XM-L2 best Tints ?

I have several lights modded with various tint bins, ( 4C, 1A, etc.) Im curious to what is your favourite Tint bin color ? I am going to mod in some warmer tint XM-L2’s in my X40, but am curious if anyone have tried the 4B, 3B, 3C, 2D, 3D, 4A ranges and “cooler” neutral whites, as i find some of my lights with the 4C is a little to warm/Yellow at times. Also what is your opinion on which XM-L emitter that is closest to the Nichia 219B high CRI tint ?
Would be nice to see Nichia build a XM-L sized version of the 92+ CRI 219 for these bigger lights and more output.

The 4D tint is alot better than the more common 4C, its the same temperature but without the ugly yellow color. I don’t have a nichia 219 yet but it think it should be similar but without the nice high CRI.
You should also try the warmer 7A4 or 7A3 tint, its gorgeous and very easy to the eye without being too warm and yellow. 8D4 is the closest to incan light and are a pleasure to the eyes.

I have different favorites in all the different temperature ranges. It really depends on the type of light and the environment its used in.

Indoors/caves/bunkers - WW, always below BBL in order to avoid too much yellow. Up towards 4000K

General outdoor use - NW in everywhere in the 4000-5000K range. I always aim for highest possible CRI. Often below BBL, but it depends on the emitter. Many emitters above BBL can be nice as well, but it depends a bit on how lucky you are. For green nature I sometimes prefer to be right above BBL. I do a lot of tint mixing in this range, which fixes most problems depending on what you mix and what you want.

Throwers- I dont use CW that much, but when I do its for lights with throw.

The typical 219B is cooler compared to typical 219A. I would not compare 4D with the typical 219B. Its really hard to compare any Cree LED with those Nichias. The only way to get closer IMO is with tint mixing.

Based on what you say (being a bit skeptic to 4C beeing too warm) id recommend you a mild tint mix in your X40.

2x 3A and 1x 4C

or

2X 3B and 1x 4D

If you have tendency to hold the X40 in the same way every time, make sure the emitter that is closest to the ground is the emitter that you only have one out of.

Subbed! I’d like to hear some opinions on this as well.

So far I’ve only tried the 5A3 80+ cri, 7D3 90+cri, 4C, and 3C tints. Of the lot, I like the 5A3 tint the best, but it still is not nearly as good as the 4500K 92cri 219A/B in my opinion. I’ve heard that some of the other 5XX tints are quite good, but I haven’t gotten around to trying them.

My photography skills are lousy, but I could post a picture comparing the different tints that I currently have. Would that help?

Pardon my ignorance: What does BBL stand for?

BBL - Black Body Locus . WIKI info

The BBL line is stippled on the Ansi White Chart.

Roughly said, tints that start with A and D are below. Tints with B and C are above. In the NW range, emitters below BBL have more pink (I usually say red) and less yellow/green.

That makes sense. Thanks for the clarification RaceR86!

I’m wondering if that might also explain why I wasn’t impressed by the 7D3 tint I tried earlier. I have a couple of 7C4 XPG2 emitters that I never got around to mounting, but I’m wondering now if the light they produce is a little closer to what an incandescent would look like.

Some of my favorite tints are 3B, 2B, and 3C. Right now, I really like the 3B XM-L2 I put in my second Convoy M1 build. I also like the 2B XP-G2 I put in a Convoy S2 build last weekend. I also like the color rendition I get with the 5A1 tint. It has a very slight pinkish tint when shone on a white wall, but makes colors pop in real-life use.

Where did you get that 5A3 in 80+ CRI? I want one!!! Err… six! LOL.

Favorite singular tint for me that I’ve tried has been the 5B1. Still a little yellow for me. I’m desperately looking for hi cri 4d/5a/5d tints. 5A3 sounds perfect really.

But my latest mod has been a Supfire M6 with a 3A, 6B3 80,and 7A3 80. Love it. I’d say its a perfect BBL 4300K tint. Sometimes looks pink, sometimes gold. Very happy with this one.

