Which Beam Color to choose when conducting Target Identification?

Hi all


I read somewhere that when doing target ID or for home defense purposes, the yellow tint beams are better than the ones that have the cool white blue tint.
And plus, when shining a bright blue tint beam against a white wall will temporarily wash away your eye vision for a while and that's why some military units still uses incandescent lights which have of course the yellowish tint.

Also, do LED lights which have this yellowish tint in them, will it also penetrate smoke or fog better than the lights with the cool blue tints?

For Target ID, would you guys say that the yellow tint would be more preferred for this?
Please see image below on what I mean by yellow tint.
http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/500/14polytac90beam.jpg

I personally prefer the warmer (yellower) tints in almost every application. I've found that they tend to render color better, penetrate fog/rain/snow/smoke better, etc. as well as "kinder" on the eyes during hectic/rushed situations. The only time I prefer cooler tints is when I'm looking into/thru a body of water.

Link no worky itsonlyme

The warmer beam like fritz was saying is more user friendly.

Now if you need blinding light (for zapping a home invader) the harsher cool beam is best, then possibly a home made yellow or tan filter over the lens can help out with id of particulars if you only want to have one light for personal protection..

Celophane and a small rubber band perhaps.

Now those of us flashaholics, we'd carry one of each.

Me, personally I carry a nuetral (blinder) in one pocket and a warm in the other. Both similar in output. The warm one is a dedicated weapons light. But I know from zapping myself the nuetral one is more effective as a blinder.

Same with my nighstand units.

The warm LED render the same color schemes to mimic the incandecents. So penetrating fog etc is very similar. But you have the advantage of a long, long life span vs the incan bulb.

Of course everyone has their own preferences, but i find a premium cool white shows natural colours better, with neutral white casting a yellow tint and warm casts an orange/brown tint which makes the targets look unnatural.
If you read the comments here how people prefer warm and neutral i think its highly overrated and more suited to house lighting. I think cool white tints are quickly and unfairly dismissed, with misconceptions of the tint being all blue and inferior, which personally, i found not to be the case, with 1A and 1D being my favourite tints for proper colour contrast.

^^ my favorite Malkoff drop in is the neutral.

Good color rendition with a wee bit more darkness drilling effect on my 51 year old eyes.

I don't discount any beam that lights up darkness. Period.

But do tailor certain devices with certain usefulness for my tastes.

itsonlyme said:

Hi all


I read somewhere that when doing target ID or for home defense purposes, the yellow tint beams are better than the ones that have the cool white blue tint.
And plus, when shining a bright blue tint beam against a white wall will temporarily wash away your eye vision for a while and that's why some military units still uses incandescent lights which have of course the yellowish tint.

Also, do LED lights which have this yellowish tint in them, will it also penetrate smoke or fog better than the lights with the cool blue tints?

For Target ID, would you guys say that the yellow tint would be more preferred for this?
Please see image below on what I mean by yellow tint.
http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/500/14polytac90beam.jpg

Click to expand...

Warm tints do not penetrate fog or smoke any better than any other "white", not even bit. This is a common misperception. Cooler temps will generate higher glare perception and given the same amount of light bouncing back, will generate more perceived glare.

Cooler tints will also cause your iris to close up and may reduce your night vision ability ... but then again, may provide better depth of focus .... it's all going to come down to light level.

Human target ID needs skin tones which is not necessarily better with warm tones, but is better with rich red. You may get some enhancement with lower CCT w.r.t. contrast, but you may lose subtlety. Realistically those that claim better target ID at lower CCT have likely not been exposed to high CRI 4000/5000L sources so take what you read with a grain of salt.

Personally I find 90+CRI, 4000K to be a highly flexible source that can allow you to identify anything of any color.