroboscopic effect.
I believe the D10 (a very nice little light), is current regulated.

Zeruel said:

:welcome:

Coincidentally, I've shown a couple of lights to a professional photographer recently. He played with them and amongst all, he prefers Nitecore D10. He love the variable brightness control which he used it in a couple of his shots. Naturally, he ended up getting one.

Click to expand...

Misery loves company! ahahahahahaha
Alcoholics have bars and nightclubs, what do we have?
My brother-in-law hates it when I come over with a new light. hehe

There are some good deals in the CPMarketplace, Here's a couple of brand new D10's for $50 each including shipping.
http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=199569

plus many, many more.

If you decide to shop elsewhere check out these links for good deals and discounts for CPF members:
http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=181841

:welcome:

DoctaDink said:

Also, you need to make sure that the light is current regulated, not PWM, if you want to avoid a stroboscopic effect.

Click to expand...

A camera collects light for a certain amount of time. Strobing lights will look just the same as constant light unless a) the exposure time is shorter or about the same as the strobe frequency, b) you are sweeping a strobing light over the scene, or c) the object is moving

The question I have is do you want a "bigger" flashlight for the purpose of more light output, or for the purpose of longer runtime?
A modern LED, single AA light is brighter than an old 2D M@glight.

There are very few quality options for D Cell lights.

You can get the new M@glight LED now at common places like target and they're got similar brightness to a 2xAA light, they just run much longer.

If you need big brightness there are no stock D cell options that I'm aware of. You have to go to different battery types to get high brightness or else have one custom built into a M@glight host. Elektrolumens.com has 3C M@glight mods for sale.

If your intended use is photography go visit the photography lighting section here in CPF and ask some questions there. White LEDs don't emit full spectrum light, so general use LEDs may not give good light.

There is the new lumapower c cell light that might interest him. Or the duracell daylite D cell. I agree with everyone else though, you probably don't need to a d cell light. I think it would also really help if we had a budget. I feel like the OP might really like the fenix tk40, especially since it could use the same AA's as his little light, but it is not a cheap light.

If colour rendition is not an issue then the D10 R2 which retails at www.4sevens.com with free shipping and a discount code (CPF8) would suit you as it can ramp up and down to give you the amount of light you need.

Another option is the new Romisen RC N3 warm white from www.shiningbeam.com, i ordered one but havent received it yet. The Romisen RC N3 Q5 is also a pretty bright light, both of these run off 2xAAs but can be configured to run off 1xCR/RCR123s.

If you've been used to the lower outputs of stock lights, then i'd say get either a D10 and one of those Romisens (or better yet, a Fenix TK20) first, then decide on the larger form factor light once you've seen for yourself how these lights perform.

+1 on CPF Marketplace, there's someone there selling a few D10s with the clip too.

TK40 similar size to a 2D cell light but uses 8AA's

Do you think a good headlamp is an option while painting? If so I would suggest a Zebralight 501 that runs off one AA with great runtime and three output modes and its very easy to use.

Just hold down the button and it changes from one mode to the next. From the off position a quick click on the switch goes directly to high. Hold switch for different modes starting with low-med-high.

For light painting, some will be relatively close, and some will be at a distance (100-200 feet). I'm going out west (RMNP, Death Valley and Eastern Sierra's and Tucson area over the next 3 months. I have a large sealed beam light I can use for the distant shots. I want to do star trails and include some foreground in some of them. I've seem photos where people used car headlights for night shots.

Thanks for the reply.

jankj said:

A camera collects light for a certain amount of time. Strobing lights will look just the same as constant light unless a) the exposure time is shorter or about the same as the strobe frequency, b) you are sweeping a strobing light over the scene, or c) the object is moving

Click to expand...

Understood.
Thats why I was asking him which techniques he wanted them for. If he wanted to sweep them quckly to make light trails, then PWM might produce strobe effect. It would depend on the speed of the pulsing, and the speed at which he was moving the light. I'll try it with one of my PWM lights and if I get the effect, I'll try to post it.

kentga,

:welcome:

for the small flashlight, you may want to consider Nitecore's EZ line ... the link is for 1xAA format: Nitecore EZ AA

It's not the brightest flashlight out there. But what I love is the 1/4" thread on the bottom, where you could mount it to a tripod. I do some photography as a hobby, and I keep one in my camera bag and occasionally use it with a small gorillapod.