Replacing the Brinkmann Dual Xenon Spotlight

Mike Berenson demos the Dual Xenon

The Brinkmann MaxFire Dual Xenon Spotlight is no longer being made by Brinkmann and supplies are not available on Amazon. I had been using this Dual Xenon light for over a year, ever since my colleges recommend it. After its Ni-Cd battery would no longer is take a charge, I tried to order a replacement, but found that it was no longer being made. Although the Dual Xenon is labeled as a "spotlight", it's more of a narrow beam floodlight. This actually makes it much easier for light painting, as the beams of true spotlights are so narrow it makes it difficult to blend and overlap each pass of the light. The color balance of the warm Xenon light is about 3500º Kelvin, making it a preferred light source over the much cooler 8000º K output of most of the newer LED spotlights. A switch also allows one to use the intensity of both Xenon lights, or limit the power to just one light.

Harbor Freight's "One Million Candlepower Rechargeable Cordless Spotlight" is a great replacement for the Dual Xenon. I have two. The first one I bought is now about a year old, and has been recharged many times more the Dual Xenon, and it still takes a full charge. It's lithium-ion battery does not have the memory problem's of Ni-Cd battery used in the Dual Xenon. Because it uses a quartz halogen bulb, its light color balance is also close to 3500º Kelvin. And, at less than $11.00, this Harbor Freight spotlight is one-third the price I paid for the Dual Xenon!

At less than $11.00, Harbor Freight's "One Million Candlepower Rechargeable Cordless Spotlight"
is a great replacement for the Brinkmann MaxFire Dual Xenon Spotlight.

Other comparisons: The Harbor Freight spotlight is about the same size and weight as the Brinkmann Dual Xenon, albeit it is not quite as flat in its design. It also has about the same light intensity as the Dual Xenon has at full power (but the Harbor Freight spot does not have a dual intensity switch). The other difference is that like most true spotlights, the Harbor Freight's beam is more crisp and narrow than was the Dual Xenon.

1-gallon empty
milk jug

Softening the Beam: To produce a slight floodlight effect, I've taken an empty one-gallon plastic milk jug and cut out a circular piece to fit over the front of the spotlight. I've taped this into position with some gaffer tape (I like the 1-inch wide fluorescent rolls that B&H carries, and use them for a variety of photographic and labeling purposes). The "milky" plastic from the milk jug adds just the right amount of diffusion to soften the beam and make it similar in quality to the old Dual Xenon spotlight. You may wish to add two layers of "milky" plastic if you want even more softening. Because the Harbor Freight spotlights are so inexpensive, I have two —one with and without diffusion:

Harbor Freight spotlights: regular beam (L) and with milk jug plastic taped over spot.
(My fluorescent gaffer's tape adds no noticeable tint to the white balance :)

This photo of the Three Sisters in Goblin Valley State Park, Utah was light painted (from a distance
of about 250 feet to the left) with the Harbor Freight spotlight, using the homemade plastic diffuser
taped to the front. Without the diffuser, I would not have been able to blend my "painting" this
evenly. There is little light spill onto the side and foreground because I also employed the use of
a homemade snoot attached to the front of the spotlight (more on this technique in a future blog).

Royce's 2014 Workshop, Lecture & Video Conference Schedule: NightScapeEvents.com

Mike Cooper's Nocturnal Kansas

"Vermilya-Boener" - a limestone Italian Villa style house built north of Lawrence in 1868 ~ © Mike Cooper
(Click to enlarge and read more info, including light painting details.)

W. S. Kelly Gas Station

Mike Cooper's nocturnal, photo documentation of rural Kansas began almost four years ago. Mike had never had any formal training in photography, let alone night photography. "I had seen some [night time exposures] online that looked pretty cool so I decided to give it a try.  I spent evenings sitting in my wife’s sewing room researching on the internet to figure out how it was done.  [As] an insurance adjustor by day, I drive about 450 miles a week through the rural areas of Kansas so I knew I could probably find some combines or tractors to use as subjects.  I really didn't want to invest much money in equipment if I wasn't going to like it. I already had a basic DSLR, so I bought a used Streamlight Stinger flashlight and cheap shutter-release cable off of eBay, as well a few lighting gels [to get started]."

Above photo taken with the Sony A350. Exposed for 74 seconds. Light painting with red, blue

and purple gelled flashlight; sodium vapor lighting to the right side of the building. One of Mike's

earliest night photos, before his focus was on rural Kansas. Abandon station is located in Cogar, Oklahoma.

Mike describes his style of night photography as "bright" —he likes his photos to be very “light,” especially through the use of the colored light painting. He enjoys night photography because of the unusual conversations that come from the property owners, as he tries to convince to them to let him onto their land. He usually carries some prints to show his past work. "They argue with me that [their property] can’t be taken at night," says Mike. He is amused when they can't believe that their abandon building will ever be as bright as the examples in his prints!

"District 34" - The one-room, Bichet School, built in 1896 ~ © Mike Cooper
A 182 second exposure with the Sony A560, using a blue gelled flashlight.
This is a good example of Mike's "Bright" night photography style. 

"The Drunkards' Masterpiece" - Stone house in the Flint Hills of Kansas (built circa 1840)  ~ © Mike Cooper
The story passed from father to son was that the two gentlemen who built it were drunk more than
they were sober. 180 seconds exposure with a Sony A560, during heavy cloud cover and
a lot of wind. Light painting with Protomachines set to violet and soft white.

"Abandoned II" - an abandoned gas station alongside I-35

Challenges: Because Kansas is a fairly large state, it is not unusual for Mike to drive 2+ hours one way to a location, photograph into the night, and still have to drive home in the early morning hours.

But his biggest challenge has been trying to figure out who is the right person to ask for permission on various abandoned sites. "I became a little pickier about trying to get permission after a run-in with a county sheriff that ended with me in handcuffs," laughs Mike. He thought he was going to have to call his brother-in-law to bail me out of jail. It should be no surprise that he hasn't taken any pictures in Harvey County since that night!

Equipment and software: Mike recently upgraded from a Sony A560 to a Nikon D800 and a Nikkor 14-24mm lens.  (All of the photos shown above were taken with the Sony A350 or A560.) He's using his Gitzo Explorer tripod and Arca Swiss ballhead that were purchased from eBay, but he originally started out with a cheap aluminum tripod.  Last year for Christmas, his wife got him a Protomachines flashlight and it has been a fantastic upgrade:  "I used to carry multiple flashlights, gels and as well as numerous miscellaneous handmade attachments for the flashlights to hold the gels or focus the beams.  Inevitably I would drop a flashlight and have to spend 30 minutes or more searching in the dark for it. [That's] no longer a problem now that I keep a Protomachines hung around my neck."

"District 88" - one room schoolhouse in Osage County, Kansas ~ © Mike Cooper
150 seconds exposure with Nikon D800. Light painting with Protomachines set to gold & soft white.

Mike uses the timer on his iPhone to keep track of how long the shutter is open. "My daughter found gloves that can work the touchscreen on my iPhone timer, so that is a big help in the Kansas weather."

He doesn't use the high-end Photoshop —just the very basic $100 Photoshop Elements on his MacBook for editing, and that is usually just to adjust white balance, adjust the fill light, level, and crop or remove an occasional power line from the image.

Mike Cooper on location

Mike Cooper currently lives in the northeast corner of Kansas with his wife, daughter, two dogs and two cats. He started doing night photography in January 2010, and has had no formal training in photography or post-processing.  None of his current pictures use any layers or blends of multiple images.  Mike enjoys making calendars of his pictures for friends and family, but as a general rule, he doesn’t sell his work because he would rather take pictures of things that interest him, instead of worrying about what other people would find interesting or attractive. More of Mike's work can be found on his 'Nocturnal Kansas' Flickr photostream.

Royce's 2014 Workshop, Lecture & Video Conference Schedule: NightScapeEvents.com
Featured Post: Shooting Stars eBook Review — How to Photograph the Stars and the Moon

TOTW: Flashlights for Light Painting

Today, I'm starting a new weekly blog feature: Tool of the Week (TOTW). This will include everything from equipment, gadgets, hardware, software, applications, website instruction, or any tool that helps night photographers take better photos.

David Kingham started this discussion about flashlights a few weeks ago when he asked other night shooters to share what they used for light painting. He shared his own night chaser, the UltraStinger Xenon flashlight by Streamlight ($195 list). Kingham reports, "This is the main light I've been using for a few years now. I love the xeon light, but this thing cranks out too much light most of the time." The UltraStinger is the brightest Streamlight flashlight available, putting out to 35,000 candela (peak beam intensity), or 230 lumens.

About a month ago we did a feature on Neale Smithies (a.k.a. "LED Eddie"). Neale's signature LED flashlight is 7-LED "torch" made by LED Lenser, and known as the X21R Flashlight ($600 list). The 7-LED reflector pattern of this flashlight is used as Neale's watermark on his website gallery. With up to 1600 lumens, the rechargeable X21R may be the most powerful handheld LED on the market. It's Advanced Focus System allows the light to be directed into a far-reaching spot (up to 1900-foot beam distance), or as a flood light.
 

Lighting set-up for Hole in the Wall Arch - Arches N.P., Utah USA ~ © Royce Bair (click to see more info)

Click to enlarge

Although much of my light painting is actually done with large, stationary halogen lights and studio strobes (i.e. in the above light set-up), I do employ the use of flashlights on smaller landscape features —like the orange (gel filter) glow in this 30-foot diameter hole you see to the right (which is the hole you see in the above photo). I found a company in Portland, Oregon called Coast Products that makes a line of high performance LED flashlights that are very similar to the LED Lenser line, but about one-half the cost. Their 1317 lumens HP21 ($295 list) is similar in design to LED Lenser's X21 model, but half the price. Coast lights are well made, and they have beam focusing optics (giving you a flood beam and a Bulls-Eye spot) similar to the LED Lenser brand, and most have a high and low power cycle switch.

I have two of their flashlights: the HP14 and the larger HP17. The Coast HP17 ($117 list) uses three D-cell alkaline batteries and gives me both a 615 lumens output (almost as much as a 60-watt incandescent lightbulb), and a low output of 64 lumens. This heavy-duty light will run for over 15 hours at full power. At just under 2 pounds (with batteries), it also makes a good night club when traveling in rough neighborhoods. The more compact Coast HP14 ($72 list) uses four AA alkaline batteries, yet still puts out 339 lumens and 56 lumins in the low setting. When I'm shooting at ISO 6400, in order to get the stars in one 30-second exposure, the even the low output setting is sufficient power to paint some close objects.

(Note: all of these flashlights can be purchased online via mail order houses at substantially lower prices.)

Royce Bair is the editor of this blog and the photographer of the above images. Here is my gallery of NightScape images. My schedule of workshops, tutorials, and other events is available here.