High power torches?

[nimrodisease]

Hey guys, I've been thinking for a while about getting a decent torch that I can use for (among other things) light painting landscapes. It will need to be small and light enough to easily fit in a backpack. Does anyone have any recommendations or tips for choosing a good one?

[WarChild]

Not sure if these are big enough but i use LED Leners,
P6 - 130lm (great little size, lives in my camera case)
P14 - 210lm (has a bit of a large spread of the light, doesn't have small focus, always lives in the camera bag)
H14R - 220lm (great adjustment on the focus)
H7 - 170lm (not very impressed with this one, always having troubles with the battery pack poping opena nd the terminal conectors)

[WarChild]

check out the

Can u focus the beam on it? other question i have is can you half depress the on button to turn it on, found that to be a feature i use alot as u can switch it off faster.
sounds like a nice torch only a little bigger then the P14 but 4 times the power.
Im nearly sold on it, yet with 4 other lamps already so can't place it to high on the wish list, but good to know whats out there.

[michael_sa]

Can u focus the beam on it? other question i have is can you half depress the on button to turn it on, found that to be a feature i use alot as u can switch it off faster.

No, it's a fixed focus - probably a disadvantage for light painting where an ultra wide beam is sometimes advantageous. A work around might be to use it at lower light level setting and sweep the area.
The on off button doesn't have a definite 1/2 position - in saying that, with a bit of finesse it's easy enough to find the half way spot.
To be honest, I've always preferred the warmer light from incandescent torches for light painting, but that all depends on the look you're going for and/or the amount of processing required after.
Regards,
Michael

[nimrodisease]

To be honest, I've always preferred the warmer light from incandescent torches for light painting, but that all depends on the look you're going for and/or the amount of processing required after.

This thought occurred to me also, but as I don't have much experience I wasn't sure. What are others' thoughts on this?

[Steve Axford]

If you want a very bright rechargeable torch that is cheap, try an XTAR B20 or any XTAR . You can get them for about $60 on ebay. They are really good. see http://www.xtarlight.com/

[mechawombat]

Love my LED Lenser P7.

[davsv1]

I've got a couple of cree LED lights from Jaycar that I am happy with, they run on 3 AAA batteries. I put one through the washing machine last week and it still works fine. Price from $20.00 for a single AA cell up to $120.00 for a 2500 lumens rechargeable.

[michael_sa]

I'll mention it again - as I consider it worthy (Rick deleted my previous post about this here as I was at <50 posts - "see rule #3" )

Nitecore SRT7 - google it. Can be had for around $130.
It also does red, green and blue via 3 RGB LED's positioned in the reflector.
Insane brightness - most LED torches of this size including the Lensers are in the 200 - 250 lumen range. The SRT7 is 960 lumens (variable output by rotating the 'smart ring') Physically it is smaller in size than the M7 series Lensers.
Downside - no provision for in torch recharging. Fixed focus. Requires external charger (~$30) and LiIon battery (~$12, or 2 x CR123's) - but still totally worth it IMO.
http://youtu.be/2UCoDr4jEEE fast forward to 2:20
A lot of other Nitecore models in their range, including the P25 with 860 lumens output that offers charging via USB lead, which could be handy for some.

Michael