Some beam shots

Please find enclosed some beam shots from stuff that has wandered into my mailbox over the past year or so. These are mostly LEGO but some stock lights. I always appreciate other members taking beam shots so I am hoping somebody can benefit from these. A sincere thanks to all on the forum who have posted all kinds of useful information leading me to some understanding of this stuff.

I am making no claims whatsoever as to what any of this means, just trying to give my perspective for whatever it's worth. Basically what I've done here is shot 12 different lights in 2 different locations at exactly the same camera exposure. The primary thing I wanted to capture was the different beam shapes and capabilities of the different LEDs and reflector configurations. I'll post a few comments after the pics for those with pre 21st century attention spans.

The lineup

1) Fenix TA-21
2) Solarforce Stainless Steel P60 host with CustomLites SST-50 drop-in
3) Solarforce L2P P60 host with Dereelight XP-G R5 drop-in
4) FM P60 1x26650 host with CustomLites SST-90 drop-in
5) FM P60 1x26650 host with CustomLites SST-50 drop-in
6) FM D36 1x18650 host with CustomLites XP-G R5 drop-in
7) FM D36 1x26650 host with CustomLites SST-90 drop-in
8) FM D36 1x26650 host with CustomLites SST-50 drop-in

A few lights most would consider "pocketable" thrown in the mix for comparison.

9) Fenix PD30
10) Dereelight C2H XP-G R5
11) Download Pocket Rocket SST-50
12) Surefire E2DL

THE PARK

This location has a good amount of ambient light coming in on the left side, but in general it is still reasonably dark. On the right side is the mississipi river bank, so it gets darker as you move right.

Daylight


Daylight with some distances noted


Control shot showing the camera exposure used. Shows clearly the level of ambient light


Fenix TA-21


Solarforce Stainless Steel P60 host with CustomLites SST-50 drop-in


Solarforce L2P P60 host with Dereelight XP-G R5 drop-in


FM P60 1x26650 host with CustomLites SST-90 drop-in


FM P60 1x26650 host with CustomLites SST-50 drop-in


FM D36 1x18650 host with CustomLites XP-G R5 drop-in


FM D36 1x26650 host with CustomLites SST-90 drop-in


FM D36 1x26650 host with CustomLites SST-50 drop-in


Fenix PD30


Dereelight C2H XP-G R5


Download Pocket Rocket SST-50


Surefire E2DL





Comparison Slideshows (PARK)
I know these rolling images can cause nausea and vomiting at the wrong moment, but the flip side is they can be very interesting depending on the sequence. All composite images here are built from images above - just various sequencing to highlight different things. These are animated gifs, so if the images are not moving, you may need to reload the page you are viewing, or wait a minute for your browser to cache the full image.



Here is all shots from above rolled into one.




Here is a comparison of XP-G configurations




Here is a comparison of SST-50 configurations




Here is a comparison of SST-90 configurations




Here is a comparison of each led (XP-G/SST-50/SS90) first in a 26mm reflector, then in a 36mm reflector

THE TRAIL

This location was extremely dark. As shown in the control shot, complete darkness. This is interesting from a beam shot perspective because what it means is any shred of detail you see is due ONLY to the flashlight and not any other light source leaking in. This gives a great overall indication of what these lights can do.

Daylight


Daylight with Distances


Control shot showing the camera exposure used


Fenix TA-21 (sorry about the camera movement on this one)


Solarforce Stainless Steel P60 host with CustomLites SST-50 drop-in


Solarforce L2P P60 host with Dereelight XP-G R5 drop-in


FM P60 1x26650 host with CustomLites SST-90 drop-in


FM P60 1x26650 host with CustomLites SST-50 drop-in


FM D36 1x18650 host with CustomLites XP-G R5 drop-in


FM D36 1x26650 host with CustomLites SST-90 drop-in


FM D36 1x26650 host with CustomLites SST-50 drop-in


Fenix PD30


Dereelight C2H XP-G R5


Download Pocket Rocket SST-50


Surefire E2DL





Comparison Slideshows (TRAIL)
All composite images here are built from images above - just various sequencing to highlight different things. These are animated gifs, so if the images are not moving, you may need to reload the page you are viewing, or wait a minute for your browser to cache the full image.



