Cool White vs Neutral white

[markr6]

I couldn't quite see something with my NW light, so I pulled out the same light with a CW emitter. Bam! Now I could see it.

I situation I've never encountered. I'm sticking with quality over quantity.

 

[shock003]

I 'see' your point markr6... CW isn't going to really reveal something that a NW couldn't. I was being a tad dramatic (if you are referencing my comments).
I take it you are very much in the NW camp and not buying a bunch of different light types. I too like to settle on one light versus a bunch... probably why i struggle at times between which I like better to make a "final decision and stick to it". Hah. (and limited flashlight fund money!)

I suppose I am a tortured soul with regards to 'which light do I spend $89+ on to satisfy my needs and just buy one light".
Many of you have a very clear idea on your tint of choice.

As part of my debate for CW vs NW; I'll often walk my dog in the neighborhood and wooded area at night with my ZL H600 MKIII (CW) and compare one of my NW flashlights (a Convoy S2+ host). But it is a poor comparison because my NW is not a ZL. Everything is different on the Convoy S2+: the LED (XPL 3D tint), the Reflector, and the Driver. As such, the ZL H600 MKIII CW wins over every time. Albeit, maybe a bit unfairly. But bottom line, I freaking LOVE that light! Hence naming it "My Precious".

For amusement, I have considered building several Convoy hosts (to save money from buying several identical versions of pricey ZL). That way I have an exact comparison to make.
I would use the follow LED's: XPL 1A (Very Cool White at 6500K), XPL 2A (Cool White dipping into NW at 5700K), my already built XPL 3D (NW at 4500K), and a NICHIA 219c (NW at 4000K).
But with the hosts, LEDs and Drivers...that starts adding up to around $65+ to build the remaining three. Not sure if it would be worth time and money to satisfy my curiosity. It may be an interesting review for others though. hmmm.

Hah, I am out of control! I really need to get a life.

But I suspect a much better comparison for such a review would be to buy several identical ZL's with CW and NW. Because that is the light I love [right now].
Hey Zebralight: Want to send me some lights for a very thorough review in many different situations? Indoors, Outdoors, Walking the dog, Hiking in the woods, In snow, Backpacking....etc. I can even send them back after the review...maybe.

So I wonder ... if I bought a H600 NW and tried it out in the deep woods if I would switch. And of course I'd buy the updated MKIV version.... so that may help sway me.
Because I do agree; NW is dang nice on the eyes in a lot of situations.

p.s. I should mention the CW I like is the ZL H600 - 5700K. I have many other lights that are super blue cold. like the XM-L or XP-L 1A tint (6300K plus?). Not a horrible cold but is much colder than 5700K. I may make the jump and try out one of the NW Zebralights soon.

 

[ven]

For me part of the fun/interest is having different flavours to use. Be it different applications and/or different times of day/evening/night. Now i love 219b 4000k, the 219c 4000k is getting very very close. I have these in a few lights now , but i dont just want these LED's. It would be boring for me, picking up say a HDS, then a T10s followed by a triple or quad of the same. So i tend to enjoy the 4000k types during the evening when my eyes and brain prefers a hint of warmer colour temp. 5000k and even towards 6500k in the day is fine for me. So my lights vary from around 4000k to around 6500k. If its close up or at distance, also plays a part on which choice i would go for. I like colours to look accurate most of the time, late at night with tired want to sleep eyes...............a little bump in colour is welcome.

Some little lights that range from 4000k up to 6500k. As long as the 6500k is pretty clean white, its fine for some distance uses. Around house come evening, the warmer 4000k temps really work for me. Now if i use 4000k in work, it kind of does not work for me. Being in artificial light, light colours(beige,cream,off white,metals) just dont look good to me depending on LED. So i prefer a little cooler/cleaner in beam, 4500-5000k hits the spot! The 219c 4000k seems to hold up well so far for day time use in work, where as for example, the xp-g2 or xpl HI 4000k, tends to be a little off with the tint in the beam.
219c 4000k T10s, little pocket work horse

Still after several years, the 4500k 219b triple seems to hold its own............

Its fun to have different flavours to choose from, makes my day much easier to get through and adds some interest. Plus its a good way to find out what works best for what use/area.

 

[Rifter]

I just got back in the flashlight game after a while away. And i can tell you one thing, i used to be all about the most lumens so usually always went CW. Now im all about high CRI so things look like they are supposed to so am all about high CRI 4000-5000k LED's now. Im loving the Nichia 219C's.