A little cooler mix I did prior (XPG2s) was a 2B, 5A1, 7C4 90+. The 5A1 seems underpowered but so I didn’t get as much pink as I wanted. This resulted in a very close to 219A tint with close CRI. I’d say it yielded about 4600K around the BBL also.

I purchased them from intl-outdoor a few months ago, but unfortunately it doesn’t look like they carry them any longer :frowning:

[quote=Default Username] That makes sense. Thanks for the clarification RaceR86! I'm wondering if that might also explain why I wasn't impressed by the 7D3 tint I tried earlier. I have a couple of 7C4 XPG2 emitters that I never got around to mounting, but I'm wondering now if the light they produce is a little closer to what an incandescent would look like. [/quote]

When it comes to WW, my favorite out of all the "7 tints" I have tried is the 7A3 80+ CRI. Its not far from 7D3, only less warm. I don't typically use WW outdoors though. On the rare occasions I do, its typically a "6" tint (XM-L2 6A3, or a WW Nichia 119).

Tints are subjective. There is no "best". Ive had around 30-35 different XM-L2 tints (partially thanks to tint mixing, and partially due to de-doming), ranging from the very CW 0 and very WW "8" Most are NW.

There are also several factors when it comes to buying emitters with different tint. Source (do you really get what you ordered), difference within that batch, or between different batches (that could be the difference between like and dislike). How it works with the reflector/lens in a certain flashlights. All these things will affect the tint. Due to this Ive had NW "C" tinted emitters look like they were on or below BBL. I have had NW A/D tinted emitters that looked to be like they were above. Most of the time, they look like they should in comparison to others. But if you dont have anything to compare with, sometimes its not easy that easy to notice on certain emitters.

Doing recommendations in the "3" and "4" range is fairly difficult due to the large differences in tints that are are supposed to be the same. I find it easier to say what I like in the "5" range and warmer because the differences between each tint are less. Example. I dont like 6A1 that much (too pink), I like 6A3.

The issue is if you buy, say a 3C. You risk that it can be overly yellow-green. Or it can be nice. Its basically the same risk with most of the NW emitters.

For me, the best tints are the ones the look as white as possible for its temperature range. When it comes to NW emitters that means the least amount of noticeable green, yellow or pink.


(Oh, some of the above were not meant for Default Username, but more as a general info to various people)


Since OP started this thread because of X40.

Ill do a little picture analysis on the mouseover from this comparison thread. Look at the colors.

On the time of comparison both these lights had stock CW (unknown tint as far as I know) emitters. I used AutoWB, but despite that, I think the pictures to some extend show the differences in tint that I could see in real life too.

Trees and nature are greener with the TK75. But it did not have an excessive amount of green. I would guess its a 1C, that is leaning towards 2B, 1D and 2A. I think it looks better on the picture and it looked better in real life. I would not de-dome those emitters since the typical tint shift is towards (more green and less red).

In comparison, my X40 had a slight cooler look, and also noticeable more red in it. Which means less yellow and green as can be seen easily on the trees. I would guess my X40 emitters were 1A leaning towards 0D (It was cooler compared to a 1A I compared it with). I de-domed the emitters in the X40. Outcome was ok (ok outcome after de-doming without any tint mixing is about as good as it gets), but it now lacks red/pink. Typical when de-doming even suitable emitters.

Question was not for me, but I got my T5 5A3 80+ CRI from IOS back when they sold it. (I even double checked with them that the labeling was correct). At one point they also sold T4 5D2 80+ CRI, but those were gone a long long time ago.

Every time there is a tint thread, these emitters seems to come up. :D I was even offered a very high price for one of mine, but did not sell. :D

Now they sell T5 5D3, but not with 80+ CRI.

Thanks again for the excellent write-up! I do have one question though: you mention that optics and reflectors can have an impact on the perceived tint. Do AR coated lens have a noticeable impact when compared to untreated glass or plastic lens?