Here is all trail shots from above rolled into one.




Here is a comparison of XP-G configurations




Here is a comparison of SST-50 configurations




Here is a comparison of SST-90 configurations




Here is a comparison of each led (XP-G/SST-50/SS90) first in a 26mm reflector, then in a 36mm reflector




General musings about the beamshots
After all this effort of taking and posting pics, some things are still difficult to really get the impact of in the pictures. The following comments are just my opinion of various aspects of the beamshots. I'll try to stick to beam comments rather than straying into hosts, ui's, power source preferences, etc...

Fenix TA-21
Interesting package in general. Footprint is too big for what it does, but for an XRE based light it has pretty good even useable spill. This is the second best thrower I have. It isn't Christmas tree bright at the end of it's range, but it is lighting up targets in both the above scenario's at ~ 425 ft.

Solarforce Stainless Steel P60 host with CustomLites SST-50 drop-in

Solarforce L2P P60 host with Dereelight XP-G R5 drop-in
The P60 XP-G R5 definitely has a cuts through the night feel rather than obliterating the night like some of the Luminus lights. However, I do remember the first time I took this out in the woods I was shocked at how bright it was. I wasn't expecting much from it I guess, and after all the discussions I've seen on CPF about how the XP-G can't throw, I think it has respectable throw if you're not trying to break any world records. For the cost of the XP-G drop-ins and such vs. the cost of the Luminus drop-ins, this is a great value package. Along with the L2P host, this is good bang for the buck setup that I would recommend to somebody who doesn't plan to own 20 flashlights and doesn't want to break the bank.

FM P60 1x26650 host with CustomLites SST-90 drop-in
Awesome nice smooth flood. This beam pattern is really similar to the download pocket rocket SST-50. The differences being footprints and you can leave this on high for as long as you want.

FM P60 1x26650 host with CustomLites SST-50 drop-in
Great even beam even with a smooth reflector. The P60 format throws further than you would expect. Great all purpose beam.

FM D36 1x18650 host with CustomLites XP-G R5 drop-in
This one is pretty interesting because I don't necessarily think the XP-G in D36 is preferred to the XP-G in P60. This may throw as far or further than the P60 equivalent, but it doesn't feel like it in real world use. I guess the jury is still out on this one for me.

FM D36 1x26650 host with CustomLites SST-90 drop-in
This was my outside go-to light most of the time. This may sound crazy but the D36 reflector gives the SST-90 some decent throw. To me this feels like a darn near perfect mix of flood and throw.

FM D36 1x26650 host with CustomLites SST-50 drop-in
I just got this drop-in last week but this one really took me by surprise. This out throws anything that I have (keep in mind I have not gone in search of huge throwers). This outthrows my TA-21 and even my Surefire E2DL which was a big surprise to me. I have had this out a few times and it just doesn't seem like this much light can come from a small single cell hand held flashlight. The pictures don't really do this justice but it will be my new outside go-to light. Absolutely killer.

These smaller format lights weren't really expected to compete with the previous set, but I was very curious how they would stack up. "George was a good little monkey, and always very curious".

Fenix PD30
Respectable throw and good beam for such a small format (2x123).

Dereelight C2H XP-G R5
White wall hunting this beam really disappointed - donut hole, violet blue color. Yuck. Take it outside and I can forgive all that, especially for the size of this. I love the feel of this host and would (do) grab this over the PD30 any day. Even though the PD30 can throw a laser beam further than this, this little package just has the feeling of a bigger light and I like the shape of the beam better.

Download Pocket Rocket SST-50
This thing is amazing for it's size. There aren't a lot of choices out there for a 1x18650 flashlight where the main goal is to stay small and cylinder shaped. It is floody for sure, but it is smooth and so bright (2.8 amps on high). Down side is that the host can't really handle dispensing the heat from the high setting for very long. So the "high" setting is like a burst mode meant to be used by the discerning user who appreciates this as a feature and is smart enough to turn in down when necessary. Personally I am really impressed with this light but the floody beam is not for everyone.

Surefire E2DL
This was my first real flashlight (remove long story why here). Very different beam on this. It is my only non-reflector light. It uses the Surefire TIR optic and has a beam that feels like a fat cylinder with hardly any spill at all. This can really throw a beam out there for it's small size. The beamshots kind of understate what this can do. I think of this as a surgical light instead of a nuke.

The End

Woowww

There is a big amount of work here. Very nice beamshots. :twothumbs
Thanks dude!
:goodjob:

PS: What White Balance did use to get the samples?

Dioni said:

PS: What White Balance did use to get the samples?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the comments.

I used to be into photography back in the good ole days. Now I just don't have the time for all that. I was just winging it here with my Canon Powershot point and shoot. It has manual options so I was just worrying about F stop and shutter speed basically. :thinking: "AWB" or auto is what was used for these. I have read some long posts here about getting photos to maintain a "true" beam tint and these just seemed like endless conversations and not sure there was a group consensus on what the best approach was.

I would be happy to take in tips on this and try to incorporate in any future runs I might do. :thumbsup:

In retrospect I would have liked to notch the exposure time up just a little bit, but not too much to lose some of the detail. Too much exposure and everything starts to look washed out.

There were so many administrative pieces to trying to pull this together I'm sure I missed some things. There is always room for improvement.

Thanks

OneBigDay said:

I have read some long posts here about getting photos to maintain a "true" beam tint and these just seemed like endless conversations and not sure there was a group consensus on what the best approach was.

I would be happy to take in tips on this and try to incorporate in any future runs I might do. :thumbsup:

Click to expand...

Indeed maintain the true tint is very difficult. It's harder when incans and Leds are together. Exactly for this reason I asked. I was interested in knowing what WB you used and if the colors were similar.

However, thanks. Great shots! I think I'll do some test using AWB :thumbsup:

These shots are awesome and reflect a HUGE amount of work - I know having done quite a few myself. Great background, interesting choice of lights, great details.

It is tough finding the correct balance of exposure time, f/stop, ISO, etc., but you did a great job.

Thanks for all the hard work! :twothumbs

Excellent shoots!

That location is very good to get an idea of how the light looks in real use.

About the tint it is about impossibel to show in a picture what it looks like since we adjust our own "whitebalance" in our eyes/brain and the camera whitebalance that give neutral white justice makes a (nice) cool white look horrible and vice versa.
These pics looks very good

I like the FM D36 1x26650 host with CustomLites SST-50 drop-in the best. It's the obvious winner in throw but it also retains a good amount of spill.

The E2DL, ehh, doesn't seem to be good for either throw or spill. Maybe these are just bad tests for it?:shrug: Good thing I didn't get one.

The XPG-R5s got a big dark ring in the spill. The Dereelight XPG R5 has a very vision-unfriendly beam.

Thanks for taking the time and putting in the massive effort to compile these shots and do the writeup.

Thanks for the comments guys.

I think the animated gifs where you have two things back to back that you want to compare really shows the differences in emitters/reflectors. Without something like this it's hard to see some of the more subtle differences.

The E2DL really is an impressive small light, but it just has a distinct "all throw" beam pattern. I may have done it a disservice putting it next to the download pocket rocket - they are alike in size but otherwise these two beam profiles are about as different as you can get.

I am very much a newcomer to this whole thing and still trying to understand why some things catch on and some things don't. I think the Luminus LEDs are well suited for a good general use flashlight beam. I thought for sure when the SST-50 came out there would be a mad dash for it. Instead I have seen a much slower interest than I would have thought and a lot of interest in XP-G based lights. Of course there are a lot of other factors such as efficiency, runtime, cost, etc... so now at least I understand there are some trade offs. Like everything else in life, usually you are trading one thing for another.

Very nicely done! Thank you.

great beamshots...! love those real world comparisons.

Thanks for the beamshots, makes me wanna get one of those Download pocket rocket.