Ok, just got done converting the RAW images to jpeg. This is a New-to-me camera so still figuring it out but they turned out pretty good for mostly default settings.
Reasonably close to what we saw with the naked eye. I did take the wrong lens though, this one had a heck of a time focusing lol.
I might try editing them later to help “balance them” but they really are very close as is.
Yes, it really was that bright out, as you can see there are a lot of lights all around from strip malls and shopping centers and even a car dealership, including the parking lot I was in. Add to that the overcast night and humidity, the sun had just set and what you see, is basically what we saw, it might be slightly brighter in the pictures but not much.
Also, while I say giggles is on turbo, it might have been on high for some of these, the person holding giggles didn’t realize there was a different between high and turbo till part way through the shoot. You can hardly tell though even in person.
Here are the beamshots, click them for full size:
This first tower is 4682ft away according to Google, or 1427m or just shy of 0.9 miles. It is also heavily backlit with light.
Zoomed out control shot, 18mm with AP-C sensor:
Zoomed out Giggles on turbo:
Zoomed in Control shot, 55mm with AP-C sensor:
Giggles on Turbo:
This second tower is a bit further away, 5808ft according to google or 1770m or 1.1 miles.
Zoomed out control shot:
Zoomed out giggles on turbo:
Zoomed in Control Shot:
Zoomed in Giggles on turbo:
A few more random shots:
Notice how the beam looks blue even though it is on the warmer side? That is a great example of why cool white LED’s do not through as far in the real world. The blue light gets scattered much easier then the warmer tones and scattered light by definition does not make it to the target.
The color is great on this LED when used in the real world as well, here is a raccoon we spotted about ~500ft away, notice how everything looks natural?
Here are some more shots that shows the tint pretty well, looks like a small sun. A bit on the warm side of neutral but nothing extreme.
Now for my personal impressions now that I have used it in the real world.
I still love this LED, it is bright, easy on the eyes and throws way further then the CW version for sure.
For example I tried lighting up these water towers with the V1 prototype but even to the human eye it was hard to see the light hitting them for 2 reasons.
1: The cooler 3A tint that I had in the V1 while technically neutral was still fairly cool and it scattered bad. Remember this picture:
That is really what it looked like and it was only ~15% higher humidity that night, compared to picture below from last night, you can see how much less light is scattered.
So the light simply could not make it as far due to the atmosphere fighting it. This LED on the other hand seems to cut through much better. I was worried about getting good shots tonight but man, it cut through the ~65% humidity great!
2: The V1 LED caused so much light to scatter that it really screwed with your vision, it was almost blinding just to look at the beam and made it very hard to see long distances without squinting, which killed your night vision.
This LED is far more enjoyable and pleasant to look long distances with then the cooler LED, no question about it.
On top of that this LED seems to have better contrast and that makes it easier to actually see things down range as well.
For real world use at long ranges, I am completely happy with this LED!
Now for the considerations, this LED is a 4000k LED, which some people think is a bit too warm, I will admit that 4500k is my personal perfect tint but the fact is trying to get another LED would add significant delays and complications to the GB and all for a very small change in final tint? Plus we have no idea if we found some 4500k LED’s if they would be as powerful as these 4000k which are strangely high output.
Seeing as HID headlights are between 4100-4300k, You can bet there is a reason for this range being selected where high visibility it paramount for safety and usability.
The 4000k LED looks great in the outdoors but does have a hint of yellow if you are looking at a white wall. It really does look like a small sun, both tint and intensity.
Off topic but from a few feet away Giggles literally is brighter then the sun, I got a reading well over 100k lux when playing around with it, 100k lux is roughly the sun, at noon, in the middle of summer.
So before commenting on your desired tint, please keep these things in mind:
1: 5000k / 3D xhp35 HI’s could not be found anywhere in the world from The Teams, Neals, or Lumintops searching.
2: 4500k may or may not be possible to find but it would be from an unknown source with an unknown quality and unknown lumen output. As much as I love 4500k, a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush.
3: It would add significant delays to the production to use another LED besides these 4000k
4: Cost could also increase slightly if another LED is used from an “outside source” due to the extra costs involved with using said source.
5: The team has final say on the tint based on what we feel is the best for all involved, that said we do want to hear peoples opinions so that we can make an educated decision.
Personally I am once again very happy with both the sphere and real world results of this 4000k LED, I truly feel it is the better option for real world long range use. The only thing I would say is not ideal is the higher then expected Vf. Although it still appears to hold high output till about ~3.7V cell voltage, which is about 50% of the total runtime, so that is not bad. We have no idea what another LED’s Vf would be, it could be lower but it could also be higher.
If someone wants to get technical and explain how the longer wavelengths of the warmer tones can travel further, like low frequency radio waves, please feel free.
unless it’s on the back of the switch section
:+1:
