torchlight

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Sebas77

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not sure if this is the good place to talk about it but...

I'd like to buy a torchlight for night photography under 20 pounds. I have spent several hours researching, but at that price I come out only with not so reliable chinese stuff.

Do you have any experience with these torches and some advises?

I have looked to the ultrafires, but eventually I am probably going to buy a AP -pro series 210 from B&Q

210 lumens are all right, but I wonder what I could do with more power, probably just something like this: http://lightism.co.uk/led-flashlight/ and not really night photography :)
 
I've got one of the AP Pro jobbies. Not a bad little torch to be honest. If you can get hold of one within budget though I would go for one of the LED Lenser ones - really good torches.
I went through a torch acquisition phase a while back - I now have
LED Lenser P7, P14, M5, L3, Police Tech Focus and 2x P3
AP Pro 210 lumens and 500 lumens
Maglight 6D with Terralux LED upgrade
And about another 7 or 8 LED torches of various makes and power.

Overall though I prefer the LED Lenser P7 out of all of them:)
 
I think it's 210 lumens but could be wrong. The P7 gives out a good amount of light in an even beam. I've used it lots for light painting in old mines and it works well.


Cavern by =Jules=, on Flickr
 
I own a LED Lenser MT7 which is rated at 220 Lumens and is a fantastic little torch. Very useful for light painting. Well above your £20 budget though.

I previously owned a P7 but lost it!
 
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p7 arrived, but could you please check these images and tell me if the behavior is normal?

IMGP8948.JPG


IMGP8949.JPG


not sure if the so called "spill" is the light spilling from the flood, but if it is, the first image has a lot of spill.

Also I noticed a magenta cast (which is a little bit exaggerated in these photo because of the WB)
 
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Tesco and Asda both did I think it was abour 3-4w torches around a tenner, I bought two of the tesco ones, they give a good output, and seem reliable (I've had then a year or so)
 
too late, I have already broken my piggy bank...I just wonder why the p7 is better than the other of the same price range.

I mean I think I will be happy with it, just curiosity since I cannot compare.

Also I am not sure if the torches you are talking about are 170 lumens :)

@sneeks thanks for the info, than I can consider mine fully functional
 
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Looks a little off centre to me but I found that can happen if you take the front lens assembly apart and don't get it quite right when you rebuild it (took a couple of goes to get mine back on centre).
Other than that the beam patterns look about right for a P7 :)
 
Also a lot of other torches have much poorer build quality. I wouldn't rely on a lot of torches that I have owned when underground but the P7 I trust 100%
 
Thanks Jules I just wanted your confirmation. I did not disassemble the torch though :)
 
You need to be careful as there are a lot of chinese copy P7s on e-bay (not saying yours is) did you pay £28.50 new or used? as they normally retail for approx. £40 - £50

However I've checked mine and the pattern looks the same as mine :)
 
how should I check if it is original?

I got it in a nice box, it has also a pouch and inside there was the lenser torch catalog.
 
of course the pics you have should look like that, their just flat static light/torch, you need to go out and illuminate something, for night stuff you move the torch to light your subject, not sure what you want to acheive
 
Just Dave said:
Is the 1st shinning into the lens and #2 against a BG
Click to expand...

not sure what you mean, they are both against the wall though. Just different focus.

I was not sure just about the pattern...i.e. I thought that the flood would have been more uniform.
 
Sebas77 said:
not sure what you mean, they are both against the wall though. Just different focus.

I was not sure just about the pattern...i.e. I thought that the flood would have been more uniform.
Click to expand...

oh OK I see now hope your turns out not to be a fake
 
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ok I checked the article about the fake torchlight...if mine is fake is a damn good one...however I have some suspect it can be fake:

- as the article states they are getting better, everything is perfect, apart the fact that inside the contacts are made of copper and not alloy. The guy who sold me it, told me that it is because the torch is the 2010 model, while they started to use alloy with the 2012 model. I will investigate about it

- it turned out that the guy is chinese :/

- the lens did not come with any warranty, but I will ask about it

- the box, which is a very good one, has a serial number, but has also an infamouse CE...which could stand for Conformité Européenne, but it could stand also for China Export.

I will ask to Lenser more insights.

this is the item sold: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300928750364&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1123
 
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Hmmm - I thought all battery contacts were hard gold plated. Mine us about 4 years old and my contacts are gold. I am also 100% sure mine is genuine.
 
yep gold plated is what the lenser site says, however does not look gold plated to me from the fake led article.

mine looks more coppery than golden, but surely is not that silver like looking.

Anyway guys from lenser are checking my torch photos right now, they will tell me if it is genuine or not. If it is not, they will ask ebay to shut down the seller account.
 
Sebas77 said:
Jules, I wonder if you ever tried the Coast HP7 torch
Click to expand...

Not tried one of the Coast range yet but have been tempted. I don't have so much of a torch fetish these days so have resisted so far
 
I had read about the many fake versions of these torches before purchasing so I made sure to buy directly from a authorised stockist. The power output and length of light beam is astonishing when outdoors. The wide open beam in your photos is not as solid a area as my torch but not far off of it. The narrow beam photo is near identical.

Gold contacts in my torch too.

From your photos it is a very convincing replica of the original.
 
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