MORE REAL WORLD BEAMSHOTS PLEASE!

Ok, on a rant here... I just thanked someone for including a real world outside beamshot in their post. I wish others would do the same!

Taking a beamshot picture of a light as it is normally used and designed for conveys SO MUCH MORE useful information than ONLY posting a white wall beamshot mearly a few inches away. I can understand a close up beamshot when your dealing with small light designed to be used only for close up work But not for long throwing spotlight! Now I am not saying to get rid of the white wall beamshot altogether (as it does give you an idea of beam quality etc) but to also ALWAYS include a more "real world" shot also. Shine it into a bookcase or objects in the corner of a room, shine it outdoors against a tree, bush, patio or fence etc. You get the idea!

So in a nutshell, everyone please take into account the purpose or intended use of a light when posting beamshots!

Thanks for your support!


off rant!

Hmmm...I wonder if was Kiessling that you thanked? I remember giving him that type of feedback before (that his beamshots were great). I agree, I really prefer the types of beamshots where you can see the lights in actions OUTSIDE. It really gives a much better comparitive impression of overall output, hot spots, and side spill.

I'm thankful that there are people kind enough to make beamshots, no matter if they are made in front of a white wall or a brown fence...

I am almost certain you are talking about my shot of the two spotlights shining at the wall from just a few feet away (different thread). I will try to do better. What I was trying to do was show the two lights in such a way they can be compared. My camera adusts automatically for the lighting it is in. If I were to take pictures separately, the automatic adjustments of the shutter speed by the camera will destroy the ability to compare the photos. I will try to do an outdoor shot tonight but I will take a picture of the lights all going at once. I will shine all of the lights at a row of lilac bushes in my back yard from about 40 feet away. If I can get it done, I will post it here (this thread). I'll use 4 lights:

. SureFire "The Beast"
. Thor-x (100w non-hid that says 10,000,000 cp)
. Costco HID standard 35 w
. Costco HID modified 50w XeVision aircraft landing light kit

Donovan ... while I understand your desire for better beamshots, you might want to do a little thinking before demanding additional things.
A beamshot normally is only useful if it can serve as a comparison of some sort AND if it is somewhat standardised AND if it is able to capture a significant amount of information.
The problem with that is ... first, it is a lot of work. If you ever did a beamshot comparison you might have noticed that even in a very controlled enviroment (the qwhite wall) there are still a lot of variables to deal with. It is a time consuming job. Now ... if you want outside shots in addition to that with all the attached additional problems and possible solutions you end up adding quite a bit more effort investment = time. Second, the dynamic range of digicams isn't grweat enough to display hotspots and cotronas properly, and even less so outside.
Further more, a white wall is a standard target while outside targets a prone to much more variables and differences to take into account in order to make the shot a useful one, mewaning one that can provide more info than a white-wall shot can do.

We all know flashligths very well and know how they look on a white wall, we do it every day, or at least can do so. So ... we see a white wall shot comparison .. not only is it on a common ground to be able to make the "data transfer" in our brain to know how the other light looks like, but we also have a lot of experience with that. Outside targets do not provide that luxury.

An example:

What info can you gather on this light from an outside beamshot?

Now a white wall shot:


... where you can see a direct (=valid) comparison to a well-known light, you can see the corona, and if I provide the lux readings of the hotspot (overexposed in the pic of course) you get a pretty decent idea of what the light will do.


Now ... don't get me wrong ... I am all for outdoor shots, but I want you to think about the horrible amount of work you are inflicting on your fellow CPFers in demanding this AND about the limited usefulness of those shots AND the uses of the much-malignerd white wall shots.

bernie

Trashman ... thanx
bernie

Kiessling said:

An example:

What info can you gather on this light from an outside beamshot?
bernie

Click to expand...

Actually I get quite a bit of info on that outside beamshot!!!
Now to be fair, do the same thing with that outside shot as you are doing with that wall shot (mainly show BOTH lights in the same setting) and you get a LOT of usefull information! I can then see beam pattern, throw, color rendition, sidespill etc. etc. etc. in a real world setting!

I can't because I do not have two identical targets.
I can't because teh coronas of the lights are far too wide to be seen on the pic.
I can't because the target isn't white and will influence on the perception of brightness and reflected light which is depending on beam tint.
I can't because the dynamic range of the camera will not support a display of the corona and the hotspot at teh same time. On a white wall shot I can overexpose the hotspot and add a lux reading to compensate, in the outdoor shot the hotspot is the target and must be clearly visible, so the corona is lost.

What I can do is this:




... but as I said ... those shots miss a lot of info that a white wall shot can provide. AND it requires two shots instead of one in a non-controlled enviroment and might even involve transporting the gear elsewhere to do the shots.

Also you'll never be able to display this beam in an outside shot:




In the end bith types of beamshots have their place I think, but the outdoor shot looses because of the work involved.

bernie

It looks like because I'm a newbie, I am not allowed to post any pictures. What do I need to do so I can post a picture? :help:

delete

Ralph,

To post a pic, it must reside in webspace/have a URL. If you do not have a website to load your pics, you can use an image hosting site like Image Shack. Once the photo has a URL, you use (without the spaces) in your post's text to get the pic to show.

Larry

Ok! I think I got this figured out now. Here is a picture of the four lights I am going to do a group beam shot of tonight.

Wow!!! I will be looking in the night sky for you!

LOL, good one!

I got it done! This is simultaneous beam shot of 4 lights shining on my lilac bushes from 40 feet. From left to right the beams are from:

. SureFire "The Beast"
. Thor-x (100w non-hid that says 10,000,000 cp)
. Costco HID standard 35 w
. Costco HID modified 50w XeVision aircraft landing light kit


Link

Is that 50W Costco HID the one on ebay? I like the beam color.

Jeff

Yes! its the same one.

I agree. A RL shot is good as you can directly relate to other lights you might have and then you know how it stands with the lights you have. Direct comparisions is good sometimes on a wall, but it's great to see what the beam does at a distance!

This one
. Costco HID modified 50w XeVision aircraft landing light kit
looks about ready to set that bush on FIRE!!!

That Beast really has an awesome flood to it! Man would I love to see your (Ralph Russel) modded Costco throw! That really must be a sight to see. It is the obvious winner in the hot spot category.
It's really amazing that a "hard core" flashaholic (anybody with a Beast is hard core, in my book) like RR just registered on CPF yesterday (well, actually the day before yesterday...it's past midnight now)!!

Ralph, have you logged onto CPF before as a non-registered user?

By the way, it's great to have to you here! And also, you said you were almost certain your beamshots were the ones being referred to.... I wouldn't count on it! That's the standard for beamshots around here.

Bernie, what I like about a lot of the beamshots you post is that there are trees in front of, and off to the sides of the target. I tend to put a lot of focus upon those outer trees and such.

Agreed, both types of beamshots definitely have their usefulness. The only beamshots I've ever posted were on a wall. It wasn't even a white wall, but it showed what I wanted it to. If I could only get my camera to take pictures outside, at night, and with the same clarity as my eyes. Gotta read that manual.......