Jon I want it badly. Don’t need it, but do want it. :confounded: :innocent:
Opple 3 is “recommended extremely highly.” Opple 4 with R9 and USB-C will be “recommended without reservation.”
Kidding aside, while I am learning so much and having lots of fun with Opple 3 as hopefully obvious in my S21D threat, I do think that Opple 4 without R9 and USB-C would be a let down.
well, you can dream of an Opple w R9
but if I was you, I would’nt wait to inhale 
imo, you should buy a real spectrometer…
and breathe a sigh of relief from being spared
the Sisyphean task of pushing R9 out of an Opple 
lest we also forget what a real colorimeter or spectrophotometer can also do:
calibrate PC monitor (D65 or whatever you choose)
-you can calibrate a photo printer to have accurate colors (if people still have these)
-calibrate a projector or TV (not as simple however)
-IRL color picker. want to match the color of a painted object or something?
I actually have Gretag Macbeth i1 Pro that I use to calibrate my computer monitors, mainly because of my photography hobby. I was going to use it to calibrate my TV and projector but when the time came, I realized it was completely out of my league. I ended up getting a pro calibrator to come to my house.
For this flashlight hobby, a Opple Light Master will do, all things considered (for one I don’t watch HDR movies with it etc.). Part of the joy is getting so much fun out of something so cheap.
Jon (or anyone) why Sisyphus reference? I don’t follow this hobby closely. Is there something about Opple sensor that makes it impossible to get R9? Really without R9 capability, personally I do not see any reason to upgrade, USB-C or not.
I cant answer your question.
I did not know the Opple sensor can read R9.
from post #170, the chip has 6 color channels from which to calculatus the average
“For all the channels except the red, the testing data used a 5700K Led at 4100 Lux; for the red channel they used an incan at 10,000 Lux.”
Thank you. Sorry this is not my field of expertise at all, so a more direct question please: does the above mean the sensor is capable of measuring and displaying R9?
From post #4,
The CCD chip (the sensor) would be capable of measuring R9 since there is a separate Red detector channel, but the definition of CRI is Ra, the average of R1 thru R8. So it likely doesn’t have a separate display for R9. Does anyone have a manual or technical performance specs for the Opple, maybe there are some options in the app?
It would be a fun little project to reverse engineer the Opple and write a custom firmware to output the spectrum data. The CCD chip uses AT modem commands such as used by OBDII dongles that you plug into your car to read the trouble codes from the CAN buss.
I’ve just purchased one of these. Is it possible if someone can post a photo of their setup for making CCT and DUV measurements using the Opple? (If there are examples hidden in this thread, please just link to it).
Thanks in advance!
Hi Stephen, I just put the Opple a foot or two away in a reasonably dark room, shine flash light on it, hand holding, keeping hotspot centered on sensor and that’s it. The phone app is Light Master Pro. The brightest setting tends to be too high so I usually use one of the lower levels.
Only when I am comparing for example AR green lens vs AR purple lens, where difference could be very small, that I put flashlight on tripod or some stable platform just to eliminate that variable from the equation.
That’s for DUV and CCT. For throw, you would like flashlight some reasonable distance away, in my case 6 meters. It’s harder to hand hold and keep hotspot centered on sensor, especially if it’s a small hotspot, so for this I do use tripod. Hope this helps.
Interesting video - showing nice accuracy.
Thanks for the info, much appreciated!
The Opple seems to dislike any movement. Stable measurements can be made when flashlight and LM are fixed somehow. Else the values jump all over the place.
Here’s how I use the Opple LM Pro 3:
Here’s an example of the table:
Excellent advice, thank you!
Yes. Accuracy is marginal (certainly not enough to discern a few .000 let alone the .0000 people have posted several times). Repeatability it pretty bad but minimizing the drawbacks/standardizing the parameters is the best approach. I have the II, which is less capable with the different sensor but even sitting it on a perch for an open-air reading (as this gadget was intended to be used, rather than concentrated beams) I can scoot it a few millimeters or rotate it slightly on the sensor center point and the readings can change wildly.
Is nobody interested in using cheap styrofoam spheres anymore? Not ideal but it’s been “our” standard for some time and would likely be worlds better for trying to use the Opple for these measurements. Homogenizing the light at least a bit should yield readings that are potentially more accurate and repeatable compared to a concentrated beam in open air where So Much can affect things.
Joann (in the US) still has the 12” ones for pretty cheap. I think $14 last I looked and they’re good enough that they don’t need a ton of smoothing or coping with large pores.
It’ll be interesting to see what they come up with for Gen 4 if that happens. App could use some improvements although I don’t know if DUV is useful for their intended market/product use, esp given its inherent limitations there.
Here’s the link for the sphere….$12.99 these days. I think it was Djozz that had several great older threads on how he set up and used a few sizes of these. Still some challenges to understand and overcome just like with a pvc pipe setup, but better than beam-straight-at-a-sensor approach.
Agreed. For me, the key for more “sensitive” testing is to NOT hand hold the flashlight, but put it on a tripod.
When I do comparison such as comparing effect of lenses on Duv and CCT (Convoy Green AR vs Purple etc.), I put the flashlight on tripod. Once on tripod, the x,y coordinate readings are stable down to fourth significant figure.
In my experience the consistency of the Light Master Pro is beyond expectation. I guess I could ask for calibration against reference, but that sort of thing is only happening at sensor costing in the thousands.
Once the flashlight is on tripod, if I note a change in readings, it’s either thermal regulation or I have touched the light to twist the lens off, etc… Meaning, if you see a lot of fluctuation, it’s because there IS a fluctuation and a good sign of how sensitive the Opple is. If you leave it alone on tripod, some examples of data:
Convoy S21D with Nichia 219b 4500k with Convoy Green AR lens - on tripod and not hand hold:
x3570 y3367 Duv –0.0124
x3570 y3366 Duv –0.0124
x3570 y3365 Duv –0.0125
x3572 y3369 Duv –0.0124
The result I posted in the thread below was confirmed by doing two separate runs, with little change in result as far as differences between lenses. Convoy S21D w/ legendary Nichia 219b :) - Review & comparison w/ Nichia 519a, E21a & other LEDs & lights (D4V2, Convoy S21F). - #296 by cannga . Really at 40 bucks I am not complaining much - a must buy for hobbyists on a budget 
.
OK and thanks for the tripod idea for the light. But how do you fix the location of the Opple? As I have found, hand holding it is an exercise in frustration and blows repeatability away completely.