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Friday, March 14, 2008

Fenix lights...

Hi everyone!

Long time ago when I was younger, say, lower secondary, I used to be into torchlights. I wanted the smallest, brightest torch ever. I began reading the backs of torch packages, all the uses for torchlights and all, and it all seemed pretty good and like, super bright... on the package. So I bought some of 'em to use. Brands like Energizer and Eveready were the cheapest so I got them first. Went on to spend abit more on more specialised brands like Princeton Tec and Pelican. From penlights to cylinder types, headlamps to optic-fibre lights... I had them all. Not long after, I realised there cannot be a brightest torch if it's gonna be small. Kinda duh, huh? Haha! How can anything handheld be brighter than something that cannot be handheld?

A compromise has to be reached. Portability was of utmost importance.

Well, my brightest torch ever was the Mini Q40 from Underwater Kinetics. It was a blue one coz black was boring and fluorescent green wasn't exactly appealing. 4AA batteries will output a 50 lumens beam. Nice. I brought it to camps and what not and my torch outshone most others. The light beam sliced through the night air in utter victory over darkness.

Then I lent it to my cousin, Eugene, to use... and soon after, forgot about it. When I did remember it, which is like a few years later (you don't find many chances to use torches in Singapore) I was told the bulb blew, which wasn't surprising since the bulb was only meant for like 5h+ of burn time. Oh wells.

Last year, I wanted to get a torch for camping in Australia coz the outback is really pitch-black on a cloudy night. So I got me another UK Mini Q40... this time they had yellow!

So yes, once again, I have the power of sunlight (so it seemed, at such a size) in the palm of my hands, and my technologically impaired friends could only yield weak, low-throw LED lights bought from pasar malams.

Seriously, at 50 lumens, you'd think I'd be able to light up the sky!

Of course, there was Surefire... but they were too expensive to tinker with so I was glad to settle for 50 lumens at less than 15cm.

Recently though, I discovered (during my boring times in office) another brand. The Fenix. Brings to mind Jean Grey from teh X-Men. Haha! K... anyways, as you can see, this little baby is small... 3, at most 4 times the length of a CR123A battery. Much smaller than my Mini Q40. For your information, a CR123A is shorter than a normal AA, but fatter in diameter.

So yes. Running on the more expensive CR123A (but it's lighter and can be stored for much longer i.e. 10yrs), this little baby can produce 6 different output levels: 11 lumens, 50 lumens, 112 lumens, an SOS signal, a strobe effect, and a blinding 200 lumens!!! At 3x the price of the Mini Q40, this definitely is a very tempting buy. *drools*

Its smaller brothers, the P2D and the P1D, are as blinding as ever, for its size (half the P3D). Makes me wanna collect the whole family man. Small enough to use as a keychain, the P1D has a maximum throw of 180 lumens! What the heck!

I want the Fenixes... =(

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last night, I collected my 25mm infrared filter from the post office. Bought myself another 25mm UV filter to protect my camera and to screw on the IR filter. At night when everyone was asleep, I did some experimenting.

With my IR filter on-camera and the lights off, I could see nothing in the dark. With my IR filter off-camera and the lights off, I still could see nothing in the dark. Obviously if I turned on my Mini Q40, I'd be able to see pretty clearly eh? Nope.

I attached my 25mm IR filter onto the front bezel of my Q40 (it fits just nice!) and turned it on. All I could see where "sunlight" used to spew forth was a dull red glow. Doesn't help me see much at all in the darkness that engulfed me. However, when I looked at the house through the camera's LCD, WOW!

I could see everything as clear as though the lights were on! This was really amazing I tell you. Haha! You have to experience it to know the sense of wonder that enveloped me. *grin*

That is why I want another torch, and I'm also thinking of buying another IR filter for the torch. Haha!

*sigh*

Money money money, must be funny in a rich man's world.

Love me if you dare... 14:56
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