Solarforce S2200 MT-G2

ok thanks… i ordered on 5/26 so i should get notification soon i would think

I ordered on the 18th of May.

i got my shipping notice this morning woohoo!

Ok, trying something out…let me bounce this off you guys. I reckon most here know by now I’m a photographer. I use Canon equipment. The lenses (L series) come with hoods and I use them to keep light refraction from making green spots in my pics. (When a direct light source like the sun hits inside the lens this refraction bounces around off the AR coatings and causes red or green splotches, opposite the angle of the light entering the lens tube)

So, if a hood can be used to shield light coming IN, why can’t it be used to direct light going OUT? The S2200 puts out a very wide beam with tons of spill, but as a result it’s throw is reduced somewhat. So I made a hood for it. Tightens up the projected light considerably, but don’t know yet if it helps throw…only beam shots will tell. My hood adds about 4 1/2” to the end of the light. I’ll try to get some beamshots tonight with and without and we’ll see how that works!

Would love to hear some opinions before the tests, so hit me with your best shot! lol

Quick and dirty, not finished, no finesse shot of the light with hood…

I think you will perceive increased throw, but only because the shield will reduce the amount of light on stuff between you and the target, making the target seem like there's more light hitting it. A light meter at the target would very likely read exactly the same with & without.

Bringing the side spill into the game doesn’t push it any further downrange as it doesn’t change the core power. But it won’t be a matter of perception once I get pics of the resulting beam. :slight_smile: (Any excuse to set up and take pics is a good enough excuse for me! :stuck_out_tongue: )

On the other hand, in researching what makes the best reflector, the science says depth creates throw. A shallow reflector isn’t capable of gathering the light that leaves the emitter at an angle that escapes the desired trajectory before the walls of the reflector can gather it and redirect. So it might prove interesting to see if this hood has that kind of effect, even marginally. This science proves solid when looking at the result of a small emitter vs a large one, the radiant angles of light dispersion are more aligned with a forward trajectory in the smaller die thus elimating the extensive need to redirect the beam into a forward core. The larger die has more angle of dispersion, creating need for deeper walls in a reflector to gather and channel it.

This isn’t my argument, mind you, but the science of the companies that make the reflectors in the first place. Of course, I could have it all wrong…

I frequently get it all wrong. It doesn't seem to cause any permanent damage. :p

I wonder what would happen if you lined the inside of your “hood” with the shiny side of aluminum foil, making it as smooth as possible?

BTW, how’d you attach that to the bezel?

I don’t know if it would just create confusion in the ranks or actually help. I originally created this hood to help a poorly designed Cassegrain-Schmidt 500mm f/10 lens gain contrast to help improve it’s performance. This isn’t anything near what this tube was designed for and the inside was very shiny. I had to do a lot of work to rough it up to a velvety texture to stop light bouncing around inside and affecting picture quality. As such, the beam it puts on the wall is quite nice with this hood in place. It remains to be seen what the beam is doing outside in the dark with some distance to work with.

I’m no engineer. I improvise. Good thing nobody here does that or no telling what would happen! :wink: I took my wife and we went searching for something that fit the dimensions we needed to make this hood for the lens I was given. A project of epic proportion, we searched hi and lo to no avail. And then my wife found it. You’re not gonna believe it. A toilet brush with this canister to contain the brush and handle! At Target. Less than $10. I’ve given up on the lens, it just can’t really be helped enough to matter. But this hood came in handy for this little experiment! It’s just a tight friction fit. There is a taper to the walls of the tube, I put the light in through the large end and worked it up onto the head of the light. It’s strong enough to head stand the light, but wouldn’t stand up to any abuse. On the other hand, it comes off relatively easy for the full flood of light this beast produces. So there’s not really a lose here. lol

Who knows. You might’ve just started a run on toilet brushes at Target… the “BLF Effect” :)!!

Edit: BTW, I disagree that no one here improvises. I think a lot do… look at some of Old Lumens’ mods, for example. Like the one he did for making a battery carrier.

Perhaps so, if the beamshots show a visible gain…be cool if it does.

Is that a picture of the toilet brush thing in your icon :)?

Oh, through the heart Jim! That is my new precious little powerhouse from RufusBDuck, a modified AAA MiniMag that test out at 261 lumens OTF in texaspyro’s sphere.

3.25” of dynamo! Just so happens to be laying on top of the S2200, barely as long as the S2200 is wide!

From 30 yds, look how it fills the area…this from a light that’s smaller than an 18650 cell (more or less)

Sorry, I got on a roll with the toilet brush thing, and couldn’t resist :(… We’re still good, right :)?

Edit: Beautiful MiniMag BTW!

One minute a toilet brush, the next a beautiful mod. This truly is BLF!

Comfychair, when you’re right your’e right! The hood indeed narrows down the beam pattern, but doesn’t seem to have any effect whatsoever on the light hitting the target downrange. Yes, it’s a bit easier to see downrange without the flood of light from your feet on out, but that robs this light of one of it’s attributes…a floody wall of light that illuminates virtually everything in front of you! Off goes the hood, keeping it OEM….for now.

For familiarity, same target on the red oil drum 97 yds away.

Interesting results, and a great experiment!

Unfortunately you need both a wider, and deeper reflector in order to collimate the light.

My tracking number was not registering before, and I thought it was just typical HK Post.

But then today I check and it says it was posted only yesterday.

This and the taking-five-extra-days-off-without-telling-anyone thing really pisses me right off.

Mail sent on the 4th:



I call bull.
Now I remember why I try to bundle everything from SolarforceFS together. It's not the 2 dollar shipping which never goes away despite how much you spend, it's the goddamn lost orders and wrong shipments.

Yeah mine just showed up in tracking today too. I am probably not going to order from them again.

I call bull on your profanity. Rules is rules, and that’s a biggie.

I didn’t get the memo stating a company had to ask it’s customers when it planned leave. They most likely took 2 working weeks of vacation, with weekends and holidays giving 5 extra days. Don’t you do that when you plan your vacations? Maximize the time? I always did.

Ohaya just posted a thread about how fast he got an order from FT, 6 days. My Solarforce S2200 came in 6 days as well. The explanation was given that sometimes everything falls just right and the package moves through the system very fast, and sometimes it doesn’t. Well, the times that everything clicks have been few and far between…perhaps they’re getting better at it though and we’re getting spoiled to the fast service.

You could always pay a gazillion dollars to send it back if you’re not happy with em, but then, you’re probably just rambling cause you don’t have a new light to play with… :slight_smile: