Microfire HID vs. CREE XR-E

I've got a Cree XRE A19 in the mail. But where I do get me one of them fancy 2" aspheryical lenses?!

- FITP

Newbie, that's some beamshots!!! Thank you!!!

You must've made that poor LED think it was a laser. All I can say is wow.

So now I'm not only less keen on Lux lights, but I'm now disinterested in HID. Great.

With the aspherical lens, about 37,000 lux @ 1 meter, with meter set for tungsten/daylight.

I take it a number of the newer folks around here have not seen my aspherical lens before? The drawback is throw with no flood.

NewBie said:

I take it a number of the newer folks around here have not seen my aspherical lens before? The drawback is throw with no flood.

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How about a picture of it!

Loomy said:

How about a picture of it!

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Here is an old picture of it that I took around November 2004:

NewBie said:

Here is an old picture of it that I took around November 2004:

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Holy, holy,

What a beam!

What's the focal of this lens? At what distance from the LED was it?
Was it in focus?


Thanks for the shots. Wow!!!

This is all most impressive.

That's incredible. That thing is blowing away the HID for throw. I think that we'll start to see more lights with optics with the crees, and when optimized optics come out for them, theyll just be unstoppable.

I am absiltuely speechless. I have been a flashaholic for so long, and I only just found this place not too long ago. Now with the cree revolution, and what it means to the dflashlight world....and NEWBIE....those tests....that lens....I am dying over here.

A cree light with some custom optics will be THE throw lights in the future, if those pictures mean anything. Then, a light with beam characteristics like the L4, then one with a SLIGHTLY stronger spot/throw, with the same spill....uh, man...I need more lights....when are these things going to be massproducred?

holy #$*% that thing throws with the lens! if i hadnt known it was a cree i would have sworn this thread should have been in the HID/Spotlight section. how far was the tree in your beamshot? that is one killer photo!

too bad aspherical lenses are quite pricey.....
I have a few in my camera lenses....but only in my most expensive ones.....


Impressive beamshots though...... :thumbsup:

WP

NewBie said:

I had a tough time holding battery, lens, and camera all in proper alignment, so pardon the poor pictures. The portable power source I had on hand only delivered 700mA. I tried to optimize the focus on the Microfire also.

Distance is about 80 ft.

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this is insane !!!!!!

WAVE_PARTICLE said:

too bad aspherical lenses are quite pricey.....

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They're not that bad. Edmund Optics has a 75mm aspheric for $50.

enLIGHTenment said:

They're not that bad. Edmund Optics has a 75mm aspheric for $50.

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Interesting! Thanks for the link. Perhaps it's so expensive in camera lenses because of the higher tolerances and quality required by the photographic industry....

Maybe I should pickup a couple of these lenses...... :naughty:

WP

WOW! Amazing! If you look at a Surefire E1L lens which turns that little light into a real thrower (for a Luxeon) I think a lens along those lines might be good for the Cree XR-E. If I had a Cree and the time I'd probably be trying a mod like that. Wonder how it would do with this lens:

Actually that is just one of those glass paperweights but it might be interesting to try.

How does a Luxeon III compare to the XR-E if paired up with that lense? Does it even come close?

Very impressive shots Newbie!

When I look at the pictures of the XR-E, it looks like the phosphor is pretty uniform over the die and then some on the base of the chip mount. I would expect most of the light is coming from just the area of the die or is there a lot of light from around it?

I looked on the site and could not find any pictures with this lens and a Luxeon/K2? How does the beam angle compare?

I will have to post some pictures I have of a 1.5A K2 and a 5 degree aspheric. One of the things I like about the lack of spill is that with little light close to you, your night vision is not degraded and you can see that spot a long distance away.

Semiman

A great idea, Newbie
I was wondering what I would do with my LuxV Mag, now I know! Throw a Q3 bin XR-E on the hotlips, jack up the output to 1,000mA on the nFlex board and slap in one of those 75mm projector lens from Edmonds inside.
Will it be useful? Well...no... but it would be a riot to light up things 200+ meters away. I can make the mod and send it back to my brother as a weapon light. Calculating off your curves, a Q3 will put out 155 lumens at 700mA and 190 lumens at 1,000mA. I think it will light up as far as my brother cares to shoot.

blew my pants off, i gotta get me one