There are a handful of flashlights/torches with the flexible Anduril 2 user interface (UI) that are suitable for light painting photography. One of these is the Noctigon KR4 with quad LEDs. This review takes a look at how the KR4 with Luminus SFT-25R LEDs and Boost driver performs for general purpose use and light painting photography.
Disclaimer
The Noctigon KR4 was purchased with my own funds. Product links in this review are non-affiliate. This review is written from the perspective of a flashlight enthusiast and light painting/night photographer.
Design and Construction
The Noctigon KR4 is made by Intl Outdoor/Hank Wang, who is well known for producing excellent enthusiast grade flashlights. The KR4 is an 18650 battery format flashlight, with metallic tail e-switch, side clip, quad LEDs, and the flexible but complex Anduril 2 user interface (UI) which has adjustable strobe frequency/speed. The light has a head diameter of 29mm, and length of 98mm. The KR4 is a tail switch version of the popular side switch Emisar D4V2.
The Noctigon KR4 has a huge choice of LED emitters, which are often changing. My picks at the time of writing are:
Maximum throw - Luminus SFT-25R - this review!
Best for floody high CRI illumination - Nichia 519A domed (2700k, 3500k, 4500k, and 5700k).- previously reviewed.
These are both US$77 with Boost driver, and US$65 without, though at the time of writing both were available at a discounted price. There are also some niche LED options such as the very warm white E17A 1850k. It may be possible to order 'off-menu' (email before ordering) colour LEDs including XP-E Red, Green, Yellow, Pink, Cyan, and Purple.
The TIR optics have auxiliary RGB LEDs which are just a gimmick, and will need to be disabled for light painting photography. This review looks at the KR4 with quad Luminus SFT-25R 6500K LED emitters which have high brightness and throw, but at the expense of colour rendering index (CRI). The reviewed light has a 8A Boost driver chosen for high efficiency and sustained brightness over maximum lumens.
With a head diameter of 29mm, then for light painting photographers, the KR4 fits in the Light Painting Brushes (Universal Connector), and Light Painting Paradise (cone) adapters. The KR4 also fits into the Light Painting Paradise Ryu's V2 "All in one" adapter, making it a cheaper companion light. The KR4 just fits into Luminosify T8 tubes, something which the larger KR1 cannot do. I would assume that the KR4 also just fits into Light Painting Tubes and Light Painting King T8 tubes, but I do not have samples to test. There is no remote pressure switch available, but the tail switch can be used in Momentary and Tactical modes. The light has excellent ergonomics. Due to the light being quite short I only have to use one hand to hold the light painting adapter with my thumb on the momentary switch.
The tail switch can be unscrewed for battery insertion. Both the head and tail have to be screwed very tightly for the light to work (using the internal signal tube). The light only accepts unprotected flat top unprotected 18650 batteries. For use with the standard linear FET driver, I would recommend the Sony US18650VTC6 3000mAh, Samsung INR18650-30Q 3000mAh, LG INR18650-HG2, or Molicell P28A 2800mAh. For the Boost driver version, I would recommend the higher capacity Panasonic/Sanyo NCR18650GA, Molicell M35A, Samsung INR18650-35E3, EVE INR18650/33V, LG MJ1, Vapcell F38 or N40. As with some other Emisar/Noctigon lights, I find that the springs put too much pressure on the +ve pole of the battery which can cause denting of the pole. Whilst this is superficial only, this should not be occurring. As the light uses an inner signal tube, it is critical that both the head and tail are fully screwed on for the light to work after a battery change.
There is no internal charging, which is likely to be intentional as these lights are aimed at flashlight enthusiasts and not general consumers. You will need to use a dedicated Li-ion battery charger. The only compact tail switch Anduril light I'm aware of with USB charging (in battery) is the Wurkkos TS10 Max, which I recently reviewed.
Accessories included with the light included the side clip (installed), a lanyard, and spare O-rings.
User Interface
The Noctigon KR4 uses the Anduril 2 user interface (UI). The main feature for light painting photographers is two strobe modes with adjustable strobe frequency:
Party strobe - 3ms(?) on-time "motion freezing" - 4Hz to 90Hz.
Tactical strobe - 33% on-time - 2.5Hz to 80Hz.
