Beam Shots - SMO Reflector versus Stippled Reflector - Just so you can see the difference.

Hello,

I have been talking about showing the difference between a Smooth Reflector and a Stippled Reflector, so everyone can see the difference for themselves. Finally I have the shots for you to see.

The test light is the Blue 1D that I just finished. It has an XM-L T6 led in it, I cannot tell you the tint, but it's up in the 6000k+ range. It is showing about 3000ma on high. All shots are on high. It is powered by 4xAA Eneloops. The reflector is a 51.2x29.5mm Aluminum Mill Reflector For XM-L T6, from CNQG. It is a SMO reflector and I will Stipple it for the second half of the tests.

The photos are all shot with my Canon S3IS set on Manual. The settings are:

ISO 200

F:2.7

Shutter 1 second

WB/Daylight

The last set of photos, taken inside has a different set of parameters and it will be identified under the photos.

ALL Photos are set up with MouseOut SMO and MouseOver Stippled.

Here we go;

Garage Door

MouseOut SMO and MouseOver Stippled.

Wall

MouseOut SMO and MouseOver Stippled.

tree

MouseOut SMO and MouseOver Stippled.

pond

MouseOut SMO and MouseOver Stippled.

fountain

MouseOut SMO and MouseOver Stippled.

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MouseOut SMO and MouseOver Stippled.

inside

This last set, is to show a little more definition of the beam. Settings are the same, except for Shutter speed of 1/60 Second. A faster shutter, to show a little more definition.

Basically, using the Stippling gives more spill, with a larger hot spot. You loose throw, but gain side spill. You also loose lumens, since the light is now expanded across a larger area, it seems to cut down on the light. Some of this is perceived, some of it is actual loss, because the reflector is no longer smooth, so it does not reflect out as well as it did. I cannot measure lumen output, so all I can give you is a few photos. I would guesstimate somewhere around 25% to 30% loss using a Stippled or OP reflector.

My preference is spill over throw ans uniformity of the beam over artifacts. That's why I stipple my reflectors.

those are looking great OL, nice photos.
I always did like visual aids.

However for me, I always did favour throw since it gave a bigger ‘wow’ factor, unless you were indoors then all the light would be contained and it would have the same effect.

Actually you loose lux (light per unit of area) because the same amount of light is spread out over a bigger area.

Lumens is the total amount of light. Stippling does lose you some lumens, but that is because the coating absorbs some light.

How to do a mouse-over on an iPod touch?
It doesn’t work for me.

I don’t know, what’s an iPod? LOL.

Guess I will do another post with the separate photos.

In sets, the first of each set is always the SMO, the second of each set is the Stippled.

1a

1b

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2a

2b

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3a

3b

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4a

4b

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5a

5b

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6a

6b

You cant, because there is no mouse or hovering option in iOS.

a thousand words. Outstanding.

Thanks for a very direct comparison, OL. I’ll try my hand at stippling a reflector with some Krylon clearcoat.

GREAT mo’s Old-Lumens!!!

To my eyes on my screen, it seems the following the following three pics

when compared to the following 2:

are a great examples exemplifying the balance of throw vs. spill, as well as your exemplary work.

Thank you!

Nice work Old-L . I remember when people were buying smo reflectors for their C8’s. I do like the stippled reflectors

Very nice thanks for sharing these with us!

Nice shots, Justin :)

Thanks OL! For anyone on a Iphone you may need to refresh the page before mouseovers will work.

Hey, Old, thank you very much for these pics :smiley: Good job! :beer:
I think that the result is awesome :stuck_out_tongue: After stipple, you get an awesome floody and even beam :heart_eyes: Only one thing, pease, post a close up pic of that stippled reflector. Just want to see how much did you stipple it to get that type of beam. Thanks again :crown:

s1

Perfect! Thanks :wink:

I stipple them because of the uneven beam. On any build I have done (except for aspheric), the beam will look somewhat oval, or uneven, or have "artifacts" (blotches?), with any SMO reflector. Stippling solves that. I never really see rings with these XM-L leds. I only ever see rings with XR-E and the old incans. The Stipple leaves a smooth beam, but of course, it kills throw. When I make a thrower (I have done one or two, but rarely ever), I leave the reflector smooth.

I guess I could leave it to the new owner, but some people will not want to "fix their own reflector" and it's not worth the trouble if someone does not like the oval or out of shape beam, when they get it. I try to show the beam shots, so they know what they are getting. If someone wants a thrower, well there's a hundred chinese throwers out there for as low as $14 (A60) and I figure that's enough. I was going to make a Thrower out of one of these Maglite builds, but the problem I have is the room. These incan lights have no space for a deep reflector and if I use one, it means the heat sink will be very thin and I hate to do that. I have found the short reflector gives me more heat sink room and I guess that's why I do it.

I'm not all that fond of these reflectors, but there's darned little out there in the way of aluminum reflectors that will fit a Maglite. In fact, none of them really fit. They don't drop in and they need to be massaged to fit. I wish there was a good reflector for the Mag. KD used to carry some, but they were high priced, now they don't stock them. I found some for $20 each, but no way on that...

As fas as moving the emitter forward, it's down all the way now (photo below). There's no place to go. The reflector is touching the isolator as it is. I don't know how I would go deeper unless I used an 8mm star and made a bigger hole in the reflector that went down over the star. I did that once, but it didn't look any better, so I ended up backing it off and Stippling, LOL.

nf

Edit: If you have a good way and a photo, that would be great!

Thanks OL, nicely done.
I did some stippling myself with a old modded Mag with a Seoul P7 LED.
The method I used is very similar to your tutorial video.
The first coat I did is the only difference.
I bent the neck of the spray nozzle slightly back to produce a dribbling effect with bigger spray droplets.
It gave the reflector a heavier orange peel look.
I let that dry, then I gave it a 2nd coat similar to your application style.
I noticed when I was experimenting spraying, temperature has a effect on the outcome.
When it’s colder, the haze is cloudier, it’s clearer when it’s warmer.

OL, do you have a link to the reflector you used? I figure I'll order one of those to use with my light too. :D