Yeah, i know, but then the graph suggests the color temp gets cooler when power increases, which is not the case.
LEDs have a cooler tint when running on low power, get warmer tint when power increases.
This depends on the LED but most I’ve tested have gotten cooler with increasing current.
Really??
Really. I highly recommend looking through maukka’s reviews to see graphs of the exact path the LED tint takes through color space as the power increases. In great detail, he has published quantified measurements of many different types of LEDs. It’s very useful information, well beyond what the manufacturers provide.
Is that a piece for sale?
What do you want for thirty odd dollars, rocketship precision?
I think that’s a lot of the problem. If that is still the target price (though we have been warned it could be $6 more for Cree emitters (Samsung not yet sourced), then a Paypal tax on top, and the distribution method is unclear, etc. and Neal’s history of getting his ducks in a row and getting stuff out in a timely manner is a little iffy)
I’d probably pay 10 or maybe even 20$ more to get what was originally promised, with some surety, if it still comes under the radar at Customs.
But really losing interest. I’ve vacillated I know and made myself a bit of a nuisance here. Still watching this space.
It really boils down to a communication thing, or the complete lack of it, which seems so unnecessary, and disappointing to those who are still trying so hard.
These sneaky pictures of possible work in progress just raise more questions than they answer. Perhaps that is the intention, to try to keep a buzz going, and keep us chattering. Not sure that is really helpful, some solid information, technical updates, posited timescale and professionalism would be more confidence building.
As well as actually sending some proto4s to those who matter.
Here is a paste of a separate rant that I decided not to post. But now have.
PBWilson wrote:
The design may have something to do with ease of manufacture for Lumintop. I wonder if one of their other lights is similar enough to the design in the photos and instead of setting up tools and fixtures to make a light exactly as Fritz had envisioned it, they are going with their own designs.
Of course this has to be producible, and compromises needed to meet a (very tight IMO) selling price target.
Surface finish is a really big one. It really does cost, to do it right, and everyone has their own opinion (though few will know just how well things can be done) . Sending it down the line with a known standard mediocre process is the easy way forwards, and maybe not such a bad decision.
Creative “tension” between the designer, and the manufacturer and distribution people is to be expected, but it’s how that gets sorted out behind the scenes that separates the dogmatic , maybe a little bit arrogant, perfectionist (who may have little if any experience of of a big project) from those who are just trying to get on with things and doing their best, having been asked for their help, and considerable skills and experience, gratis, and to open this up to the important BLF audience.
TBH I’d rather spend $10 or even $20 more and get something closer to the original concept. But time’s arrow continues to move forwards, and other things seem increasingly more interesting, and I don’t like to encourage desultory communication, disdain, and general disrespect for key team members, exemplified by not arranging to send them prototypes, and clamming up. Nor bothering to wake up and procure the requested emitters in good time. An attitude of indifference. And not a good omen for when a couple of thousand of us just want them delivered, cleanly and efficiently, and swiftly
What’s to hide ? An ego-trip is one thing, pulling off something like this is quite another, and perhaps better to step aside and just let the pros finish it. E.g. quibbling over a requested 1mm dimension change (the man said no, perhaps he was right), for example.
Lumintop do know how to make torches, and there are competent and concerned people still sticking with this. Not sure why.
This was supposed to be really special. Now I doubt that.
Rant off. I promise to be nicer, for at least a few days. Please don’t press the re-named “Whatcha” button, no matter how tempting. But if you do, I’ll know what you did. That’s still the way it works.
5708 posts on this thread at the last count. Since May 4 2017. That’s a lot of interest, and time, committed by many people to it, no matter how you measure it. Hopefully not all just wasted because a few people, well, maybe over-promised, or just got out of their depth.
Here’s a suggestion. Fritz, or Cawi, just send TK your proto3 (or 4) and let her assess it. Then listen to what she has to say.
You might not like it, but better than just gathering dust on your shelf. Or gloating, Gollum-like, over “your precious” that may never happen, the way that this seems to be endlessly running on.
Speaking for myself, I’m on the interest list for one light, but I’ll more than likely be buying 2-3 more after the initial rush. Plus, I’m quite sure all my friends are gonna want one when they see mine. I think you could figure on 5-6x more demand than what has been voiced here. Not to mention other retail sales from recommendations on reddit or wherever else. I hope that’s motivation enough to get this into production ASAP. This flashlight will be a gold mine for those selling them.
55 posts, many of them tense, in about 12 hours because, after bemoaning the lack of photos or other updates, we (collectively) didn’t recognize a thread relief when a photo was finally posted.
I’m starting to think this thread should be locked until the light is ready to ship.
I don’t think these don’t look like the same bodies/tubes… where did the first image come from?
Agreed, quite different. Yet more questions than answers. Again.