 

[Swedpat]

I just got back in the flashlight game after a while away. And i can tell you one thing, i used to be all about the most lumens so usually always went CW. Now im all about high CRI so things look like they are supposed to so am all about high CRI 4000-5000k LED's now. Im loving the Nichia 219C's.

I think that's the natural development and maturity in the flashaholism. At first everything is about brightness and throw(like many non-flashaholic ignorant person). Then it goes further to beam character and tint. Followed by the liking of extremely low brightness level! The last likely incomprehensible for the ignorant person...
I think it's similar to comparing stereos. An ignorant person wants as much watts(and bass) as possible but the audiofil wants quality. It's probably not difficult to build a 1000w amplifier, and big speakers. But how it sounds? Is it pleasant for the ears? The same with flashlights. Performance is not always good if it's not combined with quality.

 

[eh4]

I think there might be more variance in how different individuals eyes work than we usually account for, as well as individual differences in how we process visual information.
It's not something we can easily verify.
At greater extremes we know there are rare tetrachromes who see extra colors that we don't have names for, and we know there are degrees of color blindness, night blindness, and all manner of imperfections of vision, as well as people who's eyes seem to work in the standard way but who have disabilities (or super abilities) in processing the inputs, Da Vinci drew water droplets accurately centuries before we had the ability to record them falling as oscillating spheres.

- but for the most part, we take standard vision tests, get a prescription or a diagnosis, and call it good...
20-20 vision btw became a standard because the guy who made the test used his assistant as the standard, the guy had pretty good vision, he figured.

Myself, I perceive cool tints as brighter, but they seem to make my pupils constrict more, letting in less light, and they seem to make my eyes take longer to recover when going back to partial dark adaptation...
Note that constricting pupils should also make it easier for eyes to focus sharply, as with pinhole cameras.

I see pretty well with the "dimmer" warm and neutral lights, and experience less tunnel vision effect, where a well lit center comes at the cost of a night blind periphery.
If there's Enough light, I don't mind cool tints, but alternating from lighting something near or far well enough to see it clearly, and then going back to a lower light level pretty much requires me to use warm -neutral, or invest in and tie myself to bigger and heavier lights, and commit to using more light to see well.
There's also the aspect of light pollution, cool tints are absolutely more eye catching than warm tints, and while anytime you're shining a light around, you're creating a vivid signal, warm tints don't seem to excite receptors in people's peripheral vision the way that cool tints (with more green to blue) do.
I feel that I make less of a scene with warmer neutral lights, while still seeing what I need to.

 

[Modernflame]

I think there might be more variance in how different individuals eyes work than we usually account for, as well as individual differences in how we process visual information.
It's not something we can easily verify.
At greater extremes we know there are rare tetrachromes who see extra colors that we don't have names for, and we know there are degrees of color blindness, night blindness, and all manner of imperfections of vision, as well as people who's eyes seem to work in the standard way but who have disabilities (or super abilities) in processing the inputs, Da Vinci drew water droplets accurately centuries before we had the ability to record them falling as oscillating spheres.

- but for the most part, we take standard vision tests, get a prescription or a diagnosis, and call it good...
20-20 vision btw became a standard because the guy who made the test used his assistant as the standard, the guy had pretty good vision, he figured.

Myself, I perceive cool tints as brighter, but they seem to make my pupils constrict more, letting in less light, and they seem to make my eyes take longer to recover when going back to partial dark adaptation...
Note that constricting pupils should also make it easier for eyes to focus sharply, as with pinhole cameras.

I see pretty well with the "dimmer" warm and neutral lights, and experience less tunnel vision effect, where a well lit center comes at the cost of a night blind periphery.
If there's Enough light, I don't mind cool tints, but alternating from lighting something near or far well enough to see it clearly, and then going back to a lower light level pretty much requires me to use warm -neutral, or invest in and tie myself to bigger and heavier lights, and commit to using more light to see well.
There's also the aspect of light pollution, cool tints are absolutely more eye catching than warm tints, and while anytime you're shining a light around, you're creating a vivid signal, warm tints don't seem to excite receptors in people's peripheral vision the way that cool tints (with more green to blue) do.
I feel that I make less of a scene with warmer neutral lights, while still seeing what I need to.

A thoughtful post and an enjoyable read. I find that I share your impressions, although I've never articulated them so pointedly. This is the reason why I've expanded my collection to include cool white and warm white, whereas my preference leans more toward neutral in the majority of circumstances. My choice for any given task depends on time of day, the amount and color temperature of ambient light, the maximum distance at which I need to see clearly, and, frankly, my mood.

