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Once you get past a certain brightness, you really need a way to manage the heat output. I don’t think most people want an extra heat sink in their phone add we

by orev 6y ago

Once you get past a certain brightness, you really need a way to manage the heat output. I don’t think most people want an extra heat sink in their phone add weight and taking up space that could be used for other features or more battery. If you really need a very bright light, you can find small dedicated flashlights that will do the job much better. But I think, just like with a camera, the tool you use the most is the one you have with you.

spicybright 6y ago
The Maglight Mini is the best mini flashlight I've used. I keep it on my key chain, it's a little bigger than a normal key, uses one AAA that lasts months, super bright, and I've used it daily for 2 years.
rektide 6y ago
if it's for photo taking, it only needs to be on very briefly. getting the brightest damned day star you can fit in a tiny package makes plenty of sense. there are gaming phones like the Lenovo Legion Phone Duel[1] that are designed for thermal management. attach your lighting to those existing radiators & try to shed power that way, & you could probably boast a pretty decent torch. [1] https://www.techradar.com/news/lenovo-legion-phone-duel-a-bizarre-new-gaming-phone-is-available-to-buy-now https://www.techradar.com/news/lenovo-legion-phone-duel-a-bi...
- orev 6y ago
  The main comment for this thread is specifically talking about using the LED as a flashlight. I get that in a short burst you could have something really bright and it wouldn’t be an issue, but for use as a flashlight or video lamp.
liminalsunset 6y ago
One of the other issues to keep in mind is the actual amount of light output by the point source. Some SMD LEDs output a non trivial amount of light in a very small area - if you put black electrical tape, the high power density (over a very small area) can cause the tape to start smoking and burning. A friend had a Razer Phone 2 which melted its camera lens and would cause burns if you covered the LED while it was on. While I'm sure that particular case may have been a faulty device/faulty design, I'd think that to make a brighter LED flash, you'd need more than one LED source. While this would be fine for general illumination, perhaps if they were not tightly coupled together some odd shadows could result. And it'd look kind of funny to some. As for the actual amount of heat output by a relatively bright LED, it should only add about a watt or two to the budget at most, which I'd say is manageable given current LED flash implementations aren't really thermally managed or coupled with the device's internal heat sink.
causality0 6y ago
The issue, though, is even well under that threshold there's no benchmarking. Anecdotally it's more about branding. When using a Samsung or LG handset I typically didn't think about the flashlight when I was using it. With both my OnePlus phones it's hard to use it without thinking "man I wish this was brighter".

by orev 6y ago

spicybright 6y ago

The Maglight Mini is the best mini flashlight I've used. I keep it on my key chain, it's a little bigger than a normal key, uses one AAA that lasts months, super bright, and I've used it daily for 2 years.

rektide 6y ago

if it's for photo taking, it only needs to be on very briefly. getting the brightest damned day star you can fit in a tiny package makes plenty of sense. there are gaming phones like the Lenovo Legion Phone Duel[1] that are designed for thermal management. attach your lighting to those existing radiators & try to shed power that way, & you could probably boast a pretty decent torch. [1] https://www.techradar.com/news/lenovo-legion-phone-duel-a-bizarre-new-gaming-phone-is-available-to-buy-now https://www.techradar.com/news/lenovo-legion-phone-duel-a-bi...

orev 6y ago
The main comment for this thread is specifically talking about using the LED as a flashlight. I get that in a short burst you could have something really bright and it wouldn’t be an issue, but for use as a flashlight or video lamp.

liminalsunset 6y ago

One of the other issues to keep in mind is the actual amount of light output by the point source. Some SMD LEDs output a non trivial amount of light in a very small area - if you put black electrical tape, the high power density (over a very small area) can cause the tape to start smoking and burning. A friend had a Razer Phone 2 which melted its camera lens and would cause burns if you covered the LED while it was on. While I'm sure that particular case may have been a faulty device/faulty design, I'd think that to make a brighter LED flash, you'd need more than one LED source. While this would be fine for general illumination, perhaps if they were not tightly coupled together some odd shadows could result. And it'd look kind of funny to some. As for the actual amount of heat output by a relatively bright LED, it should only add about a watt or two to the budget at most, which I'd say is manageable given current LED flash implementations aren't really thermally managed or coupled with the device's internal heat sink.

causality0 6y ago

The issue, though, is even well under that threshold there's no benchmarking. Anecdotally it's more about branding. When using a Samsung or LG handset I typically didn't think about the flashlight when I was using it. With both my OnePlus phones it's hard to use it without thinking "man I wish this was brighter".