[Help] High-CRI High-lumen tail switch 21700 light recommendation?

Struggling to find a light for some light-painting photography practices. Please help.

Basically it needs to be a tail-switch and 4-emitter Wurkkos TS21; Or a longer Noctigon KR4.

I’ve experimented with all high-CRI lights I have, turns out the lowest CRI acceptable would be CRI 95, which means SST20 4000k would be a good emitter choice. 219B and E21a simply are not bright enough for the specific application I’m planning.

Unfortunately LH351D won’t cut it due to CRI not high enough. The difference on camera is pretty significant.

It will be mounted with some special reflector / deflectors on its head. So it basically has to be tail switch, and head diameter has to be within 32mm / 1.26 inches. Also I’d prefer it to be as long as TS21 (longer than D4v2) so there’s enough room to hold or mount the body.

The max ramp should be no lower than 1500 lumens, in CRI 95, which I know is quite a lot to ask.

Each session will be well within 1 minute so as long as it can hold the max ramp for 1 minute it would be fine, which I understand is still a very high requirement for single 18650 / 21700 small head light. So configurable thermal settings is strongly preferred. I can set the step-down temp to 70C then wear a glove.

Greatly appreciate your help!

Why you not consider big flashlight with tripod mount. You have big thermal mass for longer high output. I think Astrolux MF18s with SST20 is good enough. Another great choice was made time ago. Best photography light for now is made by Acebeam. Acebeam X50 with GT FC40. Yes it is expensive but is highest poweful Hi Cri flashlight so far.

I’d love to use a bigger light, but there is a huge problem:

The light will be mounted a set of special accessories on it head when using, which will be much, much bigger than the light itself. Even with a 30mm head diameter, the special spherical deflectors for it would already have diameters of my forearm’s length, which is huge, especially considering I need to walk trails to reach most of my destinations, and I need to hold the light and move around to produce the image. For something like X50 I’d have to hire an assistant just to carry and mount the accessories. Price is not so much of a concern (as long as still reasonable), but size and weight definitely is.

Still, thanks for your opinion!

I immediately thought of the Convoy S21D since it’s new and pretty close to what you want. It’s with the 219b 4500k, though.

Also Convoy S12 it good choice, but that new S21D it will be better as flood light with that honeycomb TIR optic.

Thank you.

How come I never knew of its existence…Looking into it right now.

4 x 219b is not gonna cut it in terms of brightness. Turbo 2000lm means max ramp is much lower. I’ll ask if I can order one with SST20 or other brighter CRI95 emitters, if I can then S21D probably is it.

Thanks a lot!

Also check out the Jaxman E21.

Thanks, looking into it right now.

Beam profile doesn’t matter in this case. groups of deflector and reflector will be mounted to the light.

Thank you for the suggestion.

It’s for camera with 16-bit color depth, so CRI 90 is not high enough. Considering the low brightness / efficiency of CRI 95+ emitters I conclude I need at least 4 emitters for this specific case.

Thanks a lot!

It says “CRI > 90”. If you scroll down in the listing, there is a screenshot from a spectrometer showing the light is CRI 95.

Perhaps I don’t understand how you intend to use the light, but if I’m not mistaken, for light painting you are just going to be shining the light directly into the camera. If that is the case, CRI does not matter at all. CRI only matters for reflected light. Or are you using this as a fill light?

Also FYI, I have a 4000K SST-20 in a C8 that measures CRI 92. Actual CRI value will vary depending on optics and coatings on the glass.

It’s in Nichia 219, which means either 219C or 219B, as far as I know. 219B is not bright / efficient enough, and 219C doesn’t show the color well enough.

I happen to have High-CRI lights in SST20, LH351D, 219B, 219C, and E21a. I’ve tested / compared all of them using X-rite color checker and the specific camera I’m gonna use for this project, showing only SST-20 being sufficient in both color rendition and brightness, especially after compensating for possible variations across different lights, optics and drivers etc. Luckily I’m shooting RAW so CT and tint does not matter at all. I don’t know about FC40 or B35AM though, as I don’t have any lights with them.

It’s not the “common” light painting type of work. I’ll still be using the light to illuminate the scene and objects, just in a “modified” way. The light source itself will be hidden by deflectors and will not show in the image.

Thanks for the note!

519A might be a good candidate.

A Convoy S12 with LH351D 4000K will be able to sustain the kind of output you are looking for. If you use it with a Zircon 803 filter, CRI is increased to Ra 98 / R9 96.

From what I read 519A is a min R8000 emitter, which is significantly lower than R9080 or R9050, is that correct?

Thank you! looking into it right now.

S21D with 519A R9080 leds from Simon might be your solution. He probably is willing to sell you one with those emitters even though it wasn’t listed last time I checked.

Thank you! Great to know that 519A has R9080 variants.

He didn’t reply to my inquiries, though. lol. Could be taking a vacation or something.

It’s worth noting that the S12 went through some changes since it was released (or Simon sent better flashlights to reviewers). I got one last month that came with no spring bypass, no o-ring on the bezel ring and the screws that hold/help to apply pressure to the mpcb were also absent.

I’m struggling to find reviews, but if you are set on 4x SST20, Kaidomain has a p60 drop-in with quad SST20, and they also have a p60 host that accepts 21700. Might be worth checking.

Noted.

It doesn’t have to be 4 x SST20. It can be anything CRI 95 that’s equally bright or brighter than 4 x SST20.

I’m currently acquiring about S21D w/ 4 x 519A now, waiting for Simon’s reply.

Thank you!