Greymage
Enlightened
Otherwise known as how not to take beamshots /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif
It was a choice between cleaning and playing with lights, so I decided to put my lights together and do beamshots.
My collection of Luxeons and other cool lights:
... and that doesn't include regular LED lights or other unmodded lights. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif I think I may be a flashaholic...
Edit: The lights are, in order from left to right:
Top Row: Legend LX with TWAK and LDF lens, Super LGI, SBP and BP, followed by sandwiches in various bodies.
Middle Row: Streamlight 3AA TL, Nuwai 5W, Firefly, two Arc4 seconds, 3 Arc LSs modified by LitFuse, ebay light, UK 4AA eLED in MiniQ40 case, UltraG with LS modified by LEDs as small as possible, ebay light
Bottom Row: UK Light Cannon, Maglite 3C with KPR112 and LDF lens, UBH with E1E or E2E bezel (not on in beamshot), Tigerlight, E1E (not on), PM6, solitaire with LS modified by LEDs as small as possible, PM6 with BB700 and 5W V3U, Megalite HD.
Here's a beamshot, taking during the day - indoors, drapes closed, digicam set to daylight balance:
The xenons clearly take the field. The Tigerlight FBOP (Edit: actually did not have UCL installed) takes top honors, followed by PM6, KPR112 (with UCL/LDF), Megalite HD, the 5W Nuwai light, and the Streamlight 3AAA TL. Most of the other Luxeons are just a blur. This just goes to show the difference between throw and light output though - you can't even see the light cannon beam because it's wider (doesn't help that I have diffusers installed), but it lights up way more in a dark room.
Here are some Arc shots:
On the top are the Arc LSH seconds and LS-1 LitFuse modded for me with current boost, TVOJ, and Fraen optics. The brightness levels on these are not as far apart as they seem, because the lights on the side are angled away from the camera, but the one in the middle is reflecting right toward the camera.
The Baby Pin holds its own... and that's just the regular one, I didn't want to embarrass the Arcs by using my SBP.
And finally, a couple of Ebay lights:
The one on the right (with the holes) actually has good throw - it has a big lens like the Inova X1. But there is little useful sidespill (not really visible here). The other Ebay light is pretty useless... but it's easy to mod, just has a star with soldered wires screwed in.
The lights I actually use:
1) Firefly with MM WO LuxIIIT as EDC
2) MiniMag with BB750 LuxIIIT for around the house
3) MiniMag with an old dim sandwich, for poking around inside the computer because the BB750 was too bright.
The MiniMags with dropins from the sandwich shop I think make the most sense for around the house. They're more than bright enough for most tasks, and you can use rechargeable NiMH AAs in them.
What I learned doing these:
- You really need a lot of room to do beamshots properly, otherwise you lose information about things like sidespill.
- Taking beamshots with lights too close to target can give misleading results.
- The 5w Nuwai light for $60 from shoplifestyle is a pretty good buy, it's the cheapest of the bright Luxeons. (Disclosure: I bought two and may end up selling one /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif)
It was a choice between cleaning and playing with lights, so I decided to put my lights together and do beamshots.
My collection of Luxeons and other cool lights:
... and that doesn't include regular LED lights or other unmodded lights. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif I think I may be a flashaholic...
Edit: The lights are, in order from left to right:
Top Row: Legend LX with TWAK and LDF lens, Super LGI, SBP and BP, followed by sandwiches in various bodies.
Middle Row: Streamlight 3AA TL, Nuwai 5W, Firefly, two Arc4 seconds, 3 Arc LSs modified by LitFuse, ebay light, UK 4AA eLED in MiniQ40 case, UltraG with LS modified by LEDs as small as possible, ebay light
Bottom Row: UK Light Cannon, Maglite 3C with KPR112 and LDF lens, UBH with E1E or E2E bezel (not on in beamshot), Tigerlight, E1E (not on), PM6, solitaire with LS modified by LEDs as small as possible, PM6 with BB700 and 5W V3U, Megalite HD.
Here's a beamshot, taking during the day - indoors, drapes closed, digicam set to daylight balance:
The xenons clearly take the field. The Tigerlight FBOP (Edit: actually did not have UCL installed) takes top honors, followed by PM6, KPR112 (with UCL/LDF), Megalite HD, the 5W Nuwai light, and the Streamlight 3AAA TL. Most of the other Luxeons are just a blur. This just goes to show the difference between throw and light output though - you can't even see the light cannon beam because it's wider (doesn't help that I have diffusers installed), but it lights up way more in a dark room.
Here are some Arc shots:
On the top are the Arc LSH seconds and LS-1 LitFuse modded for me with current boost, TVOJ, and Fraen optics. The brightness levels on these are not as far apart as they seem, because the lights on the side are angled away from the camera, but the one in the middle is reflecting right toward the camera.
The Baby Pin holds its own... and that's just the regular one, I didn't want to embarrass the Arcs by using my SBP.
And finally, a couple of Ebay lights:
The one on the right (with the holes) actually has good throw - it has a big lens like the Inova X1. But there is little useful sidespill (not really visible here). The other Ebay light is pretty useless... but it's easy to mod, just has a star with soldered wires screwed in.
The lights I actually use:
1) Firefly with MM WO LuxIIIT as EDC
2) MiniMag with BB750 LuxIIIT for around the house
3) MiniMag with an old dim sandwich, for poking around inside the computer because the BB750 was too bright.
The MiniMags with dropins from the sandwich shop I think make the most sense for around the house. They're more than bright enough for most tasks, and you can use rechargeable NiMH AAs in them.
What I learned doing these:
- You really need a lot of room to do beamshots properly, otherwise you lose information about things like sidespill.
- Taking beamshots with lights too close to target can give misleading results.
- The 5w Nuwai light for $60 from shoplifestyle is a pretty good buy, it's the cheapest of the bright Luxeons. (Disclosure: I bought two and may end up selling one /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif)
