Horrible throw and oodles of overly floody lumens. (Based on my experience with a D4s with XPL, and another with SST20 LEDs. The int-outdoor website D4s page gives a good comparison between emitters to give you an idea).
Fireflies E07 gets a lot more lumens from their XP-L LEDs vs their SST emitters. Emisars lumen values on the D4s are very close between the two. SST has far more throw, almost the same lumens and $50 cheaper (in the D18). If the D18 is the same as the D4s I’ll probably go SST for the win.
I kind of like how my SST lights have a warmer tint on low settings, then go bright white at higher settings when I really want to light something up. The added throw and cheaper price are just a bonus.
I ordered a D18 with SST20 3000k and 4000k. I like both Colortemperatures, so i thought this might be really good.
the 4000k has a bit green on low levels? do you think mixing in 3000k will hide that greenish look?
I dont use my lights on very low levels though so i will not suffer to much, but still.
Im not sure which layout Hank chose when installing the emitters, but i would guess its like TK’s layout, for maximum blending.
No joke, you can PM Hank to ask. I also thought it would be more like 15-20$ less for a D18 without leds. But maybe it disturbs the manufacturing process somehow, who knows. :person_facepalming: It would just be easier and faster to solder leds to an empty MCPCB instead of having to remove the previous ones.
Thank you for the offer, contactcr, but I would just buy the normal D18 then. If you get 18 SST20 leds for 10$ it could even be worth the effort to remove the leds from the MCPCB and replace them with Luxeon V2’s.
there is simply almost none room to make an Aux board, the conventional way placing on the MCPCB
the only option I would see would be a hack replacing the front panel PCB
simply have it with holes and let the LEDs shine through them, basically all parts are on te back, but diodes flipped so the emitters shine through the holes
The inner ring of emitters appear to be the 6500K & 3000K, arranged alternately.
The outer ring of emitters appear to be the 5000K & 4000K, arranged in pairs alternately.
The sample here appears to be arranged slightly differently:
inner ring is similar: 6500K & 3000K alternate
outer ring is now alternate 5000K & 4000K (not in pairs)