These, or any continuous brightness mode, can be put into momentary mode to allow for fine control of on/off when the single stage tail switch is depressed/released. Other features include a pulsating bike flash mode, and lightning effect mode. For continuous (non-strobe) output, this light can use ramped brightness or stepped brightness. I recommend using stepped brightness for consistency, which has 7 brightness levels 1/7 to 7/7, plus an even brighter Turbo mode. Strobe appears to be at Turbo brightness level. As anything other than basic use it not entirely intuitive in Anduril, I have written a detailed article on how to use Anduril for light painting photography. Below are the basics:
Enter Advanced UI from Basic UI - 10 clicks, last one hold for 0.5 sec (10H). You should only need to do this once unless you do a factory reset or click too much! This sample arrived in Advanced UI.
On/Off (last mode memory for steps 1/7 to 7/7) - 1 click (1C).
Toggle ramped/stepped - 3 clicks from on (3C).
Change brightness levels (1/7 to 7/7) - hold, release at desired brightness level.
Turbo mode - double click from on (2C).
Enter strobe mode - click, click, hold 0.5s (3H) from off.
Cycle through strobe modes - double click (2C) ...party strobe>tactical strobe>police strobe>lightning>candle>bike flash>...
Increase strobe frequency/speed - hold, release at desired strobe speed.
Decrease strobe frequency/speed - click, hold, release at desired strobe speed.
Save last used setting into momentary (essential to "save" strobe) - 5 clicks (5C).
Momentary - hold only when you need light.
Exit momentary - unscrew and re-screw tail cap (to break the electrical connection).
Additionally, for light painting photography, you will need to disable the auxiliary RGB LEDs. This is done by clicking 7 times (7C) from off (in Advanced UI), which cycles low>high>flashing>off with each 7C. To do the same for Tactical mode (below), you have to first enter Lockout mode.
There is a fairly new Tactical mode, entered or exited with 6 clicks (6C). It is then possible to configure 3 different settings (including strobe) to be accessed by 1H, 2H, or 3H. (See diagram). This is useful if you need to access more than one setting with momentary mode. It took me around a minute to configure 1H to Turbo, and 2H to a roughly 20Hz Tactical Strobe. This was used in the sample photo later in this review.
There are two new(ish) features which are enabled by default, but can be turned off in configuration. These are the "soft start" functionality, which creates a short fade during on/off/brightness change, and battery check display using the RGB auxiliary lights when the light is turned off. The annoying voltage check on off feature was enabled by default, but can be turned off in configuration for both normal modes and tactical mode.
I often use Anduril UI flashlights for light painting. However, the user interface is complex, and I have had reports from many light painters who struggle to use Anduril UI lights. Persistence with learning to use Anduril UI pays dividends in creativity.
It should be noted that there are many versions of Anduril 2 in use. The tested light had a recent 2024 version, but some other Anduril lights may use older versions with different functionality and default configuration.
Beam, Output, and Runtime
The Noctigon KR4 has a huge choice of LED emitters. This review tested the Luminus SFT-25R 6500K LED. These LEDs are in a quad TIR optic, and result in a relatively throwy beam profile, high brightness, but with low CRI. As expected for a throwy LED in a TIR optic, there is some ringing artifact in the beam, however this is not a problem in real world use.
The LED driver varies with the chosen emitters in the KR4, but most default options use a linear FET driver for maximum brightness which can briefly pull more than 15A from a high drain 18650 battery. As with most 18650 format flashlights with a brightness of more than 1,500 lumens, this results in very fast brightness step-down (dimming) due to thermal throttling. In 2022, Noctigon introduced a high efficiency Boost driver option which limits the current to 8A (2A per LED) with lower maximum brightness, allowing for a much more gradual driver step-down, and a higher sustained brightness. As I purchased this light for creating light trails in long exposure light painting, and don't want the light to dim during this process, I chose the Boost driver option. As usual for lights from Noctigon/Emisar which have a large range of LED options, there is a lack of printed product specific instructions and ANSI/NEMA charts.
All testing was performed with a Samsung INR18650-30Q 3000mAh battery, indoors, 27C ambient temperature, and minimal air flow.
I measured the colour temperature (CCT), colour rendering (CRI), and tint (DUV) with hotspot measurements using an Opple Light Master 3 Pro:
Turbo - CCT 6716K, CRI 70.6 Ra, Tint +0.0031 DUV.
7/7 - CCT 6572K, CRI 70.1 Ra, Tint +0.0042 DUV.
5/7 - CCT 6321K, CRI 69.1 Ra, Tint +0.0062 DUV.
3/7 - CCT 6150K, CRI 68.2 Ra, Tint +0.0076 DUV.
1/7 - CCT 5942K, CRI 68.0 Ra CRI, Tint +0.0056 DUV.
