Light diffuser material from Luminit

Robert generously sent me a sample of Luminit 40-degree film.

The vinyl cutter was able to cut it, but I’ll need to tweak the settings when more film is available.

The 2-1/4” x 1-5/8” sample was just enough to make inserts for four lights.

Here’s an A01, EE X6, S2+ triple, and BLF 348 with Luminit placed behind their lenses.

Perhaps not the first choice of lights for using the film, but most BLF’ers are familiar enough with them to provide a good comparison.

I’ll post beamshots comparing un-modified, d-c-fix, and Luminit in the next couple days.

I’d like to share some beamshots comparing d-c-fix and Luminit 40° film on an EagleEye X6 and a Convoy S2+ triple.

EE X6 is running an MTN17DD-m driver and Nichia 219C emitter.

S2+ triple is running a BLF A6 driver, Nichia 219BT emitters, and Carclo 10507 “narrow spot” optic.

Both lights are running freshly-charged HG2 cells. All photos are taken with the lights at maximum output.

Lights are mounted 38” (96.5 cm) off the ground. The camera is positioned 8” (20 cm) above the lights.

Lights are aimed at the tree in the center of the frame, which is 92 feet (28 meters) away.

Photos were taken about 1.5 hours after sunset.

I’ve included 2-frame comparison .GIFs excluding the d-c-fix photo for folks who have no experience with d-c-fix.

Click a .GIF for a larger view.

EagleEye X6 (three frames)
unmodified vs. d-c-fix vs. Luminit 40° film:

EagleEye X6 (two frames)
unmodified vs. Luminit 40° film:

Convoy S2+ (three frames)
unmodified vs. d-c-fix vs. Luminit 40° film:

Convoy S2+ (two frames)
unmodified vs. Luminit 40° film:

The photoshoot was supervised by a great horned owl, perched high in a tree just over my right shoulder. Yes, really! :slight_smile:

Terrific comparative photos! Thanks for those!

Now wondering how the different angles of Luminit would affect the beam.

Robert,
I would be interested in trying some of this material. I first encountered circular holographic diffusers in the flip-up filters for my SureFire lights but those are long gone. Since I very much value highly uniform light for my near-range use, this would be of value to me. Do you anticipate ordering more sheets for splitting? I don’t want to take your stuff if you have more concrete plans.
Wilkey

Likewise. I’d be happy to pay for a few sheets, pending price info, of course. Thanks for sharing.

Quick slap some on generic chinese flashlight and sell it for 600% markup at CPF.

Oh wait someone already done it.

Goshdogit, awesome comparisons thanks for posting those. I will be back from vacation on the 19th.

A few more samples are being sent to me right now, 10, 20 & 30 degree circular film.

There are also lenses available in the shape of a 20 x 20 inch panels 1.45mm thick, which is the thickness convoy uses on the S2. Pretty sure the C8 is the same thickness. They have to be cut with a cnc machine or something that won’t burn or melt the polycarbonate. The bad news is, these holographic panels cost $300. The good news is, 1 panel would yield approx. 500 lenses at 20.43mm (S2) in diameter. Luminit has offered to custom cut an entire panel, but I don’t know if that includes cleaning, and packaging them in tiny ziplock bags.

The .25mm (.11inch) holographic film panels cost $150, and again would yield approx 500 S2+ size filters.

The beauty of the film is, if you can remove the bezel, then you can take the filter on and off with ease. On the S2+, I’ve been putting the filter inbetween the reflector and the glass lens. On the larger Acebeam EC50, the bezel comes off easy, and I’ve just been putting the filter on top of the glass and screwing the bezel back on.

I will be testing the 10, 20, & 30degree film as soon as I get home. Will send Goshdogit a section of each to post some more comparison pictures.

As it is right now, I believe I will order a few sheets of each, and if people want to buy some at virtually cost, I can cut squares for larger lenses, and maybe have circles cut for more standard sizes like the S2+ and the C8.

These film pieces can be mailed internationally in a letter.

Great! I’m looking forward to testing the other diffusion angles.

I’d like to take photos in a couple different locations, and do some short-range comparisons for smaller/dimmer lights.

This stuff is really great. I’ve tried taking some beam shots but the only camera I have is on my phone. I couldn’t get them to turn out very good st all:(

I have a couple of lights that I use on the headboard of the bed at night. I would love to see this in a size that would fit the Pineapple and the S2+. I would be in for purchase of either thin material or a real lens for one or both of them.

Good find Robert!
Man, goshdogit those comparison shots you took really do an excellent job showing how well this stuff works. That is a pretty amazing spread of light. Very smooth and even. I just have to figure out which of my lights I want this on but I know I want to try it on a couple. It certainly would be great on a headlamp but I don’t have a headlamp yet. Gotta fix that. Anyway, nice work guys. :+1:

I took my S2+ on vacation with me, and have pretty crappy wifi but managed to get a couple beamshots on the side of the rental chalet, with the 40degree diffuser and one without. The S2+ is a stock neutral white, 6 x 7135.

You can see how the light is diffused and really lights up the roof of the building. It looks like I was a little closer to the building in the first shot, but you get the idea how clean the diffused light is with little loss.

