autofocus?

Is there a flashlight with autofocus? I. e., you set the focus to spread the beam like you want it, and the light automatically adjusts the focus to maintain the same spread at various distances.

So you want a flashlight with an integral laser range finder and motorized focusing mechanism?

Good luck with that...

Do you wanna play ...... nite Golf ??

Marduke said:

So you want a flashlight with an integral laser range finder and motorized focusing mechanism?

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Or a cheap CCD that guages the average size of the spot vs its viewing angle. Should be more consistent than a laser as it sees what the operator sees.

Such things don't exist and I can't think of a practical use, though it's an interesting idea.

However it's made, I'd find it useful. Don't you ever light things in varying distances? Light something close with the focus set for that, and you can see it; light something farther away, and you can't see it because the beam is spread too wide. An autofocus would adjust the beam and things would continue to be visible.

As to how to make it, it'd probably take no more than a sensor reading the light intensity and something changing the focus according to that.

If you want to go a step further, you could have the light adjust the output according to distance --- instead of blinding yourself or not having it reach far enough. I'm sure if there was a well-made light like that, you'd find it awesome --- and I wonder why nobody has thought of that yet. It's an idea that presents itself once you start using a flashlight.

I tend to believe I know better than my flashlight exactly what I want out of it. It doesn't have a clue what I'm looking at, what sort of beam I need for the task at hand, or what output I need/desire for the environment.

Do I want to just have a couple lumens to read a book or discretely light a menu in a dark restaurant or hike a dark trail, or do I want to flood the room with light or use the light to backlight something or flood the back yard or spot an errant raccoon in the back yard?

I could answer each question without a second thought and set/choose my light accordingly. If the light had to choose, it would literally turn into a quivering (flashing) mass and not know what I want.

This is why you need different lights for different tasks...

I believe that in time there will be at least a few prototype/one-off lights that feature an auto rangefinder; just as some of the digital features of our modern flashaholic lights would have seemed ridiculous only a few years ago, it's inevitable that of the more interesting but less "realistic" notions for flashlight features will eventually be tested. However I don't think the rangefinder would control focus/beam spread, but rather would simply adjust output. A sophisticated version of this would of course have infinitely variable brightness, but even a crude multi-mode auto-switching mechanism would be very helpful.

I picture a pre-existing flashlight with a large reflector and several modes, say a Fenix TK40, that has an infrared light and sensor package added, (perhaps eventually set into the reflector a la the Surefire Aviator); the sensor simply selects the appropriate mode based on how much of the IR emitter's light it receives. The light itself already has its own hardware and modes, so the addition of the rangefinder would be inexpensive and not all that obtrusive..

The gadget freak in me says "auto-focus in a flashlight... neat idea!!"

The practical side says "If I'm not willing to expend the effort to turn the head to adjust focus, then how far am I from being too lazy to breathe?"

I guess I'll just have to wait until auto-focus lights hit the market to see which side wins.

+1

Tony Hanna said:

The gadget freak in me says "auto-focus in a flashlight... neat idea!!"

The practical side says "If I'm not willing to expend the effort to turn the head to adjust focus, then how far am I from being too lazy to breathe?"

I guess I'll just have to wait until auto-focus lights hit the market to see which side wins.

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While I think it would be a technologically neat idea to put into a flashlight, my main concern would be the drain on the batteries, reducing runtime. Unless it had it's own power source, that is. That said, I'd still probably buy a light with autofocus. What gadget freak or flashaholic wouldn't at least be curious about it?

I have a vague recollection to be amazed by something like this at a SHOT Show a few years ago. It was probably in the early hours of the morning after much soju. Of course I was amazed by a great many things in those days.

Tony Hanna said:

The practical side says "If I'm not willing to expend the effort to turn the head to adjust focus, then how far am I from being too lazy to breathe?"

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Turning the head requires the use of both hands. That isn't practical at all, and you would look like a retard if you were messing with your light all the time.

