I think I need a red filter for at least one of my small torches but I don’t know anything about them really. :~ Is there like a standard thing I can clip over the end of the light? Or would I have to make one up from a lighting gel sheet?
I have a Sipik SK-68 clone and a Tank007 TK-703. Something for the Tank007 would be preferred as it’s so much smaller of the two.
With the Sipik I can unscrew the bezel and cut some red gel sheet to fit but would it melt if I put it in between the LED and the glass? I can’t get the Tank007 open so it would have to fit on the outside.
Oh, I may also be getting a Xeno E03 although I still haven’t made up my mind about that. Is there is a filter I can easily fit to it?
You might not get the results you’d like from a red filter. There isn’t much red light coming from the LED…and “everything” but red gets blocked by the filter.
That said, fenix has some red filters that might fit your lights. I’m not sure which ones, you’d have to compare your bezel diameters to fenix models…
Yup, a torch with a red LED will definitely be better than just a filter, unless you have a Nichia 219 LED or similar with lots and lots of red output.
Hi, Ramblings. Really it’s just for walking around in a dark house when I’ve got a migraine, so just enough light is fine.
I do have a little red laser pointer but it’s a bit rubbish really. I think it uses those little AG13 cells. It would be nice if I didn’t have to buy a whole new torch but I understand the LEDs in my torches don’t have so much red light to begin with.
Unfortunately, there isn't a really good way to use your existing lights for red illumination.
Using a red LED emitter would be MUCH better than using a filter. You really need to invest in a P-60 host/cells/charger if you want to play with different combinations...
501b - cheap, poor heat-sinking, (I wouldn't recommend it for a high-power XM-L emitter) but a decent host for experimenting - $6.19:
You can also purchase drop-ins with different tint/emitter options making the P60 host very nice for experimenting. Here's a nice single mode XP-G R5 drop-in that makes a fantastic general-purpose light; it it bright but not driven extremely hard, so you don't have to worry about overheating:
I have the single-mode version of the warm-white emitter drop-in and it's very nice; the light has a much more natural tint that makes it look like a conventional incandescent bulb instead of the cooler tint most LED lights have:
If a diffusing cap might meet your needs, try caps off of toiletries and other household products for a free solution. My wife had a fairly transparent pinkish cap that might fit some lights.
I found an unused toothbrush holder that fits the SK68 and similar sized lights well. Those are often available in different colors and transparencies.
I’ve even found large, colored transparent caps for some larger head lights. One of them just needed some very light filing of the inside snap ridges to fit.
Okay, in the spirit of “research”, I found two lip balms that fit my Tank007 TK-703!
Firstly, the reddish cap from an Alba Botanica TerraTints fitted pretty well but the light is still pretty white. And I still use this balm so I’m not stealing the cap. xD
The brown cap from a Burt Bee’s also lit up white but not much light at all. :~
Hi, Keltex! I missed your reply. >.< Thank you for all the suggestions! All these drop-ins are pretty confusing. I guess they have to be matched to battery type? I wonder if it could be smaller than the P60, like one to run off an AA battery?
Also try lower flashlight power levels if the cap is very transparent. A lot of lighter color caps that look solid can still produce a surprising amount of light if the flashlight is bright.
Well, red filters may not theoretically work very well, but they worked fine for me. I mean the light is dimmer than without a filter, but there is a definite output, a perfect output for what I wanted, which was using it to get around outside without ruining my night vision. I can even see the zoomed version of the emitter on a house maybe 500 feet away.
I bought a couple red filters on ebay that were meant for a mini maglite, but they fit an sk68 PEFECTLY. A couple of other lights too, but I forget which.
Yes, it definitely dims the output, but I expected that. After all, the light has to go through a dark red filter. On a camera, that would be a 4-5 stop exposure difference, or at least it was back in my old pro photog days with film cameras.
I looked on ebay and don’t see the filters any more. An astronomy instructor had a bunch specially cut — green or blue ones also as I remember — for his astronomy class and decided that they worked so well that he would sell them on ebay.
I made my own red filter for my Sipik clone from a sheet of red film I had. :bigsmile: You may be able to pick up some cheap from an art shop. It’s just perfect for this! I used the lens from an old Maglite 2AA as a guide. Of course I had to try the Maglite bezel on the Sipik. >.<
The film is really thin and it has curved from the heat after taking some beam shots with a fresh Duracell, but it seems fine.
There are some rings but they aren’t as bad as the camera says, and it’s less ringy if I sandwich the film between the two lens.