Without diffuser

With diffuser

Robert, I am really loving the beam shots I’m seeing from this film. The diffused light is very impressive. The S2+ has a pretty solid diffused beam stock but with that film it’s just incredible. It has a limit to its usefulness by killing throw but for lights intended for up-close work there is nothing better than a wide, floody beam and these beam shots are indicating amazing potential in that category. I’m pretty familiar with the S2+. Can you give me an approximate distance from the chalet these shots were taken? I know you were on vacation so I don’t expect exact measurements, just an estimate. Please send me a PM when you can. I definitely need a sample of this stuff. Great find brother! :+1:

Well, I received the 10°, 20° and 30° circular diffusers in a few days ago. Only problem is the 30° came in a 3mm thick panel instead of film. So I’m waiting on the 30° film. Will upload beamshots off all three using a Convoy C8 XPL HI, and an S2+, to give you an idea of the different levels of diffusion.

Meanwhile, I bought one of the Reylight Pineapples, and stuck a 10° diffuser in between the reflector and the glass. The beam is buttery smooth now, with hardly any loss. Here’s what the non diffused beams look like. I have the ringy reflector, not the upgraded one.

Ceiling beam shot

Has there been any updates on these new diffusers. Super interested in adding these to my headlamps. Let me know thanks.

I received the samples from the company. It’s not easy dealing with a company that is used to working with the military and companies like Boeing, then little ol me asking for samples to use in flashlights. The last 4 samples I received came in a Fedex box. Just got a bill from Fedex for $30. I asked them to mail in an envelope or a bubble envelope… lol. Many big companies don’t think twice about mailing things this way. They use Fedex express instead of USPS.

Anyway, in the next few days I will post the 10°, 20° and 30° diffuser photos using a standard S2+ and a C8 XPL-HI, and we can deside which ones best fit our needs. Would like to narrow it down to two.

The 10° really works good to smooth out the beam without disrupting the hot spot too much, where the 40° completely diffuses the hot spot evenly. I’m thinking the 10 and the 30° might serve the purpose really well.

As resourceful as you guys are kind of surprised you are not scavenging holographic diffuser from end devices. I did use a Luminit product in one of my lights to great effect. But as Robert mentioned they are not used to dealing with low lifes like us. I have tons of different diffusers now because I go out and scavenge old flat screen TVs. Almost all the flat screens use holographic diffusers. I have tons of this stuff. I regularly go around looking for TVs thrown away in my neighborhood. At least in my area I find them quite often. The price is right too;)

Wow! Super interested in this!

Me too! I've used scotch tape, milk bottles, all kinds of plastic thngs...this looks great.

Hiyall,
brand new here, so here’s for a quick intro : i’m a light designer specialized in theatrical lighting.
About 10 years ago, when powerleds were still quite new on the market, the main supply source came from Luxeon. I decided i would design a 72W professional led fixture, since there was nothing comparable on the market. Once eventually finished, i tested it on stage and quickly found out that, for as powerful as it was, it was pretty much unusable without an deadly efficient diffuser.
Searching out the web, i found out about light shaping and holographic diffusers. Luminit was born about a year before.
I was lucky enough to ask for and, eventually, be awarded with quite a few samples from them.
Circular, elliptical and even square diffusers, from 10° up to 100°.
Let me tell you something : those things are great, they worked flawlessly and the quality of the light repartition was, from my POV, unseen before.
Their sole flaw, in fact, is their pricetag : as they then told me, the guys at Luminit don’t care much for retail, they mostly work for TV and flatscreens companies, hence the hefty price.
But, if you need a professional result and a dense, uniform, precisely shaped and angled, and perfectly mixed light field, then your quest is over : as far as i’m concerned, i’ve never seen any such thing.
Those diffusers get reaaaally great when it comes to mixing colored led light. At this time, we were looking more for subtle tints and delicate hues than for a plain — always kinda brutal when it comes to leds — color mix. And, no matter what i could try, diy or off the shelf, the result was always pretty coarse, crude and unsatisfying. But as soon as i fitted one of their products (.025, 10 to 30° circular) on my fixtures, i found out my problem had disappeared : the beam’s angle was amazingly precise, the colors were perfectly mixed, without any hotspot, any surrepresentation of a particular color (think of red and amber, for instance…) or any break of any kind when dimming or switching colors, no more rainbow effect at the edge, but just a thick, so dense that you could cut through it, beam of calibrated light.
The losses are neglectable, with a transmission rate around 87% if i remember well [edit :i just checked, and it’s actually 92% !!], which makes it just as [edit : waaay more] efficient as most affordable glass lenses on the market. More important still, you really feel like every lumen emitted lands on its target, like every photon is used. Even the shadows are tinted, without any interference fringe or diffracting effect. For a stage light designer, it means being able to play with the blacks way more precisely and intensely than with incandescent or even HID fixtures. It also ables me to considerably lower the forward current that drives the luxeons, resulting in much less heat and a longer lifespan.
Bref, i’d recommend these light shapers to anyone looking for a close to perfect result.

Seb