I have 3 of these little lights and all have different tints. Warmest one is probably under 4000k and coolest one about 5000k. I hate the warmest one and of course it was the silver light I wanted for myself.
I got mine in the initial group buy. Perhaps those were all warm tints? Anyway, I really like that they are warm. I much prefer these warm tints to the cool tints of the BLF-348.
I really find it useful when people talk about specific CCT. I agree the A01 that maukka tested came in at about 4000. I also agree the BLF 348 tests above 5000, but I do not agree 5000k is “neutral”.
terms like warm, neutral and cool are very confusing, and yellow is not a Color Temperature at all.
though it is accurate to say 4000 is warmER than 5000, I do not consider it accurate to call 4000k CCT “warm”. At least I call 4000 neutral.
And btw, Yellow is Not a CCT it is a tint that can affect all different CCT. For example 4000k can be yellow or rose Tint, 5000k can also have yellow, green or rose Tint. Tint is not CCT. Warm is not a CCT that people use consistently. For example I call 3000k Warm, and to me 5000k is in the Cool range.
point being warm is an often confusing term since people have different ideas of what CCT Warm IS. I suggest that people post side by side beamshots of the lights in question. By including one of the BLF 348 it will give a 5000k CCT reference to the other beams. Then we can SEE the difference between early and late A01 LEDs.
I can take some pics tonight of the Astrolux vs BLF. Going off memory the BLF is just a pure white light while the lowest kelvin astrolux is orangey/yellow. For me, neutral is pure white light like the BLF. That may be cool to someone else though, you make good points.
Here’s two pictures, showing BLF-348 (left) vs Astrolux A01 (right).
The first picture is taken with the camera’s white balance set to 4000K, making the A01 appear white. The second picture is taken with the white balance set to 5000K, making the 348 appear white.
Hmmm, looking at these, I probably should have set the white balance a little cooler than 5000K, as the 348 still appears a little blue under this white balance. Oh well, you get the idea.
excellent!
our brain also changes its white balance depending on ambient light
so during the day, 4000k seems more orange than sunlight at noon.
At night, after I have been sitting under 3000k incandescent, the 4000k looks blueish compared to ambient light
that is why when someone says they consider 5000k “pure white”, that just tells me they are looking at the beam during a time when their brain is white balanced to ambient light that is in the 5000k range. That same 5000k beam will look blueish when the brain, or the camera, is white balanced to 4000k, or less.
These changes in white balance make single beam shots not very useful. otoh, showing 3 beams at once will give relative color reference among them. This is why Im interested in seeing the old A01 in the same photo as the BLF 348 plus the new A01. Since my iPhone has automatic white balance, it really helps to have 3 beams in a photo.
for example:
that photo has set auto white balance to the XP-G2, so it makes the 6000k look “white”
fwiw, here is an example of using a folded piece of printer paper for beamshot comparisons. I recommend that approach, as it eliminates any confusion caused by different colors of wall paint.
this photo, above, is comparing two Nichia LEDs, the one in the ReyLight is about 4500k, the one in the L11c is about 5000k
you can see again that the auto white balance on my iPhone has set the L11c as the white balance reference.
I find that having 3 beams works better than 2, when using auto white balance. If one of the beams is from a light source that other people are familiar with, it gives a relative CCT reference for sake of comparison.
I use my dSLR, on which I can manually set a white balance to any CCT, as well as adjust the green-magenta tint offset. The problem with auto-white balance, is the camera will not only set a color temp, but also set a tint offset (green or magenta).
But, yes, if you only have auto white balance to use, then using multiple lights is the way to go. It will usually set the balance according to the dominant light source in the frame. Or failing that, pick an average.
I find that anything warmer than 4000K looks very yellow to me even after I’ve had hours to adjust to it. My white balance perceptual range seems to go from about 4500K to 5500K, and common 2700K bulbs make my eyes bug out. Like, an hour or two in that kind of light and I can’t even see color any more; everything goes to alternating shades of grey like an embossed image where only edges and contrast stand out.
My 4000K high-CRI A01 is nice, nicer than my 4200K low-CRI Zebralight, but my eyes never quite adjust to either one. They’re just … yellow.
I am exactly the same way. i had to remove the 2700 lights from my home with the exception of the bedroom. I am much happier with cw lights.
i wish these were available in xpl cw versions
Depends on the type. 2700K LED light bulbs look like crap. Same for most 2700K CFL’s. 2700K incandescent looks fantastic.
Cool white… :confounded:
Nope, not me. Even at 100CRI, 2700K still looks sickly and yellow. Has been that way as long as I can remember, and I always used to have difficulty reading until I discovered fluorescent 5000K tubes. I can read comfortably from a computer or phone screen pretty much all day and all night, but an hour of paper under a 2700K bulb makes my eyes hurt. After a while, the pages look like this (including the rapid inversion):
Even before the grey-out and inversion starts, when things are relatively okay, the best it ever looks to me is like this: (the lightest part is supposed to be white)
I can understand how someone used to 5000k+ cool white light, will find 4000k warmer than the ambient light and unappealing. Generally, when a flashlight color temperature is lower than ambient, it makes a flashlight seem dim.
I like cool white in workspaces, otoh, I prefer warm white in relaxing spaces. My home is lit with 3000k Incandescent. When I use a 4000k+ Nichia 219b I find it looks brighter and whiter, than when I use a 3000k flashlight.
then again, waking in the middle of the night, I prefer 3000k
so, full dark adapted, when I use a flashligtht, I prefer 3000k
once my brain is adapted to 3000k ambient light, I prefer 4000k from a flashlight
adapted to 4000k, prefer 5000k flashlight
generally, I seem to prefer a flashlight that is about 1000k cooler than my brain’s white balance adaptation to ambient
The Nichia in the first batch of A01’s were about 4000k and 90+CRI.
Lately Ive started hearing that the current batch of A01’s are cooler and more “yellowish”. Im not sure what that means on a spectroscope as I have not seen a CRI test like I have for the prior version, thanks to maukka:
Im not yet aware of any 5000k 90CRI Nichias in the off the shelf flashlight offerings
its a trade off, CRI costs Kelvin
Fixed that for you.
For a 555nm green light, peak efficiency is 683 lm / W, but for a high CRI white light the theoretical maximum is about 260-300 lm / W. High CRI costs lumens, since much of the total power must be spent on less-efficient wavelengths.
FWIW, here’s a stock light with 93CRI at ~5700K. 5000K is more common though, like in the BLF-348 and Zebralight “d” series.
I’ve had mine for a few months now and finally I stripped its coating. It started to age beautifully. And also feels very good in the hand. I started to like it so much, that I ordered another one - just to have one in reserve. Maybe I will keep it in mint condition.
does this copper light have NextModeMemory (NMM) like the new Astrolux A01 Aluminums?
Is there a source for A01 lights that have the original driver with NoNextModeMemory (NoNMM)
thanks!
fwiw,
the Copper A01 is on sale
Discount codes and link deleted, Ive been informed Im not supposed to share… sorry… contact Freeme and M4D M4X and Pablo and Banggood
So, what’s the best deal to be found for this little light right now?
Thank you. I ordered one tonight.
Thankyou - Ordered one as well 