If you remove the crystal lenses......

[oreo54]

Why remove the lenses..?
Raising it to 13"-14" off the water line would be less work...16" cone plus light width..
Depth f/b is 18" right?

Taking the lenses off and move it down to 7-8"

Both should be roughly equivalent..

you will get the most depth penetration by moving the light down as is but sacrificing spread f/b in the upper couple of inches or so..

You can check it out w/ the Lux meter..

you only lose PAR buy not doing a height adjustment (mostly spill)

Sorry for the confusing mess. It's actually a partial answer to both the old and new questions..

What lenses do you recommend removing to get better coverage in between 2 lights? Just the outer lenses?

Why? Got a visible dark cone between the 2 lights?..
Another method is to move them closer together and take the lenses of the end ...

Increases PAR in the center and decreases it at, usually, less used ends..

black bracing shadowing makes anything a bit more difficult..

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Why remove the lenses..?
Raising it to 13"-14" off the water line would be less work...16" cone plus light width..
Depth f/b is 18" right?

Taking the lenses off and move it down to 7-8"

Both should be roughly equivalent..

you will get the most depth penetration by moving the light down as is but sacrificing spread f/b in the upper couple of inches or so..

You can check it out w/ the Lux meter..

you only lose PAR buy not doing a height adjustment (mostly spill)

Sorry for the confusing mess. It's actually a partial answer to both the old and new questions..

The hot spot is is in the middle of the light beam mostly.
Besides making a wider pattern and spread , it also changes the visual quality of the light. Cuts some of the shimmer. Softens it.
The SB has 60 and 90 plus some kinda goofy frosted ones.
The smaller lenses under those ont the diodes are supposed to be 120. But I know by looking and metering , it’s a fair amount more. 160ish.



As far as penetration goes , t5 guys don’t seem to sweat it.
At 12in these give about 600+ par with the lenses at 100%, so there’s more than plenty of power to play with IMO.

cudos on the lux meter reccomend btw.

An taking stuff apart is fun.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

What lenses do you recommend removing to get better coverage in between 2 lights? Just the outer lenses?

Def take a reference picture.

The hot spot is in the middle so I’d pull from there. Or leave a few of the blue and cool white for shimmer.

If your concerned about some penetration , leave a few more in.

According to SB and ime , at 12in stock lenses , the light covers 16 x by 18
Ime with a 9-10 in hot spot in the middle.

 

[oreo54]

The hot spot is is in the middle of the light beam mostly.

ahhh.. well you can get quite fancy w/ lenses.. Even some that aren't round patterned as you know..

so going in 2 from the short edge and one from the long dimension.. replace the 60's w/ 120s every other diode..
11 120's...
Probably some fancy mathematical way of cyphering this out..

Just pulling the lenses probably will cause some exit shading. Hard to tell but like you know , for most, there is spare power..

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

ahhh.. well you can get quite fancy w/ lenses.. Even some that aren't round patterned as you know..

so going in 2 from the short edge and one from the long dimension.. replace the 60's w/ 120s every other diode..
11 120's...
Probably some fancy mathematical way of cyphering this out..

Just pulling the lenses probably will cause some exit shading. Hard to tell but like you know , for most, there is spare power..

Lol. Right ?

I’ve met some folks here with the bbs on small tanks like 29s and bio cubes retro fits.
Folks keep reccomding like 65b and 40w.
That’s like 400+ par. On the sand. Lol.
A maxima in a Nano.

 

[WhiskeyCoffee]

ahhh.. well you can get quite fancy w/ lenses.. Even some that aren't round patterned as you know..

so going in 2 from the short edge and one from the long dimension.. replace the 60's w/ 120s every other diode..
11 120's...
Probably some fancy mathematical way of cyphering this out..

Just pulling the lenses probably will cause some exit shading. Hard to tell but like you know , for most, there is spare power..

What is exit shading?

 

[WhiskeyCoffee]

Why? Got a visible dark cone between the 2 lights?..
Another method is to move them closer together and take the lenses of the end ...

Increases PAR in the center and decreases it at, usually, less used ends..

black bracing shadowing makes anything a bit more difficult..

Yup that's what I'm dealing with. I did raise the lights some but it didn't make as much of an impact as I had hoped.

 

[oreo54]

Yea, only thing really to do is "slip" some of the light under the brace which is difficult. Keep in mind it's really only the first few inches or so that is the worst..
in this case may be best just to take the first 3 rows closest to the brace and do 120's.


You can estimate w/ a protector and just draw it out a bit..

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

One thought too, with the Light Lower and coming out of the fixture at a wider angle , objects are lit from the extreme right and and left now , rather than just the 60 or 90 degrees under the fixture.
That’s also one of the things t5 does too. It’s the size of the source over the objet. A t5 is a long tube of soft light.
An led is a projector. Pulling lenses and lowering makes it a big soft rectangle of light.

In my 55 I didn’t pull the lenses (mounted at 8in sitting on top of the canopy), I put sanded acrylic diffusers on them, two make them big soft rectangles of light.

 

[WhiskeyCoffee]

One thought too, with the Light Lower and coming out of the fixture at a wider angle , objects are lit from the extreme right and and left now , rather than just the 60 or 90 degrees under the fixture.
That’s also one of the things t5 does too. It’s the size of the source over the objet. A t5 is a long tube of soft light.
An led is a projector. Pulling lenses and lowering makes it a big soft rectangle of light.

In my 55 I didn’t pull the lenses (mounted at 8in sitting on top of the canopy), I put sanded acrylic diffusers on them, two make them big soft rectangles of light.

So you're saying removing lenses is potentially advantageous in terms in terms of light distribution?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

So you're saying removing lenses is potentially advantageous in terms in terms of light distribution?

Not potentially, it is.
Light distributing is what lenses do.
If the narrow lenses are directing it in one spot , one should used wider lenses to distribute it more evenly.
It just takes a bit of figuring as far as the loss of intenseity, in t he case if these lights, we know that they can be run with no lenses at all and have plenty of power (with correct height , like t5).

For the life of me, I can’t remeber who it is here running no lenses and had put a par meter on it.

 

[Jerome Woodward]

I am going to pull my lenses in my SBreef this weekend. I have a par meter.. I will do some before and afters.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I am going to pull my lenses in my SBreef this weekend. I have a par meter.. I will do some before and afters.

Very cool.

May is ask that you do measurements at 6in and 12in from the fixture dry ?

 

[Jerome Woodward]

Very cool.

May is ask that you do measurements at 6in and 12in from the fixture dry ?

I can do that.

 

[oreo54]

What is exit shading?

sorry .. doesn't apply w/ these.. Refers to "recessed" diodes. These are exposed...IF you take the lens holders off..
If you just pop the lens off you got that little "can" to deal with.

 

[WhiskeyCoffee]

I am going to pull my lenses in my SBreef this weekend. I have a par meter.. I will do some before and afters.

What's that saying? Oh yeah! Not all heroes wear capes... ^_^

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Yea.... I’ll be pulling some lenses here too...

 

[WhiskeyCoffee]

I am going to pull my lenses in my SBreef this weekend. I have a par meter.. I will do some before and afters.

How did it go?

 

[Heabel7]

Old thread... anyone ever get a reading on black box no lenses?

I was thinking of going no lenses on the middle area, only leaving lenses on outer row. And put in a diffusion panel to mimic some of the higher end offerings.

 

[Heabel7]

6 month bump searching for the answer