If you have the light as a toy, ok, play with it all you want, that's what it is for. But when you have it as a tool you use for work, things are a little different.

leee said:

But when you have it as a tool you use for work, things are a little different.

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wow, you seem to speak from experience, don't you??
and what is the line of work that just needs a light you describe so bad????

leee said:

Turning the head requires the use of both hands. That isn't practical at all, and you would look like a retard if you were messing with your light all the time.

If you have the light as a toy, ok, play with it all you want, that's what it is for. But when you have it as a tool you use for work, things are a little different.

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A light that is constantly changing focus and/or output sounds just as much of a "toy" (and as unreliable) as the "Verbot" from the 80's.

BTW, if the light is a "tool", then you should be picking the appropriate tool for the job to start with.

I personally think you would look like a "retard" as you put it if while on the job your light continually looks like it's having a seizure instead of simply functioning as one would expect.

Does it matter what kind of work it is? The point remains that it would be useful if the light would adjust itself automatically to varying distances.

When you suggest that I might have picked the wrong light, then which one does adjust itself automatically?

And why would it look as if the light had a seizure if it was adjusting itself? Does it look as if it has a seizure when you turn the head to adjust it yourself? Well, in way it does because you need both hands to do that ...

How about just a motorized zoom with a rocker like the zoom on cameras? I think that could be rather easily constructed and powered by the flashlights battery.

leee said:

Does it matter what kind of work it is? The point remains that it would be useful if the light would adjust itself automatically to varying distances.

Well, yes. Besides, how would it be able to compensate for a full flood up close, and a full flood far way? As we all know, flood doesn't throw...

When you suggest that I might have picked the wrong light, then which one does adjust itself automatically?

He's saying you picked the wrong light for that particular task. Using a Zebralight to illuminate things on the other side of a warehouse, for instance.

And why would it look as if the light had a seizure if it was adjusting itself? Does it look as if it has a seizure when you turn the head to adjust it yourself? Well, in way it does because you need both hands to do that ...

Yes, quite possibly it would, especially if you were constantly changing the object you were looking at, and the distance to those various objects. And do, my one adjustable light doesn't appear to have a seizure when I twst it to focus, it just zooms in and out to what I want. Because I know better than any flashlight.

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Also, please don't throw around words like "retarded.
Those could be easily misconstrued in meaning.

Personally, I think a neat focusing device would be where, gasp, the operator would press a slide switch, to tell the light to focus, to the way he/she likes it, not the way a computer thinks it's wanted.

John_Galt said:

Personally, I think a neat focusing device would be where, gasp, the operator would press a slide switch, to tell the light to focus, to the way he/she likes it, not the way a computer thinks it's wanted.

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Yeah, best would be to have both options. It might be easier to build though by having the light source move back and forth within the reflector instead of rotating the reflector.

Then make a light source that doesn't need to be moved but instead can seemlessly produce light where it's wanted on its surface, i. e. further to the front end or the rear end of the light source. If you had that, you wouldn't need any moveable parts.

Something that measures the distance should be really easy to build-in with the technology that is available today. A camera with autofocus is way more complicated than just measuring the distance to the motive, but modern lenses tell the camera the distance to the motive, allowing it to figure out things like how powerful the flash needs to be. Distance only is simple --- and once you got that down, the light could check how much light is being reflected from the surface it's lighting up and adjust the output to provide an illumination that appears smooth to the human eye.

Always having the right illumination for the given situation is more important to me than having the brightest light possible. A well-made light could provide that to a much greater extend than the lights available now. Forget all the others you have, you'd need only one

leee said:

Always having the right illumination for the given situation is more important to me than having the brightest light possible. A well-made light could provide that to a much greater extend than the lights available now. Forget all the others you have, you'd need only one

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But again, the light will NEVER be able to tell what that is, ONLY the user has that ability.

No sensor can determine what pattern YOU need or what level of brightness YOU need for any given situation.