Guessing that is only TK’s proto2. It seems we are now up to at least 3 , or even 4, and so it still seems to keep on evolving, at least in some people’s dreams.
Yeah, i know, but then the graph suggests the color temp gets cooler when power increases, which is not the case.
LEDs have a cooler tint when running on low power, get warmer tint when power increases.
This depends on the LED but most I’ve tested have gotten cooler with increasing current.
Really??
Really.
Yeah but that wasn’t all i wrote:
Jerommel wrote:
Really??
Or maybe you mean this is the case in the range above very low modes.
Very low modes like ‘moon’ and ‘firefly’ give relatively more blue, i guess the phosphor is not excited by very low levels of 450nm.
So it seems the warmest tint is somewhere in the middle of the range (from very low to very high).
Quote:
I highly recommend looking through maukka’s reviews to see graphs of the exact path the LED tint takes through color space as the power increases. In great detail, he has published quantified measurements of many different types of LEDs. It’s very useful information, well beyond what the manufacturers provide.
Okay, i’ll look for that among the esoteric graphs i’m not initiated for.
Photoshop is a lot easier. If you actually want to get things done, and are prepared to pay, or otherwise, obtain it.
Irfan View does the basic jobs and is lightweight. But Faststone Image viewer is far more powerful (basically a clone of ACDSee, my mainstay, and worth the money)
I haven’t learned many tricks to use it, but it is more intuitive than GIMP.
Affinity Photo is quite good for non pro photoshop users.
- one time ca. 55€ instead of a subscription
- nearly all tools the same
- similar workflow
Reviews are on YouTube
I’ve never heard of Affinity Photo. But I just looked it up and it does seem nice. I’ve been a GIMP user for years. I’ve never used Photoshop. I’m not anything like a professional user, but I have learned how to do some moderately advanced things with GIMP. Photoshop and Affinity Photo still have quite a few very advanced features that Gimp lacks.
—
The Cycle of Goodness: “No one prospers without rendering benefit to others”
- The YKK Philosophy
I’ve spent time with a bunch of image editors, and have been using GIMP and Photoshop since the 1990s. I even made my own paint program / image editor once, designed mostly around demoscene effects. But I find GIMP suits me best, and is the most intuitive for me. Part of it is because it’s trivially easy to assign arbitrary keyboard shortcuts, part is because it lets my window manager do its job instead of trying to manage everything itself in a single window, and part is just that it has the types of tools I want.
In the past, Photoshop was a lot better if you needed color spaces other than greyscale or RGB, but GIMP recently overhauled its engine to fix that sort of issue. It always had a wider and more advanced variety of image-processing tools, often getting brand new stuff from SIGGRAPH long before other programs, but its core architecture has also gotten a lot more mature over time.
I wouldn’t use either one for diagrams or for painting though. There are better tools for those tasks, like Inkscape for diagrams and Krita for painting. GIMP is mostly designed for photo editing.
It’s hard to go wrong with any decent image editor though. There is no shortage of genuinely good imaging software these days.
About the FW3A though… something I’ve been pondering is whether to try to fit in a factory reset function somewhere.
This would reset everything to defaults except the thermal sensor calibration. For that, it would act as if the user went through thermal config mode and calibrated it to 21 C. Maybe that’s not the exact temperature of everyone’s rooms, but it should be a lot closer than an uncalibrated attiny85.
Normally I’d put it on “hold e-switch while connecting power, then continue to hold for a few seconds”. However, the FW3A can’t do that because the switch doesn’t get physically connected until after power.
So maybe it could be on some other action which is hard to do by accident. Maybe 10 clicks from off and hold the 10th?
If it fits, the overall UI for it would be:
Loosen the tube, hold the e-switch, then tighten the tube while still holding the switch. (or click 10 times and hold the 10th press)
Starting at a low level, the light flashes an increasingly intense warning stutter.
Let go to cancel the reset, or otherwise keep holding.
After ~5 seconds, the light makes a bright flash, resets everything to defaults, then smoothly fades back to off.
At least, that’s how the “self destruct mode” works on the lightsaber UI I made. It probably doesn’t need to be as fancy in a flashlight. In particular, it probably shouldn’t get very bright because that could affect the temperature calibration. Regardless though, I’ve been pondering whether it should be included.
The Anduril I flashed onto my D4 goes into a lock on if you click 10 plus clicks from on. I would consider this a good thing, must power cycle to exit.
I don’t see myself using a factory reset, but it might be good for some.
The Anduril I flashed onto my D4 goes into a lock on if you click 10 plus clicks from on. I would consider this a good thing, must power cycle to exit.
Since then, I completely rewrote the button input handling system. It’s now quite a bit smaller and also lacks bugs like the one you noted.
I still have a couple other bugs to hunt down, but they only affect lights with aux LEDs, so it’s not relevant for the FW3A. The other bugs are also incredibly rare, to the point that I can’t even make them happen on purpose, so it may take a while to confirm any fixes.