For GP use and availability T6-4C is nice…but yes, does have a very slight “warm” hue…but for the most part, the colors are the most vibrant to me under 4C, but 1A and cool white looks “brighter”

Yes, in a few cases the AR coating can impact tint.

Reflector can change perceived tint in several ways depending on where in the beam you look. Some reflectors/tints seems to be more prone to have a "rainbow" of colors than others. Basically, hotspot, corona and spill will have different colors. (This picture that I borrowed from the Internet 0:) does not show the effect, but describes the different parts of the beam.

Ill just take a random beamshot from a review Foy did (Xintd with 3C). You can see some of that effect there. On my screen, and with my eyes, I would say the hotspot is white, the corona have some "iffy" yellow looking color (this is the place where some greenish light is sometimes more visible). And the outer spill is cooler compared to hotspot and corona.

How would people describe the tint? It really depends on where you look. And that is also another factor when people subjectively judges tint.

Multi emitter lights, floody lights, MT-G2 lights and various lights have less of that effect.

Depending on how you mix emitters in large multi-emitter lights (9+), and depending on how the reflector works, you can even make the outer spill become warmer. Lots of possibilities with tint/beam snobbery with tint mixing.

Certain drivers (PWM frequencies) seems to change tint too. Typically medium and high will have similar tint, but low will have a different (typically less attractive) tint. That is the case with my Convoy L4 (3A tint and modified driver).

some good info there.
Thats one thing i noticed with CREE emitters from some experimentation i did with a bunch of Cree, Nichia, Osram, LG, Bridgelux emitters in the same reflectors, is most of the Cree designs have a lot of tint-shift through angle of radiation from the emitter, unlike the Nichia 219 which seems to have the best & most consistent tint that remains the same for most of the output angle, (thus why the hotspot, corona & spill from 219 lights seem much smoother and monotone in comparison to Cree-LED lights where the spill in 80 % of the lights i seen is much bluer or Greener and different tint/color than the hotspot in reflector based light only, ( Aspheric lights don’t seem to show this problem with the tint shift of Cree-Based lights because of the design and angle of the light hits the lens) The only Cree emitter that seems to come the closest to the Nichia 219 for a full balanced tint at every angle is the MT-G2.

Cool thread with nice info. Thanks RaceR86 and ya’all.

I am loving the T6-3B , all my lights are either 3B, or 4C (slightly warmer)

Yes, but its more obvious at the outer spill, it give a blue color (chromatic aberration) but it depend of the AR glass and tint of the LED. But because of the AR the light appear more clear.

Well you have to know many tints.
And even then there is no best tint for all, as eyes, brain perceptions, wishes (or frustrations), all make 2 people possibly see things differently.
For someone who is used to 1A, 1C, 1B, 0A, 0D, the 3B or 3C will simply blow him away, even if different reflectors can really make two 2C not look identically.


Another thing to mention is that it matters where you use it, for example 3C is great on leaves and grass as it has that slight greenish tint, however for indoors I do not like it too much as it renders things clearly greenish, white furniture, books, skin, etc.
I have yet seen all the tints I want to see. So far I would recommend 2B and 2C for a cool tint instead of the the 1B and 1C which are simply too greenish in my opinion, also 2B and 2C ahead of 1A and 1D. Looking foward to see 2A.

I am going to get some 3D, hopefully will be able to replace 3C in my setups... i'll see about that.

Those who mention reflectors making a difference in perceived tint have nailed it on the head. I’ve also noticed that changing the LED’s focus with the same reflector can make a significant difference in perceived tint.

The first flashlight I built for myself was a Convoy s2, with an XM-L2 T6 3C emitter. I used one of the thin 3M adhesive disks as an insulator. The light worked, though there was a tremendous amount of green in the spill light. Being dissatisfied with the green, I replaced the adhesive disk with the round centering spacer that came with the light. I did a little bit of sanding to the spacer to get the focus where I wanted it. In the end, there was no more green in the spill light. Now, I really like using that S2.