Study Lighting

Lights:
ZebraLight SC51w, H30-Q5;
HDS/Ra Clickies (100Chc, 140Cgt) and Twisty 70Tr;
SureFire 6P-M60Wl, L1;
Inova T1.

May is a month of intense studying; the first half of it at least. For years, one of my biggest study problems has just been finding a comfortable amount of light. My room lighting is... awful. I love portable lighting, but fixed lighting holds little interest for me, and I tend to prefer dim environments anyway, so I'm not well equipped when I do actually need to see what I'm doing for long periods indoors. For a while now, I've used my flashlights, usually with diffusers, to fill in for my missing desk lamps, with mixed results, but recently I've improved the situation a little. Since I've just come through an extended period during which this was the most important (and sometimes only) use of my lights, and I was relying on my lights to allow me to get my work done on a nightly basis, I'd like to devote a post to taking a look at how they serve me in this role.

My Nalgene lamp (with 100wwC Clicky attached) was a clever idea, I thought, but not truly that useful for this application. I have the terrible habit of trying to study on my bed, so getting this lamp to stay in one place and aimed correctly was more effort than it was worth. Still, something to remember if I ever go camping.


This has been my most successful technique for about the last year: a series of lights with either diffusers or very floody beams suspended over my bed. Here we see my 6P with Malkoff M60Wl and Inova T1 (the 2008 edition with the K2 TFFC). Not sure what's above and behind them.


Eventually I wised up and cleared some desk space for myself, just in time for my final study sessions, after months of doing math propped in bed. Here are a couple of Clickies standing by while my new ZebraLight SC51w lights up the book from above.


The ZL SC51w has kind of revolutionized my study lighting. The output, beam, tint, and runtimes make it a breath of fresh air for this kind of use. The neutral XPG emitter has a tint that is very comfortable on the eyes and produces a beam with a very wide spot that can actually be used to read even at fairly close distances without a diffuser. (The effect is a bit better than it appears in this shot.) Wish I'd had it sooner.


A look at the lights used in the days leading up to this year's final, including that wonderful little green Zebra standing there with the Clickies. Lying in the crease is the gen6 SF L1, though I can't remember how I made use of it here. At rear left is the ZL H30, which is always useful, though I've found its cool tint and limited runtime at high outputs rather limiting for this application.


The hanging setup over the desk, similar to what I strung up over my bed before. I've got the SC51w, 6P-M60Wl, and a Clicky going here, though I found I could usually make do almost as well using just the ZL alone. It really is great, I can't emphasize that enough. Because it doesn't have to be diffused, its beam remains focused. Because it retains its normal throw, less output is needed to put proper lux on the page. Lower output means greater efficiency and longer runtime, and its efficiency is already cutting edge to begin with.


Another look at the desk setup. This time I had the SC51w and the diffused high CRI Clicky (Moby Click) hanging above to provide page lighting while the Twisty tailstands in the center of the desk and reflects a little soft area lighting off the folded paper above. At the top right corner of the book stands the little H30 set to a low level. It's adding a little lighting to that corner of the book, but its primary function there was actually just to provide a little illumination on the calculator screen with the edge of its beam.

Final look at the same setup, showing one of the other Clickies (the 140Cgt) attached to the bookcase a few feet up to add another 35lm of area lighting when I wanted it.


My study lighting setup is probably far from ideal, mostly because of the battery concerns and trouble it takes to set it all up, but the results aren't too bad and I'm very grateful that I'm able to create adequate illumination to work despite my lack of more traditional lamps.

Blackout

Contributed by Sam
Location: Art 308, HSU
Light: 120Chc

While in a closed room with no windows looking at a powerpoint about medieval art, the power randomly flickered and went off, plunging the whole class into pitch black terror. I pulled out the 120Chc after a couple moments and performed a ceiling bounce so that the person in the back of the room could safely walk to the door and open it up to the daylight. Soon, natural light came in and flooded the room, so I shut my light off. I saved the day for about 15 seconds, then stealthily blended back into the masses of unprepared students scrambling for their iphone flashlight app.

Cutting felt at the Plough

Light: ZebraLight H30
Knife: Spyderco UKPK Drop Point, Khukuri

I stopped by the Pewter Plough after class to help with some of the work on the set of "Becky's New Car," which opens in two or three days. The main task was putting up black felt on the walls, and I'd been told that I'd be helpful because they needed someone tall enough to staple it at the top. As it turns out, they got some helpers that could put it up, but their biggest problem was actually that they didn't have anything that could cut the felt. They were trying to hack their way through it with an old pair of scissors that appeared to mostly just get jammed on the material. I went over with my UKPK and was able to cut the length of it pretty easily as long as it was held taut. I think I also tried the Khukuri briefly on a piece, but the fine edge of the VG10 didn't bite into the material (which is a lot like woven strands of fine plastic I guess) as well as the toothier S30V, so I stuck with the UK. Afterwards, I wished I'd brought the ZDP Endura to try, partly because I think its toothiness is somewhere closer to S30 and would have liked to see how it cut, partly because using the UK in an actual work environment showed me the limitations of a slipit in ways that normal light use doesn't.