In any case, there is no more lock-up after long click sequences.
I heard back from Neal: “this is not the final verison, they are test the color”
Also, I hope this answers some questions:
(before anyone asks, this is one light photographed twice, not two lights)
What sorcery is this???
Really. I highly recommend looking through maukka’s reviews to see graphs of the exact path the LED tint takes through color space as the power increases. In great detail, he has published quantified measurements of many different types of LEDs. It’s very useful information, well beyond what the manufacturers provide.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIMP
Needless to say, looks great. We are all waiting to throw cash at somebody.
I think that’s a lot of the problem. If that is still the target price (though we have been warned it could be $6 more for Cree emitters (Samsung not yet sourced), then a Paypal tax on top, and the distribution method is unclear, etc. and Neal’s history of getting his ducks in a row and getting stuff out in a timely manner is a little iffy)
I’d probably pay 10 or maybe even 20$ more to get what was originally promised, with some surety, if it still comes under the radar at Customs.
But really losing interest. I’ve vacillated I know and made myself a bit of a nuisance here. Still watching this space.
It really boils down to a communication thing, or the complete lack of it, which seems so unnecessary, and disappointing to those who are still trying so hard.
These sneaky pictures of possible work in progress just raise more questions than they answer. Perhaps that is the intention, to try to keep a buzz going, and keep us chattering. Not sure that is really helpful, some solid information, technical updates, posited timescale and professionalism would be more confidence building.
As well as actually sending some proto4s to those who matter.
Here is a paste of a separate rant that I decided not to post. But now have.
Of course this has to be producible, and compromises needed to meet a (very tight IMO) selling price target.
Surface finish is a really big one. It really does cost, to do it right, and everyone has their own opinion (though few will know just how well things can be done) . Sending it down the line with a known standard mediocre process is the easy way forwards, and maybe not such a bad decision.
Creative “tension” between the designer, and the manufacturer and distribution people is to be expected, but it’s how that gets sorted out behind the scenes that separates the dogmatic , maybe a little bit arrogant, perfectionist (who may have little if any experience of of a big project) from those who are just trying to get on with things and doing their best, having been asked for their help, and considerable skills and experience, gratis, and to open this up to the important BLF audience.
TBH I’d rather spend $10 or even $20 more and get something closer to the original concept. But time’s arrow continues to move forwards, and other things seem increasingly more interesting, and I don’t like to encourage desultory communication, disdain, and general disrespect for key team members, exemplified by not arranging to send them prototypes, and clamming up. Nor bothering to wake up and procure the requested emitters in good time. An attitude of indifference. And not a good omen for when a couple of thousand of us just want them delivered, cleanly and efficiently, and swiftly
What’s to hide ? An ego-trip is one thing, pulling off something like this is quite another, and perhaps better to step aside and just let the pros finish it. E.g. quibbling over a requested 1mm dimension change (the man said no, perhaps he was right), for example.
Lumintop do know how to make torches, and there are competent and concerned people still sticking with this. Not sure why.
This was supposed to be really special. Now I doubt that.
Rant off. I promise to be nicer, for at least a few days. Please don’t press the re-named “Whatcha” button, no matter how tempting. But if you do, I’ll know what you did. That’s still the way it works.
5708 posts on this thread at the last count. Since May 4 2017. That’s a lot of interest, and time, committed by many people to it, no matter how you measure it. Hopefully not all just wasted because a few people, well, maybe over-promised, or just got out of their depth.
Here’s a suggestion. Fritz, or Cawi, just send TK your proto3 (or 4) and let her assess it. Then listen to what she has to say.
You might not like it, but better than just gathering dust on your shelf. Or gloating, Gollum-like, over “your precious” that may never happen, the way that this seems to be endlessly running on.
Well, maybe not all… myself and Tom Tom may not have the cash out and ready to throw just yet.
Yeah yeah yeah, I know, right? Me and Tom Tom on the same page… sometimes stuff just happens.
And then tatasal torture’s me with pics of that sweet old MaxToch SN6×-2X!
Speaking for myself, I’m on the interest list for one light, but I’ll more than likely be buying 2-3 more after the initial rush. Plus, I’m quite sure all my friends are gonna want one when they see mine. I think you could figure on 5-6x more demand than what has been voiced here. Not to mention other retail sales from recommendations on reddit or wherever else. I hope that’s motivation enough to get this into production ASAP. This flashlight will be a gold mine for those selling them.
55 posts, many of them tense, in about 12 hours because, after bemoaning the lack of photos or other updates, we (collectively) didn’t recognize a thread relief when a photo was finally posted.
I’m starting to think this thread should be locked until the light is ready to ship.
I don’t think these don’t look like the same bodies/tubes… where did the first image come from?
“Facts don’t care about your feelings.”
