Make sure that you buy the Zircon filters if there is any chance at all that they become warm during use (usually when the lens/filter is close to the LED => smaller lights). The standard LEE filters lose their function quickly if they become warm.
at the very least, I recommend the swatch book as a way to test the filters, so xevious can experience them, before spending money on the premium Zircon ones, and so he knows which one he needs, or wants
Search for a photography/theatrical supply store inour area and ask if they stock color correcting filters.
Those big 2-foot square sheets are meant to filter theatrical or photographic lights.
There is another brand — Rosco —- you may find locally.
And ask if they have the filter “sample packs” — which are often sold inexpensively.
Those are little books with 1x1.5-inch strips of each color filter.
PS — the filter packs come out every year; I found suppliers would give me last year’s sample packs free.
Probably a stupid question, but if you can't get the bezel off, how do you attach the filter? I use dc-fix on some lights but it has adhesive and it's no problem to attach and keep it there and be able to remove it. Does these filters have a similar type of adhesive?
I’ve only used Lee filters on optics lights, since I’m able to sandwich the filter between the lens and optic. I wish I could put one on my beloved SC600 HI.
However, my ROT66 with SST20s is my favorite hiking light thanks to a lee 804 filter.
On my H600fc I put a tiny amount of glue from a glue stick around the edge between the glass and filter. It works ok but a water resistant glue might be better.
A tiny amount of contact cement around the edge of the lens. Water resistant and easy to remove with rubbing alcohol later.
On lights where the bezel is removeable I put it between the lens and bezel (or optics and lens on TIR lights).
Highly suggest the –1/4 for anyone buying filters. If a light has a high enough duv that you’ll want to lower it the 1/8 doesn’t really do enough, and the difference in total output loss between the two filter strengths is very minimal basically imperceptible.
Thanks everybody for the help. I’ll see if any of these things work for me. Otherwise I will have to live with some lights as they are or learn to swap LED’s.
this forum has a number of super helpful people that can help guide you into modding
I find it extremely rewarding, but before I invested about $300 in the tools, I used to mail my lights to other people for modding…
each light model has its own challenges, if you want help with a particular light, look for, or ask for, information about its personality quirks, and how moddable it may be
good luck fine tuning your LED options
any single light source can work, our brain adapts and adjusts to any particular source
its only when you start comparing that differences become obvious… for a example, a nichia will usually make any other LED look greener in a side by side comparison…
I’d recommend against using classic filters, only Zircon, on my H600fc the 1/4 minus green was clear after one runtime.
Edit : Actually even with the Zircon 804 it seems to have shifted ~+0.0010 duv since I put it on, I think I must have gone through around 10 cells since then. Maybe a durability test would be in order to confirm that.
agree,
I dont recommend non zircon Lee filters for more than 200 lumen output, they are not very heat resistant and can deform. Did not realize you could cook the dye off them too… but I dont have experience using 1000+ lumens…