While cutting a section of felt that was attached in a corner, I needed to provide my own light since I had to get between what I was working on and the big standing work lights. I'd foreseen a situation like this since the theatre area is very poorly lit (only has stage lights, can't have normal lights visible), so I attached my little ZebraLight to the chest of my jacket. Very glad to have it, and I would have had a lot more trouble if I hadn't brought it. Afterwards, someone noticed it clipped there and asked about it.

Ranch walk with Van

Lights
Me: ZebraLight SC51w, ZebraLight H30, Ra Clicky wwCT (17670), Ra Clicky 140Cgt
Van: NiteCore D10

Went for a walk across the ranch and back on the bluff trail with Van around 9:30. It was one of our beautiful, clear, starry Cambria nights and quite perfect for it. It was even somewhat warm, with a little bit of that strange micro-climate effect the ranch sometimes gets at night, like corridors of warm and cold. At the beginning I offered Van the choice of two lights: a 2D Mag or the little NC D10. He chose wisely. I started out just using my warm Clicky, but I switched to my ZL SC51w and gave it its first real use in its intended walking light purpose. I was very happy with it. After so many years of fumbling with annoying tactical switches while out walking, it was refreshing to be able to relaxedly carry a small light in a comfortable position and still be able to adjust it without finger contortions. The floody beam doesn't reach far but does a great job of evenly lighting up the path ahead. The warm tint was easy on the eyes, though the quality of it is not up to other warm emitters I've used.

Tonight was also Van's introduction to geocaching. Since our walk took us right by one, I encouraged him to have a go. He found it quickly, came up with a username on the spot, and signed the log. After our walk we continued on to the phone booth cache downtown. A pretty good night.

Watch out!

Contributed by Sam

Watch: MIL-PRF-46374G
Location: Music room 207

In class yesterday: The clock was all wrong and the teacher was wondering out loud how much time he had left to lecture... A few people scrambled to pull their phone out.. I briefly glanced down at my watch, "11:45."

"Great, thanks Sam"

That's how it's done.

Throw away a good thing

Contributed by Sam

Light: Ra-120w+2xAA
Location: Arcata Community Park
Time: ~6:30pm, 52º

After taking a long walk through the redwoods I ended up at the community park. There's a huge grassy field that has become completely saturated with water, leading to about 8in. deep of mud, grass and sludge all mixed together. At the time however, I didn't realize how saturated it was. I stood there looking at the field and was struck with the desire to throw my Clicky as far as I could after setting it to maximum output. I thought I'd play a fun game of 'throw the flashlight' for a while before heading back to my apartment. Well... nature had something else in store for me.

I threw my Clicky about 70 yards, it was a sight to behold, that beauty spinning in the air in the pitch black night. It came down with a heavy thud and everything went black. 'Uhoh' I thought to myself. I made a mental location of the light and went searching for it... Searching, searching, searching... I pulled out my 5mm LED headlamp which I had brought with me, and was hunched over, moving slowly in a search pattern around the location where I thought it had landed.. I couldn't find it... That idea would make me sick.. Having a semi rare Ra-120w with a 2xAA tube attached buried in the mud.

I walked back to my throwing position and stood there. I looked over the grass and could see my footprints laughing at me in their methodical grid-like pattern which proved fruitless. By then I had been searching for an hour and a half.

I stood there and I looked, and my mind went clear.... I stood in silence in the stillness of the night and waited.. Waited for an answer... A coordinate... Then.. It came.

I visualized the light spinning in my head, I watched as it fell and went dark. Then I walked towards where I mentally saw the light fall. As I walked, the ground was burping beneath my feet, large earth worms were able to quickly move through it, ahead of my treading path. It smelled like heavy wet mud. The ground was alive...

Suddenly, the shape of the Clicky appeared apart from all the organic matter. It stood out as a foreign object.. Clip side up, covered in mud, still burning away. The mud on the lens was steaming from the LED heat generation.

Vacuum lighting

Light: Ra Clicky 100wwCT

This afternoon I spent some time helping at the Pewter Plough, getting the theatre's seating area cleaned up and the rows of chairs back into place in preparation for the opening of Glass Menagerie. The area was lit by the little marquis lights arching across the ceiling and by some tripod work lights, but the floor was not lit well enough to be able to see all of the small bits of trash that needed to be cleared before vacuuming. Of course the Clicky dealt with this problem. I also used it to navigate around the areas of the theatre beyond the seating area, which had been left completely dark.

Flood repair

Yesterday we got hit with a huge volume of rain all night long. After weeks of heavy rainstorms saturating the town, this one finally pushed things over the edge; the town's streets are covered in mud and small streams, a bush slid down the hill and into the BofA parking lot, erosion damage is evident everywhere, and it seems that everyone in my neighborhood had flooding in their lowest area. In our case, this meant that our downstairs bedroom was flooded with a couple inches of water that seeped in through the concrete walls. Not a lot of damage to stuff in the room, but the carpet is a total loss, so today we got started on pulling it out and vacuuming out the water left pooled on the concrete below. We mostly just tore the carpet since it tears in a straight line without a huge amount of effort, but this was not my idea and I disapproved of the unnecessary strain on the back. For sections too awkward to pull, I stepped in and used the Pacific, which, despite my complaints about the edge, was able to tear through the material very easily.

High CRI BBQ

Contributed by Sam

Light: Ra Clicky 120w CRI93

For my brother's birthday we decided to have a BBQ.. It got late and dark, and our porch light was ruining the mood, so I pulled out my Clicky 120 to work by. It rendered the color beautifully, and allowed us to cook the steak to perfection.

Light-Fi 2010

Lights: SF L1-R, Ra Clicky 100wwCT (17670), Ra Clicky 140Cgt, Princeton Tec Apex.

Went for a walk on the ranch with Joe and Teresa. Used the red SF L1 for much of my walk out, then handed it off to Teresa to use for most of the rest of the trip. I used Apex and warm Clicky after that, but I think both started blinking to indicate battery depletion. Think I mostly used the other Clicky for walk home. Joe used his Fenix P2D and a generic 7x5mm light. While out there, we discovered a gas leak from a pipe next to the upper fire road trail, now noticeable due to the saturated ground it was bubbling out of. Joe called it in and Cambria was saved.

Michelle joins the club

After a year of her playing with my Tasman, I decided it was time for Michelle to have her own. Picked one up at a good price and gave it to her tonight. I'll be interested to see how she uses it.

Christmas eve unwrapping

Ended up at a Christmas Eve dinner and had to open some presents. Most people do not spare the scotch tape quite the way I do, and glossy, untearable wrappings are pretty common, so the best way into them was to cut the tape. The little Ladybug Salt was perfect for this and drew no comments.

Christmas tree hunt

Light: Ra Clicky 140Cgt
Knives: Ladybug Salt, Military

The rain broke and my dad was finally ready to go out and get a Christmas tree. I went along to Morro Bay to help pick and to do some shopping at Albertsons. My dad needed to cut a coupon out of his mailer and asked if I had a knife. Of course I immediately reached to my back pocket for my new Military, but I realized that I was in the middle of the produce aisle and a 9.5" knife would probably get some looks. I instead used my friendly little Ladybug, which I carry as much for polite use in situations like this as anything else. I really love the Ladybug, and it makes for a great pairing with the Military.

After shopping we went over to pick up our tree (got a nice, fresh one of about 6.5' for $12.50). By this time the sun had set, so my Clicky provided the lighting as we carried it from the dark area of the lot where they were stored to the car, then as we tied it into the trunk. The Military's only use was to cut the paracord I used to tie the tree in, which it did with an almost insulted effortlessness.

Final studying

Lights: SF L1, SF/Milky ML1, SF L2, Ra Clicky 100wwCT, Ra Twisty 70Tr

In the last few days while studying I had to use lights for reading due to my terribly inadequate room lighting.  I burned through the 14670 in L2, RCR in L1, used ML1 on primary for a bit, and killed I think two 17670s in the Clicky, with the second one stepping down when I went to use it as car lighting after class. So I guess that means I used the lights for something like 6-7 hours total of reading, which was mostly a waste since by the end of it I'd remembered that reading the book mostly is a waste. Still, I did pick up a few little details that ended up being helpful.

Warm tint was nice to read by, but diffused 70lm was actually just ever so slightly low in a lit room with a large book. The 100+lm burst was pretty much perfect though. The 110ish of the L1 was perfect. I had the Twisty hanging above to provide area lighting and killed at least one battery in that too. Burning the midnight lithium.

Samy report

A report from Samy in Humboldt.

"It's a story a day here. There's always the ordinary, yet within it the unordinary. My knives get used for cutting fruit and vegetables. My flashlight shines only briefly here and there.

Kitchen stories... .. kitchens are strange places, where someone's hungry mind is conveying its intent and our body is haplessly finding solutions to create whatever product. I tend to eat simply. Often times I am splitting avocados by splicing the body in half and rotating them apart into two halves, lightly copping into the seed and twisting to remove it. Other times I resort to a 'chefs' knife in the kitchen, which i bought at ace hardware. That's for cutting tomatoes and heads of cabbage."


And some commentary on my usage.
Me: I think the only story I have is using my Aqua to spread peanut butter.
Samy: wow. you're like, the expensive bladery that does velvet duty.
Me: yeah I know....  It's funny, looking over my knives you can see heavy wear on the tiny Ladybug... and then most of the rest looks almost perfect.
Samy: what does that say about you?
Me: that I mostly have small cutting needs, or that food cutting puts more wear, or maybe just that I'm more careful as the price goes up, or just that H1 scratches really easily. I tore down a bunch of boxes with a UK a couple weeks ago, but it still looks perfect just because S30 doesn't scratch easily.
Samy: small cutting needs sounds like it.
Me: mostly. lots of opening light packages and spreading peanut butter.

Eisley concert

Light: Ra Clicky 140Cgt

Took my Clicky to the Eisley show at SLO Brew. Didn't use it much except maybe to check the floor afterwards, but I did get to show it to Garron and Weston. They both love lights and Garron had an Olight stolen, so I figured he'd probably be interested to see a high end option other than SureFire. Garron showed me his remaining Olight and SF L1, both of which showed signs of extensive use. Though my own lights are mostly pristine due to my light uses and careful tendencies, it always makes me happy to see one that's clearly provided good service.

As for knives, I went in with a normal but light carry. Usual Ladybug in pocket, no big knives, and just the innocent looking green UKPK Drop Point as a main knife. I've never had any security problems at the venue, but I wanted to be conservative about it all the same. As it turns out, there was more security scrutiny than I've ever gotten here before—enough that when I got about 15' from the door I moved the UK from side pocket to waistband. They didn't care about my pockets much though, only the bulky camera gear in my messenger bag, which one lightly felt up before letting me through without looking inside. (Seriously, what's changed? They didn't care at all about all the stuff I brought for the "Hottest Chicks in Metal" show, but at the "pansy girl music" indie rock show they get concerned? I understand them not wanting outside liquor or glass bottles, but if it's an issue now—and at a very non-threatening all ages show—why wasn't it an issue before? I'm not complaining though; they're still one of the most relaxed and enjoyable real venues.)

October usage

Not any very exciting stuff, but October saw the return of early darkness as we transitioned more fully into autumn, meaning my Clicky did a lot of car-lighting after class. My Ladybug opened lots of bananas, my Tasman spread some peanut butter, and my Cat opened some granola bars. At some point my Khukuri cut a tissue paper snowflake for a busser at Linn's. I also used my serrated Aqua to spread peanut butter once, which it did well. Pretty standard usage mostly.

Welcome to the club, Ian!

Today Ian got his first SureFire, an OD G2ZL, which is one of my favorite models. May it serve him faithfully.

Clearing a path through the supermarket jungle

Stopped by Albertsons and found my normal entrance (the main one, and the closest one to Rite Aid, so it's the one used by many seniors) roped off by rough string. Some paving work had recently been done in the parking lot, but parking was unrestricted and there was no immediately apparent reason for the door to be blocked. I thought the door was closed for some reason, but it was still functioning—people were just getting roped out of and inside the entrance area for no reason. When I left the store by the other door, I purposely walked back the length of the building, into the cordoned off section, waited for a 70ish year old couple to stare in confusion at the string before carefully bending under it, and then I walked up to a section, touched the blade of my Khukuri to it, and down went a section of string before I could even feel the blade contacting it. Immediately after, I saw customers and employees walking through my cut section, paying little attention to the remaining sections. Order was restored, confusion eliminated, and potential injury averted.

Post-Pinedorado Plough Lighting

Light: Ra Clicky 140Cgt

This morning, after the Pinedorado parade, I went by the Pewter Plough to help out with preparations for the show that evening. Since many sections of a theatre are either dimly lit, even in the middle of the day, or lit only by a complex system of lighting, my Clicky was very useful in getting around the area behind the stage and tidying up the seating area while putting out playbills. Since the theatre was open for visitors during the Pinedorado, an old couple came in to look around and see the set. Rather than searching around for and figuring out the lighting controls for the room, I used my light to illuminate the room and show them the set.