Nothing but solder. My initial introduction to the world of Flashlights made me falsely believe that their was some black magic involved where in reality it was just a matter of understanding or lack of. Without getting into the detail of myself and what I am now trying to learn and understand my suggestion is as follows:
If you don’t want to bother with emitter swaps, there’s always the Eagletac D25A2. This 2xAA light is available with a 219 as an option. Output is a rather low 200 (or so) lumens. But this is fairly typical for a single 219 light.
If you are willing to go 1xAA, there’s always the L3 Illuminations L10 and L3 Illuminations L10C. Both are fairly inexpensive and put out about 120 lumens. Either of these may work for you. And finally, if you don’t have your heart set on the Nichia 219, there’s always the Zebralight SC52d. It’s also a single AA. But it uses the Philips Luxeon T emitter rather than the Nichia 219. This emitter actually seems more neutral to me than the Nichia, and might work out well for you. Output is 295 lumens, which increases to 300 lumens for a minute if you are willing to run a 14500 rather than a standard AA.
I’m looking for something more powerful.I’m guessing AA batteries won’t supply that.Is it 18650’s that will give me a higher lumen output?I’m playing with an LED Lenser M14 I bought.would like more lumens and a bit but not much bigger dimensions with a fairly narrow throw.Up to about $150 would be good.I’m new at this.Are there more custom builders out there?Thanks
It’s not that AA batteries can’t supply more lumens. They CAN. After all, you have lights like the Nitecore EA41 and Sunwayman D40A, which crank out close to 1000 lumens on AA batteries. The bigger issue here is whether or not a higher lumen, high CRI light powered by AA batteries actually exists - high CRI 18650 lights are simply easier to buy. And this is where emitter swaps might come in handy.
There is, of course, one other possibility that might be worth looking into. If you can actually find a Dereelight Javelin with a 3AA extender, you might be able to fit a Sportac Triple Nichia in it. I say MIGHT because the Javelin is a rather finnicky host - some larger drop-ins just don’t fit well.
AAA and AA lights are convenient for battery availability. If it battery availability and versatility that you need.....
SupFire L6 from Mountain. Add a AAA carrier (which for a fact does work) and you will have 26650 for longest run times, 18650 not as long, and in a pinch AAA. That will give you all kinds of versatility. Drawback would be that lights that can handle 26650's have a larger barrel/tube and thus are a larger light than say a Convoy S2.
You can go round and round all day with this. The best thing would be to email/pm Richard and see what you might be looking at. With your max budget..the field is wide open. Hell...a Supfire L6 for extreme run times and throw distance and a Convoy S2 for pocket carry - both fitted with a Nichia...and you still will not break the budget.
Just FYI - the reason I keep referring to Richard instead of buying something you may have settle with is because he has inventory and is able to do the work for you. Cereal Killer can too but I am not sure of his product availability nor his charges. Richard is more than reasonable.
I have a nichia 219A in a 18650 light with a head a little bigger than a p-60 solarforce or a ultra-fire 501/502/503 etc .It has an orange peel reflector so the beam is smooth and yet since the nichia has a bit of natural throw anyway it's a nice mix of both a little throw and a smooth transition between hot spot and spill .Colour and cri are fantastic
The narrow beam and multiple AA seems fairly limiting. Most AA lights have a fairly broad general usage beam. The Nichia 219's have a fairly high Vf, so I would recommend a 4S arrangement on the cells.
One light that comes to mind is the Sunwayman M40A. It is a 4AA and has a throwy, narrowish beam. It does have spill like any reflector-type light, but it is a good bit dimmer than the hot spot. It's a very fine light and can very easily be operated with one hand. They are very difficult to mod. The head is so well glued shut that it can't be opened without a high risk of damaging the finish and maybe more. The XM-L can be replaced by machining the head from the reflector side though. The driver is also tricky to access for modifying. I've been able to mod mine up to about 3.6 amps (I think, have to check my notes). The only relevant emitter that I think has been proven to have 92CRI and a neutral tint is the Nichia 219AT-H1. Personally, I find the high CRI XM-L2's too red in tint. The Nichia can handle 3.6 amp of current if on copper. It's more efficient a lower levels. Not sure what the light's PWM is like though. May not matter since you will be sweeping across the scene with the with prolonged exposure times.
I would be willing to mod and sell one of my new M40A's to you for $110 plus shipping and net of Paypal fees (If you use an emitter I have on hand). Any other emitter, you will need to provide.
No one has mentioned the Imalent SA04 runs on AAs and has variable color temperature too. the Roche M170 would make a good photography light also. It can be mounted on a tripod, has infinitely variable brightness and available in NW. Could always dedome if you feel you need more throw or warmer color temp. Current promotion on with code M170CM. Hope this helps!
I don't think any of those lights have high CRI emitters. One could purchase a high CRI MT-G2, but they are crazy warm tinted like the XM-L2's.
It seems the best approach will be to purchase the light of choice and swap in the emitter I linked above. There is a newer version of that emitter that is more efficient and has more output. It is cooler tinted. I don't think it's CRI has been proven though.
Hi IMA-Forgive a newbie question but what is the lumen output of the M40A?Is there a standard for stating how spotty a light is?Diameter at certain distance or something similar?
Those are good questions. I can only give you guesses at best on them though.
Lumen output of the stock M40A (I think manufacture rated at 645 lumens) can't be used as that is with an XM-L and at a lower current then what I'm talking about above. Djozz did some torture testing on what I think is the emitter you want for your application here. In that testing got estimated lumens of about 413 at 3.4 amps. It appears that the the best current would be about 2.7-2.8 amps (the 3.6 I threw out above is too high) which would yield a little less than 400 lumens. OTF would probably be maybe 10% less as a guess. The M40A has an A/R coated lens. So the lose would be less then other typical lights.
I'm not aware of any standards, but I could make the light and then tell you what the hot spot measures at a distance of your choice. You would not be obligated to buy the light as I'm curious how the combo would work out.
Are you seeking a certain level of lumens? Lots of lumens, high CRI, and narrow beam all work against each other. You could get lots of lumens if if you go multiple emitters, but you will be getting into floody beam territory. There are a few mufti-emitter lights that have narrow beams (or atleast smaller hot spots then other multi-emitter lights), but they are li-ion lights. There are just no proven small (for throw/narrow beam) emitters that have high output levels that I'm aware of (I'm not an expert in this stuff).
Are you looking for a narrow beam or are you saying in the OP that you could settle for a narrow beam? I ask a narrow beam and AA's is limiting your choices a whole bunch. Nothing wrong with that. Just wanting to make sure I understand what you're looking for.
EDIT: This emitter will get you up to about 550 lumens according to this testing. We don't know if it is truly 92 CRI though. I have some of them and really like the tint and apparent CRI. I should say that I'm not a good subjective judge of tint and CRI though. I don't think I have ideal color vision.
Thanks for your extensive reply.AA batts are not a necessity.Just threw that out there if it were possible and would make things easy.Li-ion batts are ok if that achieves my objective of fairly high CRI,bright light,and narrowish beam without a lot of spill as I would want to illuminate just the object(s)i’m photographing.I have an ACEbeam K40M on order from China and I believe it’s 3000 lumens.Ordered before I completely thought out the CRI.Sounds like it will work ok but would like a light that would not require as much color correction in editing photos.(the ambient lighting/lights I encounter in the photo will be different of course-ok enough).
Thanks again for your time.
I haven't used that light before, but I googled it and it sounds just like what you need. Swap in a high CRI Nichia in that baby and you're good to go bro.