Using the Quark Tactical AA^2 as a lantern

I'm a Noob and just ordered a Quark Tactical to do light painting for photography. (I needed a good light in a compact form factor with button swtich with good throw to reach as far as I can without using lithium batteries. I hope I made a good choice.)

I would like to use the light as a lantern should I also need to when I travel. Are there any adapaters like the Fenix diffuser or Solarforce lantern adapters for the quark? (Would any of those fit on the Quark Tactical?)

Thanks!

P.S. Also as a noob, is the quark p60 compatible? I saw the sticky on p60 dropins but wasn't sure if the quark I purchased falls in that category.

jturn00 said:

I'm a Noob and just ordered a Quark Tactical to do light painting for photography. (I needed a good light in a compact form factor with button swtich with good throw to reach as far as I can without using lithium batteries. I hope I made a good choice.)

I would like to use the light as a lantern should I also need to when I travel. Are there any adapaters like the Fenix diffuser or Solarforce lantern adapters for the quark? (Would any of those fit on the Quark Tactical?)

Thanks!

P.S. Also as a noob, is the quark p60 compatible? I saw the sticky on p60 dropins but wasn't sure if the quark I purchased falls in that category.

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The Quark is not P60-compatible. They lego among themselves a lot, but not 100%. There isn't a ready-made 'lantern' type diffuser, although the bezel of the Quark AA head is the right size as the Fenix diffuser.

Hang the light with a good diffuser and it works well enough. I've done a lot of decent lightpainting with my Quark R2 Neutral.

Thanks. So if I can find the Fenix I will order it. Does the Quark Mini 123 also take the fenix diffuser? Or what other diffusers out there might work?

AnAppleSnail: I took a look of your flickr photos stream. You have some really neat photos in some intersting locations using light painting.

Is there any way to get this flashlight in neutral white ?
edit: ah I found them now, thanks.

You can use the Fenix diffuser for the Quark, just need dremel the inside a little.

I've always disliked the idea of using flashlights as lanterns. If you have a ceiling over your head then you can do a ceiling bounce and that'll work fine but considering the short battery life and the possibility of overheating the emitter this idea has never stuck with me.

I would always recommend a regular lantern over using a flashlight as a lantern if size and weight is not an issue but it seems like size and weight is an issue here.
For most applications I think the ceiling bounce method would work better than a diffuser wand because, quite honestly, I think you might be disappointed that it isn't as bright as you may have imagined it to be.

Also, be wary of keeping your flashlight on max brightness for too long.

jturn00 said:

Thanks. So if I can find the Fenix I will order it. Does the Quark Mini 123 also take the fenix diffuser? Or what other diffusers out there might work?

AnAppleSnail: I took a look of your flickr photos stream. You have some really neat photos in some intersting locations using light painting.

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Filter interchangeability comes down to the bezel diameter.

Fenix AD401 diffuser for diameters 20 mm -21.5 mm. You can sand at this to increase it a bit.

Quark heads: 0.86 inches in diameter, unless it's turbo.
There are two types of normal-looking Quark heads - "Low voltage" (0.9-4.2v) and "High voltage" (3-9v) The non-turbo AA, AA^2, and CR123 quarks ship with the 'Low Voltage' head. These can be used with 1 or 2 AAs or 1 Lithium-type battery - as long as it doesn't go over that voltage range. Under-volting the Quark makes it dimmer. The low-voltage head is a "Buck-boost" driver (It can raise OR lower battery voltage to deliver constant current to an LED).

The 123^2 Quark ships with the high-voltage head. This one will also be dim when getting fewer than 3.0v. This is a buck driver, which can only lower battery voltage to feed the LED.

For interchangeability, the heads are identical except for the electronics. This has lead to some problems - after the R2 series, they stopped labeling the circuit board visible inside the head. I suggest that you label your Quark heads once you have more than 1.

The quark head is 21.4mm in diameter. A bit of careful sanding will put a Fenix diffuser on any Quark. There is a 4sevens-brand Quark diffuser as part of the Prism kit. I'm not sure if the diffuser fits onto the Quark AND the prism, or only the Quark.

AnAppleSnail said:

(...)Quark heads: (...)

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Thanks for the comprehensive information on the quark heads! Very interresting! :thumbsup:

There is a 4sevens-brand Quark diffuser as part of the Prism kit. I'm not sure if the diffuser fits onto the Quark AND the prism, or only the Quark.

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The diffuser will only work with the prism kit. It's nothing else than just a round plastic disk. You can't fix it directly to the head of the lamp unless you mess around with scotch-tape. :green:
The prism kit is very useful in kombination with the diffusor, but only as a very soft floody close area light. It is not useful as a lantern. However as my tactical light can not tailstand I use the prism for a ceiling bounce, just laying the light on the table with the prism turned upward.

Furthermore it is possible to stick the Quark AAs bezel-down in a French mineral water bottle, such as Volvic, Evian or Vittel. This will also more or less spread the light in the room. If you fill the bottle with water there'll be no risk of overheating the emitter.

So make sure that you have always and at any time an empty 1.5L mineral water bottle in your pocket...

Lucciola

Thanks for the info. It really helps. I will have two quark flashlights the aa^2 tactical and the quark Mini 123. Do you know if the type of head on the Mini? Or if it is labeled?

jturn00 said:

Thanks for the info. It really helps. I will have two quark flashlights the aa^2 tactical and the quark Mini 123. Do you know if the type of head on the Mini? Or if it is labeled?

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The MiNi is a different series of light - so is the Preon. They're smaller in diameter and won't lego with the Quark parts.