hi iam after a good head lamp for around £100 can any one help
Roy Fellows does the Trigon. 1750lumens of awesome power for about £170 i think - which includes, charger, battery pack, the lot. Thats what i use for everything.
I also recently purchased a cheapo standby lamp for £30 of ebay. Well happy with the build. Its Cree LED powered, waterporoof and very robust.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5W-Power-LED-Miner-Light-Headlight-Mining-Lamp-F-Hunting-Camping-Fishing-Camping-/290728257052?pt=UK_SportsLeisure_Camping_LightsLanternsTorches&hash=item43b0c1261c#ht_7533wt_802
I also have a trigon and would recommend them, Roy also does some cheaper ones, other than that, there's the raptor pro that miles sells, there just in your budget too , but I've never seen one in action so I don't know what they are like.
I have a raptor pro and it is a very focused beam and I don't use it.
Dan's lamp is stupidly bright ;)
Ian
I have a Speedycaver light. Very reliable and in an oldham head.
There are loads of white papers for his builds on Mine-explorer, so you can see exactly what goes into them.
Lets be honest - lamps are like penis extensions - go for a roy fellows Magnastar and the girls will be flocking.
http://www.iriscom.co.uk/M002/index.htm
thanks for the info has roy got a web site .i have a oldham head here but iam not that good at makeing stuff my self can any one help on that one please
I make my own lamps from Oldham heads. I don't make them for others, but I'll happily tell You anything about how I make mine.
Do You have any electronics knowledge at all? If not, in all seriousness, buy one from Roy. It's great building them, but not if it craps out on you, and You only have Yourself to unleash multiple freshly invented expletives at in the pitch black, fumbling for the backup, desperately hoping you remembered to stick fresh batteries in it...:blush: :whistle:
i have no electronics knowledge at all so the safe bet is to buy one . but is it hard to build one if you get the right stuff and diagran on how to do it
If You can Solder well, and follow a Schematic? No. The Soldering is key, some of it is very small, and LED's really don't like too much heat.
Unless you are *good* with a Soldering Iron, I'd give it a miss.
As for getting Schematics, and advice? There are lots of differing opinions, and it all depends hugely on what You want? A wide beam, great for walking around calls for a different set of bits than a very tight bright beam that is great for seeing in the distance. The trick is to balance these... not Easy in an Oldham head.
Glad to find this thread.
I have now got a new camera from Nikon (Coolpix 3300 - 16MegP). I tried it out filming last weekend. The quality of the image outside is fantastic, but it does not pick up anything underground unless very close. I was just using my cheap Cree LED helmet lamp.
It seems I need advice on what sort of lamp to buy that can be attached to the camera stand so it illuminates the view the camera sees. The problem with a very powerful lamp is that is totally dazzles anyone it shines upon, and likewise the camera view. Tim nealy burnt my eyes out at close range whilst helping me scramble up the lower series in Poachers!
Is there any lamp that has a variable beam that can be broad or narrow?
The trigon is the one! It can be turned up and down in power - just remind me any time i'm burning your eyes out.
Whats great about it is that it has a mode with a 960lumen flood light (no focused hot spot) which makes it IDEAL for video.
I'd advise NOT mounting the lamp to the camera. What happens if you do this is that the light reflects off tiny moisture and other particles in the air and bounces back giving a horrible result. Ideally get the light source as far away from the lens as possible to reduce the light bouncing back off these particles into the lens - this is also true of still photography, painting with light etc. Lamp on helmet and camera held quite low is a good compromise.
Thanks for that advice Tim. I like holding the tiny camera whilst mounted on a folded up stand as a way to try and keep it steady whilst walking along a flat floor. I poke the legs of the stand under my armpit. Seems to work OK. I must practice holding my breath whilst filming, because the sound track is full of my snorting noises!
How good is the £30 5W lamp you link to? I must admit that is nearer my current budget.
[quote="JohnNicholson" post=7416] my snorting noises!
[/quote]
i'm glad that's all your snorting :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
sportz.tec have some 1200 lumens bike light for 100 squid could mbe hand held or lid mounted
I did not realise how much I grunted and snorted until I downloaded and played the films I took. The microphone picks up everything. I now understand why Ian cuts out the cave noises in most of his films, and dubs in his familiar choice of music.
Is there a direct relationship between watts and lumens?
yes . tim is the biggest lumen i know. sorry john i thought you said lemon :whistle: :whistle: :whistle:
Dear Mike!
What are you drinking this evening!
I meant it seriously......
5 watts = how many lumens?
[quote="JohnNicholson" post=7427]Dear Mike!
What are you drinking this evening!
I meant it seriously......
5 watts = how many lumens?[/quote]
it doesn't, a watt is a measure of energy, a lumen is the amount of light visable to the human eye.
I am, and I must emphasise this bit, SLOWLY, attempting to make a Driver with "Autodim".
The idea is a blatant rip-off of the Petzl Nao, which dims when it detects a light shining on it, which usually means you are talking to someone with a light on their head too.
Hopefully this means You can have a Batburner of a light (Needed for Filming), and yet keep the Dazzle to a Minimum (and as a nice bonus, extend the runtime of the lamp).
Don't hold your breath, it's not something that will happen fast.
Sounds like a brilliant idea.
John,
impossible to directly compare watts to lumens. In fact, believe it or not its hard enough to compare lumens to lumens!
So much is dependant on optics, i.e. x amount of light focused/spread in what pattern. And then what specific wavelength is the light spectrum, and how the human eye (and eveyone is different) responds to the wavelength spectrum etc etc.
In 'real' terms the £30 job i posted is a fairly bright lamp compared to little crappy elastic petzl type things, but nothing like the trigon on full power - best thing i can suggest is that i'll bring it underground with me and you can try it for a day - you still going on the 8th???
John,
Your ability to pick up on light underground is not just down to your lamp but also your choice of video camera. I have been through lots of failed video cameras to find one that picks up well in low light. It is for this reason I have bought more than 20 of the same camera - because it works well in poor light.
If you are relying on light then you need 500+lumens for a small lead mine type passage and 2000+ for a slate cavern and they are minimum levels
;)
Ian
Thanks Ian and Tim.
It would be great to try your big light underground if we can come on 8th. Also it would be good to have a 'camera compare' session with you Ian. There are lots of features on our new camera that I have not tried yet, and as with most things I learn slowly. The camera we now have (Coolpix 3300) is supposed to be a lot better than the one we had so many problems with. It does seem easier to swap between stills and movie.
The reason why I was asking about lumens and watts is to compare the specifications of lights, some of which are given as watts and some as lumens.
This is a bargain back up light, not tried under ground yet as my son borrowed it, but very bright for the price
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/260970462254
I also go one of these which is even brighter, but still not tested it as Ian couldn't find the mine :ohmy:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200727269390
Unless you want a very specialised lamp, I don't think there is any point in trying to make your any more.