Torch for light painting...

[gpc1]

Anyone recomend a reasonably priced small torch for light painting.

Something that i can tape gels to to give colour effects.

There are so many LED torches out there its mind boggling!

i wont be painting buildings ets, mainly patterns and words

 

[MWHCVT]

Personally I use a LED Lenser P14 it's small, light and has a beam you can reasonable focus which is important for accuracy when light painting, also for larger scenes you wish to paint it also puts out enough light to be able to cast its light a decent distance...it also takes AAs which of course your likely to already use plenty of handy for saving money on rechargeables...you can now get this from about £40

I've also recently started using a LED Lenser P7QC this is actually a brilliant bit of kit for light painting as aswell as the standard white beam it also is able to do Red, Green and Blue light...and once you get used to it it's possible to semi mix those colours in light painting to create slightly different tones/colours...the main disadvantage of this model is however it's not focusable like the P14 and it's also nowhere near as powerful, but it's still a nightly useful but of kit, it also however takes AAA's which is a shame...this however is a more expensive torch coming in at around £65

Edit: seems while I was typing you edited your post which I didn't notice, really what your describing is more what I'd consider light graffiti rather than light painting, and while both optioned I've mentioned would still work, they're a bit high end for what you need really...really all you need is a simple on off torch that's quite low in power, I see mention of a candle style, personally I'd not go for that as sometimes when I do light graffiti I like to cover the light source with my hand to create a pause/break in the graffiti...

Matt

 

[retrosi]

I have been looking for a 'candle torch'.
I was (haven't yet) going to have a go at this light painting & so read up a bit.
One suggestion which seemed to make sense was to use a candle style torch as a standard one when waved about would loose
some of its beam not facing the sensor.
Whereas a candle style, assuming you don't cover it or turn around should almost always have part of the bulb exposed.

 

[chris malcolm]

For light painting where you want to use the image of the moving light to draw lines etc. you want a small torch which you won't get tired of waving smoothly and precisely around with some control over power level and on which it would be easy to fit hoods of various kinds for various effects. Some torches have accessories which include various coloured hoods.

For the other kind of light painting where you want to paint a dark scene with selective light you want a powerful torch with a wide beam which smoothly grades from the flood edges to the brighter central beam. The smoothest beams tend to come from torches with slightly textured reflectors, sometimes called "dimpled" or "orange peel".

The best torch will depend heavily on how you intned to use it, plus you'll probably change your mind once you start using it, so my suggestion is not to get anything expensive unitl you've played around a lot with something cheap.

I can't recommend my own scene painting torch (MTE SF-23) because it's no longer made, needs an annoying amount of cleaning to stop it from flickering suddenly and unpredictably, and fades in power quite quickly from freshly charged. So my own ideal torch would have a wider floodier more smoothly graded beam, be consistent in power throughout the battery life, and be at least four times as powerful. The Eagletac SX25L3 looks like a good possible upgrade except for the rather high price. On the other hand it's cheaper than a flashgun...