 

[archimedes]

A thoughtful post and an enjoyable read. I find that I share your impressions, although I've never articulated them so pointedly. This is the reason why I've expanded my collection to include cool white and warm white, whereas my preference leans more toward neutral in the majority of circumstances. My choice for any given task depends on time of day, the amount and color temperature of ambient light, the maximum distance at which I need to see clearly, and, frankly, my mood.

I agree with you both, in large part, although probably lean rather more towards the warm spectrum for the bulk of my lights.

 

[bykfixer]

Being a proponent of the incan I get a kick out of this thread.

My eyes tend to adapt to whatever the tint is, regardless of what charts and graphs say should be taking place.

 

[tabetha]

For myself I much prefer the cool tints as I see much easier with these, I have CW and WW versions of same lights and every time CW is way better to my eyes I just seem to me to be able to see much more detail

 

[bykfixer]

For myself I much prefer the cool tints as I see much easier with these, I have CW and WW versions of same lights and every time CW is way better to my eyes I just seem to me to be able to see much more detail

Agreed.
But cool overwhelms my eyes quicker. Intensity matters to me way more than the color.
For lighting items at a distance or when seconds matter for identifying something... yup cool is my favorite.

 

[lumen aeternum]

I'd buy a reasonably priced light that has both a cool & warm emitter. maybe dual reflectors, and make the warm a wide beam and the cool a thrower. Would be convenient to learn to discern the differences in tint by simply toggling the emittor when shining the light on something.

 

[eh4]

I'd buy a reasonably priced light that has both a cool & warm emitter. maybe dual reflectors, and make the warm a wide beam and the cool a thrower. Would be convenient to learn to discern the differences in tint by simply toggling the emittor when shining the light on something.

That's a neat idea.

 

[maukka]

My eyes tend to adapt to whatever the tint is, regardless of what charts and graphs say should be taking place.

Mine too. Even some green isn't that bad as long as the tint stays fairly consistent in all parts of the beam, although slight but linear drift to any one direction is fine, and there are no additional light sources of different tint.

 

[kaichu dento]

I think that's the natural development and maturity in the flashaholism. At first everything is about brightness and throw(like many non-flashaholic ignorant person). Then it goes further to beam character and tint. Followed by the liking of extremely low brightness level!

My first desire in a light was compactness and ability to control brightness so that it wouldn't be too bright, hence my choice of the Fenix LOD and right off I wished for the practicality of the LED light with the color of incan. I'm sure I'm not the only one who didn't care about the bling or showoff factors.
Beam pattern is one of the things that it did take me a while to become aware of, but I hated lights with too much throw right from the start.

Definitely still feel the same way about tint; about 3500k with a late afternoon/early evening rosiness, but I'll accept just about anything that makes people think I'm carrying an incan.

 

[niraya]

Followed by the liking of extremely low brightness level! The last likely incomprehensible for the ignorant person...

I like to have different color temperatures for different environments activities, but first thing I look for when buying new flashlight is moonlight bellow 0.2 lumen, anything higher is unpleasant and killing all nightvision in house at night. :candle:

 

[wweiss]

Cool white for higher Lux - hi CRI (NW) for natural colors. Zebra light should make one with their current SC600w MK xxx form factor and a (magical ) UI and LED that can switch to either on the fly - @ 1,500 max Lumens. Now, there is a near perfect light...

 

[bykfixer]

Mine too. Even some green isn't that bad as long as the tint stays fairly consistent in all parts of the beam, although slight but linear drift to any one direction is fine, and there are no additional light sources of different tint.

Now those additional lights sources can really get things confused. Tungston to my left, curly fry to my right...
But given enough time to adapt to that I won't leave my home with mismatch colored socks.

 

[Keitho]

I'd buy a reasonably priced light that has both a cool & warm emitter. maybe dual reflectors, and make the warm a wide beam and the cool a thrower. Would be convenient to learn to discern the differences in tint by simply toggling the emittor when shining the light on something.

Viltrox makes a camera light like that, 95 CRI RA panel that you can dial from 3300 to 5600k color temp. Not a flashlight, but only $36 USD or so. Uses 2 sets of LED to create the effect.

 

[lumen aeternum]

Viltrox makes a camera light like that, 95 CRI RA panel that you can dial from 3300 to 5600k color temp. Not a flashlight, but only $36 USD or so. Uses 2 sets of LED to create the effect.

Model number? They seem to make a lot of products.