OH….. Thank you EnlightenMe!! You have enlightened me…. .

teacher wrote:

how you got “an average color value”, & how you arrived at those percentages.

It’s fairly straightforward.

1. Blur the image. Something like a Gaussian blur filter, with an appropriately-wide sample size for the given image. Maybe 20 to 50 pixels across, depending on the image. This makes each pixel an average of itself and every neighbor within N pixels.
2. Use the eyedropper tool to read the R/G/B values from a region near the middle of the light.
3. Note the highest of the three values. Multiply all three numbers by 100, divided by the noted highest value.

Also, it’s important to make sure beforehand that the original image isn’t clipping (overexposed) anywhere near the sampled region. I mean, make sure none of the values are maxed out, 255, in the original image… or at least not anywhere within N pixels of the sampled point, where N is the size of the Gaussian filter. Clipping distorts the data.

ToyKeeper wrote:

teacher wrote:

how you got “an average color value”, & how you arrived at those percentages.

It’s fairly straightforward.

1. Blur the image. Something like a Gaussian blur filter, with an appropriately-wide sample size for the given image. Maybe 20 to 50 pixels across, depending on the image. This makes each pixel an average of itself and every neighbor within N pixels.
2. Use the eyedropper tool to read the R/G/B values from a region near the middle of the light.
3. Note the highest of the three values. Multiply all three numbers by 100, divided by the noted highest value.

Also, it’s important to make sure beforehand that the original image isn’t clipping (overexposed) anywhere near the sampled region. I mean, make sure none of the values are maxed out, 255, in the original image… or at least not anywhere within N pixels of the sampled point, where N is the size of the Gaussian filter. Clipping distorts the data.

EnlightenMe wrote:

You just open the photo in Photoshop, use the dropper tool to pick up the color from a pixel of the picture, and read the RGB values.

Great, what values did you get?

The values I get in Photoshop depend on where I "pick" the color - and they vary widely between the light and dark areas of the FW3A photos.   

ActiveAl wrote:

The values I get in Photoshop depend on where I “pick” the color

That’s why it’s important to blur the image first, to get an average. After blurring, the values will still vary from pixel to pixel, but they pretty much only vary in brightness, not hue. The ratio of red to green to blue doesn’t change much.

I wonder if GIMP has a filter to normalize each pixel individually. This would make it much easier to see changes in color without having to pay attention to brightness.

teacher wrote:

cabfrank wrote:

Do let us know what you think when you get it, teacher. I think it is quite tempting, even at around fifteen bucks.

I certainly will my friend.
Also, I just checked; the $10.99 Coupon Code for the Convoy S2+ SST20 4000K 95CRI is still active. Get the details HERE …

I think Banggood threw Simon under the bus.

They’re basically saying: we did not order enough units.

Marc E wrote:

teacher wrote:

cabfrank wrote:

Do let us know what you think when you get it, teacher. I think it is quite tempting, even at around fifteen bucks.

I certainly will my friend.
Also, I just checked; the $10.99 Coupon Code for the Convoy S2+ SST20 4000K 95CRI is still active. Get the details HERE …

It is, but a word of warning, i ordered one on the 20th Feb using that link and code and got an e-mail on 1st March saying that the order had been delayed due to manufacturing process. I asked Simon and he confirmed here that there were no such issues. Could be a fake reason for a genuine delay but who knows.

ToyKeeper wrote:

ActiveAl wrote:

The values I get in Photoshop depend on where I “pick” the color

That’s why it’s important to blur the image first, to get an average. After blurring, the values will still vary from pixel to pixel, but they pretty much only vary in brightness, not hue. The ratio of red to green to blue doesn’t change much.

I wonder if GIMP has a filter to normalize each pixel individually. This would make it much easier to see changes in color without having to pay attention to brightness.

EDIT: Nope. I was wrong. I just tried it. It reduces to a user-selected number of “levels” not “colors” and the difference means it won’t work for this purpose.

ToyKeeper wrote:

I wonder if GIMP has a filter to normalize each pixel individually.

It doesn’t, but it didn’t take long to write a script to repeat what I did to the entire image, so we can see how that looks. To make these, what I did is:

1. Gaussian blur, with the sample size set to about 1/3rd of the width of the FW3A in each image.
2. Run the images through a quick per-pixel brightness normalizer script. This scales up the brightness of each pixel so at least one of the red, green, or blue channels will be exactly 255. Basically, it maxes out the brightness of each pixel as far as possible without changing the hue.

Mouse-over to compare before/after/after:

• Initial pic: Original image.
• Mouse-over to see it fully normalized.
• Mouse-out to see it blurred and normalized. This is how I measured the “normalized average color” of each FW3A photo.

Bluzie: orig, norm, blur+norm

TK: orig, norm, blur+norm

Maukka: orig, norm, blur+norm

This visualization shows only the hue of each pixel, without regard for the original brightness. Using this, a perfectly grey surface would end up looking pure white. That’s why the older light grey FW3A prototype disappears almost completely… and why the FW3A in maukka’s image almost disappears. It’s virtually indistinguishable from the background color. Any deviation from pure grey shows up as an off-white color.

Is it too late to still get one of these?

Not too late at all. They haven’t started production so just express your interest in this thread and you’ll eventually be added to the list.

In that case I want one.

Requesting to be added to the purchase list. Thank you.

Please add me to the list.

I’m seeing a lot of folks with single digit post counts asking to have their names on the list.

I think that’s great – this light is actually boosting membership to the ‘club’, and adding to the resource base of available knowledge as well as encouraging even more innovative BLF projects.

BLF never ceases to impress me.

(On the other hand, maybe we’re promoting an addiction, so there’s that!)

I’d actually prefer the SST-20 to the LH351D I’m on the list for, even without the wait.

Tumbleweed48 wrote:

I’m seeing a lot of folks with single digit post counts asking to have their names on the list.

I think that’s great – this light is actually boosting membership to the ‘club’, and adding to the resource base of available knowledge as well as encouraging even more innovative BLF projects.

BLF never ceases to impress me.

(On the other hand, maybe we’re promoting an addiction, so there’s that!)

No , that’s BS ,they really come on here to hangout with the cool kids like us

I’m in!

2 please! Great looking light.

Add me to the list please.

I’m one of those single digit post counts you guys are talking about. I’ve been a lurker for a while, but use r/flashlights much more. I’d probably use BLF more, but my only internet access is my phone, and the site is rough for mobile browsing. I do already have a BLF Q8, and love the idea of lights that are actually produced based on what the community wants. If only we could get other industries to work with us like this. Seems like most industries insist on pushing features we don’t want, and not listening to what we actually do want. This thread specifically is amazing to me.

Please put me on the list for one!

Tumbleweed48 wrote:

(On the other hand, maybe we’re promoting an addiction, so there’s that!)

I recently made a meme that depicts my BLF experience. It relates to your assertion.

Another lurker with only a couple posts here. I’ve had pretty much exactly the same experience as wheelgunwordslinger, actually.

Came from r/flashlight for the Q8, got a GT and some others too. Love that you guys work with manufacturers in these big group buys. I’ll be lurking around here for a while, I think.

mattadores wrote:

I recently made a meme that depicts my BLF experience. It relates to your assertion.

Thanks for the meme mattadores, it does show my BLF experience if played in a never-ending loop

djozz wrote:

Thanks for the meme mattadores, it does show my BLF experience if played in a never-ending loop

Ditto

P220C wrote:

djozz wrote:

Thanks for the meme mattadores, it does show my BLF experience if played in a never-ending loop

Ditto