~Ben Shapiro
Oh well, sorry for that.
The torture’s going to end my friend. Let’s make a deal: PM me your mailing address, and my MaxToch SN6×-2X(Vn) will be on its way to you.
Everything’s on me, Merry Christmas!
Please add me for one!
P.S.: The light looks great!
Agreed, quite different. Yet more questions than answers. Again.
Guessing that is only TK’s proto2. It seems we are now up to at least 3 , or even 4, and so it still seems to keep on evolving, at least in some people’s dreams.
So it seems the warmest tint is somewhere in the middle of the range (from very low to very high).Okay, i’ll look for that among the esoteric graphs i’m not initiated for.
2Q19
2Q19
On my list of things to learn
GIMP is very powerful, but I couldn't figure it out.
I use IrfanView for my modest image editing needs.
31 knives for sale=USA only ☮♫☯
Photoshop is a lot easier. If you actually want to get things done, and are prepared to pay, or otherwise, obtain it.
Irfan View does the basic jobs and is lightweight. But Faststone Image viewer is far more powerful (basically a clone of ACDSee, my mainstay, and worth the money)
I like Photoshop.
I haven't learned many tricks to use it, but it is more intuitive than GIMP.
31 knives for sale=USA only ☮♫☯
We seem to be drifting off again, how did that happen
Slow news day ?
Not complaining.
One of my favorite things about BLF is that being off-topic is usually not a problem.
31 knives for sale=USA only ☮♫☯
Just for the records:
The cut away is from prototype #0
Changes I know:
- tapered design
- moved O-ring(s)
- some diameter increase
Affinity Photo is quite good for non pro photoshop users.
- one time ca. 55€ instead of a subscription
- nearly all tools the same
- similar workflow
Reviews are on YouTube
Edit: Some reviews about early beta version
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affinity_Photo
I’ve never heard of Affinity Photo. But I just looked it up and it does seem nice. I’ve been a GIMP user for years. I’ve never used Photoshop. I’m not anything like a professional user, but I have learned how to do some moderately advanced things with GIMP. Photoshop and Affinity Photo still have quite a few very advanced features that Gimp lacks.
The Cycle of Goodness: “No one prospers without rendering benefit to others”
- The YKK Philosophy
I’ve spent time with a bunch of image editors, and have been using GIMP and Photoshop since the 1990s. I even made my own paint program / image editor once, designed mostly around demoscene effects. But I find GIMP suits me best, and is the most intuitive for me. Part of it is because it’s trivially easy to assign arbitrary keyboard shortcuts, part is because it lets my window manager do its job instead of trying to manage everything itself in a single window, and part is just that it has the types of tools I want.
In the past, Photoshop was a lot better if you needed color spaces other than greyscale or RGB, but GIMP recently overhauled its engine to fix that sort of issue. It always had a wider and more advanced variety of image-processing tools, often getting brand new stuff from SIGGRAPH long before other programs, but its core architecture has also gotten a lot more mature over time.
I wouldn’t use either one for diagrams or for painting though. There are better tools for those tasks, like Inkscape for diagrams and Krita for painting. GIMP is mostly designed for photo editing.
It’s hard to go wrong with any decent image editor though. There is no shortage of genuinely good imaging software these days.
About the FW3A though… something I’ve been pondering is whether to try to fit in a factory reset function somewhere.
This would reset everything to defaults except the thermal sensor calibration. For that, it would act as if the user went through thermal config mode and calibrated it to 21 C. Maybe that’s not the exact temperature of everyone’s rooms, but it should be a lot closer than an uncalibrated attiny85.
Normally I’d put it on “hold e-switch while connecting power, then continue to hold for a few seconds”. However, the FW3A can’t do that because the switch doesn’t get physically connected until after power.
So maybe it could be on some other action which is hard to do by accident. Maybe 10 clicks from off and hold the 10th?
If it fits, the overall UI for it would be:
At least, that’s how the “self destruct mode” works on the lightsaber UI I made. It probably doesn’t need to be as fancy in a flashlight. In particular, it probably shouldn’t get very bright because that could affect the temperature calibration. Regardless though, I’ve been pondering whether it should be included.
The Anduril I flashed onto my D4 goes into a lock on if you click 10 plus clicks from on. I would consider this a good thing, must power cycle to exit.
I don’t see myself using a factory reset, but it might be good for some.
I think that was a big in an older version where too long click sequences just lock up the whole light.
That should be fixed by now
Since then, I completely rewrote the button input handling system. It’s now quite a bit smaller and also lacks bugs like the one you noted.
I still have a couple other bugs to hunt down, but they only affect lights with aux LEDs, so it’s not relevant for the FW3A. The other bugs are also incredibly rare, to the point that I can’t even make them happen on purpose, so it may take a while to confirm any fixes.
In any case, there is no more lock-up after long click sequences.
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