Future project proposal: z

Commercial Sellers' Spot
1

Hey, I’d like to share a drawing of a light that I’d like to see done by BLF.
This is a continuation of a series of drawings presented here:

I started a new thread to reduce noise there.

The new drawing is:

So far shortening focal length has been a key enabler. Now I went even further with a lens that has a F number of 0.7 ( B&M Optik A.0910.5192Li ).
Effects:

  • significantly better light collection
  • wider collar opening, so wide that I don’t see a point in doing a 2-collar light, nicely reducing cost
  • less light hitting the collar=lower intensity=less throw. This is more than offset by larger size (by 1.9 mm) and clear aperture (by 3.3 mm). Overall the calculations give 1.8% more intensity and ~16% more lumens.
  • shorter FL=shorter zooming action. This allows for longer threads and better cooling. And less twisting to zoom. :slight_smile:

Overall the light is now a little larger and heavier, but cheaper and more performant.

Theoretical performance with heavily-driven dedomed SST-40 and electroformed collar: 550 kcd and 1301 lm in the hotspot.

2

OK, an update. Well, the 18350 variant should fit in not-too-tight pants pockets, but uncomforably. I said before that for 18350 a smaller lens would be better.
So here’s a size reduction:

The light has a 40 mm lens, takes 18350/18650, is slightly larger than Emisar D1.
With Aspire 18350, XP-L HI, FET+1 driver and cheap collar it does 235 kcd/770 lm in throw and 1200 lm in flood.
On a BLF preorder I expect it to cost about the same as Emisar D1.
Note: I was unable to get clear aperture size from the manufacturer. I assumed 36 mm. It this is incorrect, the numbers will swing somewhat.

OTOH for 52 mm lens a SRK body seems like a perfect match.
Here’s the previous z converted:

It has much better thermal path and a side switch. It loses the EDC claims though…
It may be possible to make it compatible with Q8 battery tube, but I was too lazy to attempt it. :stuck_out_tongue: