Playing with the new toy: Nitecore CU6

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Owen
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Playing with the new toy: Nitecore CU6

Post by Owen »

I had wanted a decent UV flashlight and I saw that Nitecore just released a UV (365nm) version of their Chameleon series. It also has a pair of red/green/blue tri-color LEDs. Not sure what blue is good for, but the red and green do help preserve night vision. Anyway, it has a white LED with 5 brightness settings (1 lm, 25 lm, 160 lm, 280 lm, 440 lm) and a 3W, 365nm UV LED. I did stick the optional crenulated bezel on it:

Image

The UV is pretty strong and I would suggest some type of UV safety glasses when using the UV part... even the reflected UV starts to mess with your eyes after a minute of shining it around. I managed a little hike with it this past week and here's a forest scorpion (Uroctonus) under regular flash and lit up under UV.

on camera flash:
Image

fluorescing under UV:
Image

Overall, I think it's a great little multi-purpose hiking light and is now hanging on the side of my pack.
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El Garia
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Re: Playing with the new toy: Nitecore CU6

Post by El Garia »

Owen - Have you used your light, with the optional diffuser? The white led is an xpg2, which produces more of a spot-beam. An inexpensive (about $7) 40mm diffuser would add an extra dimension to the CU6, making it great for hiking, and as an area light, too.
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Owen
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Re: Playing with the new toy: Nitecore CU6

Post by Owen »

El Garia wrote:Owen - Have you used your light, with the optional diffuser? The white led is an xpg2, which produces more of a spot-beam. An inexpensive (about $7) 40mm diffuser would add an extra dimension to the CU6, making it great for hiking, and as an area light, too.
I stuck the Olight 40mm diffuser on it, but it maybe cuts too much light from the colored modes. In UV, you want the throw to light up those little buggers. The white really isn't too much of a spot beam, but the diffuser would be good for even lighting of an area if you were walking a creek at night or similar.
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Owen
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Re: Playing with the new toy: Nitecore CU6

Post by Owen »

Millipedes too!

Image
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: Playing with the new toy: Nitecore CU6

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

Owen wrote:Millipedes too!
I didn't know that. All millipedes?
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Owen
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Re: Playing with the new toy: Nitecore CU6

Post by Owen »

Hans Breuer (twoton) wrote:
Owen wrote:Millipedes too!
I didn't know that. All millipedes?
I never tried it with any other species, so I don't know. Here's what they look like under white light:

http://bugguide.net/node/view/172734/bgimage
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sjfriend
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Re: Playing with the new toy: Nitecore CU6

Post by sjfriend »

Blue n green can help with blood trails at night. I too love uv for scorpion pics. Just adds such a dramatic feel. How far does the uv beam work? I have a cheap uv flashlight that I'm not impressed with and a giant rechargable that gets heavy so would love a great multi that includes uv.
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Owen
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Re: Playing with the new toy: Nitecore CU6

Post by Owen »

sjfriend wrote:Blue n green can help with blood trails at night. I too love uv for scorpion pics. Just adds such a dramatic feel. How far does the uv beam work? I have a cheap uv flashlight that I'm not impressed with and a giant rechargable that gets heavy so would love a great multi that includes uv.
I'm not sure how far the beam actually throws because most of the intensity really isn't that perceivable to the eye. That said, if I shine it from 30 feet away in the dark, fabrics that fluoresce, do glow fairly well. The reflector looks identical to that of the white, but the UV chip is a little larger, so the beam is probably correspondingly wider. I don't have anything equivalent to judge it against. I have a 3 C cell Mag-lite conversion with 20 UV LEDs and while it appears brighter to the naked eye, it has nowhere near the ability to fluoresce targets. I think it may be closer to a 395nm spectrum. I do need to get this thing out on a night hike some time, but as far as a one size fits all solution, it can't be beat. I wonder if I can black light for beetles with it by shining it on a sheet from a tripod? I'll try that in the backyard around June since I can get some interesting cerambycids at times.
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chrish
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Re: Playing with the new toy: Nitecore CU6

Post by chrish »

Have you had any trouble catching the fluourescence with your camera?

A friend and I were photographing a millipeded here in Texas that had fluourescent legs.
But in our photos (one iwth a Sony DSLR and another with a Pentax DSLR) the fluourescence didn't show.
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Owen
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Re: Playing with the new toy: Nitecore CU6

Post by Owen »

This is the only time that I tried and it worked just fine with the A77. I doubt a UV filter on the lens could be the problem, since the animal fluoresces in a different wavelength. Could they have had a brain fart and used flash?
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chrish
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Re: Playing with the new toy: Nitecore CU6

Post by chrish »

Owen wrote:This is the only time that I tried and it worked just fine with the A77. I doubt a UV filter on the lens could be the problem, since the animal fluoresces in a different wavelength. Could they have had a brain fart and used flash?
No, just UV.

I will start a different thread since this might be something others can help with.
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Owen
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Re: Playing with the new toy: Nitecore CU6

Post by Owen »

One more to add from today (Xystocheir dissecta):

Image
f8, 1/125, ISO-400 for both UV and flash shots.
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sjfriend
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Re: Playing with the new toy: Nitecore CU6

Post by sjfriend »

My previous question about range had to do with how far out it would light us scorpions and such? My little cheap one goes about 15-20 feet on desert hairys if no moon or other light.
MonarchzMan
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Re: Playing with the new toy: Nitecore CU6

Post by MonarchzMan »

Any idea on how long the light lasts? I have a cheap UV flashlight which worked pretty well and has good throw, but I like that this one looks like it has pretty far throw and is much more compact (something I can toss and leave in my camera bag, which I can't really do with my current UV light). It'd be nice to have something like this for jungle treks.
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Owen
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Re: Playing with the new toy: Nitecore CU6

Post by Owen »

MonarchzMan wrote:Any idea on how long the light lasts? I have a cheap UV flashlight which worked pretty well and has good throw, but I like that this one looks like it has pretty far throw and is much more compact (something I can toss and leave in my camera bag, which I can't really do with my current UV light). It'd be nice to have something like this for jungle treks.
I haven't burned through my batteries to test UV runtime (which is not listed in its literature). On 'white' with 2 lithium CR123's, it lists runtimes as:

440 lm = 1hr45min
280 lm = 2hr45min
160 lm = 5hr45min
25 lm = 32hr
1 lm = 260hr

Runtimes would be longer with 2600maH or greater 18650 rechargeable. I doubt that you can do a UV runtime conversion using the W = A x V with the 3000mW UV LED rating.

It is waterproof to IPX-8 (2m) and drop rated at 1.5m.

I guess that the bottom line is if you have access to charging, 18650's are the way to go. If you're out in the boonies, CR123's are pretty light weight and throwing 10 in a pack adds almost nothing.
MonarchzMan
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Re: Playing with the new toy: Nitecore CU6

Post by MonarchzMan »

I might have to consider getting one. I already have a Zebralight which uses the 18650s (which really lasts forever), so I have the equipment to charge (just would need more 18650s). I always kick myself not bringing my UV light, and it'd just be easiest to put it in the pack and forget about it (maybe even put a white sheet and rope for the random time I want to blacklight insects).
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El Garia
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Re: Playing with the new toy: Nitecore CU6

Post by El Garia »

Owen - Nitecore 'borrowed' your U. mordax pics for their website: http://www.nitecorelights.com/products/ ... tra-violet
Maybe some free flashlights would be a good remedy?
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JAMAUGHN
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Re: Playing with the new toy: Nitecore CU6

Post by JAMAUGHN »

I agree, you deserve some free flashlights for those photos. Esp. since I'm inclined to buy the flashlight after seeing those photos. I never knew I needed a UV flashlight before. Honestly, I never knew there was a UV flashlight before. Now I want one. I can't be the only one.

Which is another way of saying, Great photos!

JimM
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chrish
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Re: Playing with the new toy: Nitecore CU6

Post by chrish »

JAMAUGHN wrote:I agree, you deserve some free flashlights for those photos. Esp. since I'm inclined to buy the flashlight after seeing those photos. I never knew I needed a UV flashlight before. Honestly, I never knew there was a UV flashlight before. Now I want one. I can't be the only one.

Which is another way of saying, Great photos!

JimM
If you are considering it for photography, you might read this thread that evolved from this original discussion.
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