The hotspot CCT is certainly cool white, becoming slighly less cool at lower brightness levels. The CRI is around 68-71 Ra, as expected for a 70 CRI light and slightly better than other SFT-25R and SST-40s I've tested. There is a very slight green tint at maximum brightness, with an increasing green tint at lower brightness levels, but again better than other SFT-25R and SST-40 LEDs I've recently tested. I think Hank has a very good batch of SFT-25Rs!
The measured brightness @10secs on each mode, using a Samsung 30Q 3000mAh 18650 battery was:
Turbo - 2740lm
7/7 - 1662lm
6/7 - 905lm
5/7 - 428lm
4/7 - 169lm
3/7 - 53lm
2/7 - 12lm
1/7 - 1.7lm
On Turbo mode the light started off at 2740lm, with a gradual stepdown due to thermal regulation resulting in 2267lm at 30secs, 2004lm at 1min, 1579lm at 2mins, 1065lm at 5mins, 742lm at 10mins, 670lm at 15mins, and 696lm at 20mins. The brightness remains relatively stable beyond 20mins. There was the first in a series brightness step-downs from 1hr41mins, and useable brightness until the light dropped to 1/7 (moonlight) level at 2hr21mins. This was tested with default temperature control settings, indoors in 28C heat and no wind. In most real world conditions I would expect higher sustained brightness, and a shorter runtime. For the light's size, 692 lumens is fairly impressive sustained brightness. It should be noted that there is no thermal regulation for Momentary, Tactical, and Strobe modes.
For light painters, the Tactical strobe appears to run on Turbo brightness (other than the very fastest frequency). I'm pretty sure some previous Anduril 2 versions were at 7/7 brightness? The 3ms party strobe has a 3 photographic stop hit to brightness due to the short 3ms pulse. As the KR4 has quad emitters it doesn't create good "fairy dust" effects on party strobe, more like a "fairy splodge". The Wurkkos TS10 SG with a single LED and small head size is better for this use case.
Throw was tested against the KR4 with other LED configurations:
Noctigon KR4 SFT-25R 6500K Boost Turbo - 38,061cd (390m)
Noctigon KR4 SFT-25R 6500K Boost 7/7 - 23,134cd (304m)
Noctigon KR4 519A 5700K Boost Turbo - 6,487cd (161m)
Noctigon KR4 519A 5700K Boost 7/7 - 3,918cd (125m)
Noctigon KR4 W2 6000K Boost Turbo - 25,533cd (320m)
Noctigon KR4 W2 6000K Boost 7/7 - 15,871cd (252m)
Note: My Opple Lightmaster 3 Pro tends to over-estimate lux readings by 25%, so the actual candela reading is likely to be around 30,000cd.(346m).
The KR4 with SFT-25R has more lumens and throw than the W2 (Osram CSLPM1.TG) version. It is pretty obvious why Hank has discontinued using the W2 LED.
Conclusion
Positives:
The KR4 has an excellent range of LED options including "floody" high-CRI, or "throwy" low-CRI.
Choice of Boost (efficient, high sustained brightness) or standard linear FET driver (max brightness).
Good brightness and throw / size.
Good sustained brightness / size.
Adjustable strobe frequency (at fixed brightness).
Momentary or tactical modes can work for any strobe or continuous brightness setting.
Well spaced, stepped brightness levels.
Last mode memory for brightness steps 1-7.
Can be electronically or mechanically locked out.
Excellent light painting system compatibility - Light Painting Brushes, Light Painting Paradise, and T8 tubes.
Side clip included.
Best SFT-25R sample I've tested.
Negatives:
Anduril 2 UI is too complex for many users.
Lack of printed product specific instructions and ANSI/NEMA charts.
Auxiliary LEDs have to be disabled for light painting.
I'd prefer some Anduril 2 features to be disabled by default.
The tail cap has to be unscrewed to exit Momentary mode (Tactical mode is now an alternative).
No internal USB charging.
Springs can dent the +ve pole of the battery.
No remote pressure switch option.
For general purpose use:
The range of LED options is superb, with both throwy options such as the SFT-25R or floody high-CRI options such as the 519A. The Noctigon KR4 can be both a "pocket rocket" light with the FET driver, or a slightly more sensible compact flashlight with the Boost driver. Noctigon and Emisar lights are aimed at flashlight enthusiasts. The KR4 is one of my favourite flashlights for general purpose use. I would not recommend these lights to "muggles" due to lack of USB charging, complex UI, and risk of burning holes in things.
For light painting photography - light trails and illumination:
With throwy SFT-25R emitters and Boost driver, this version of the Noctigon KR4 is excellent for use with saber like light painting tools. It works very well with T8 tubes, resulting in relatively even illumination along the tube's length. The Tactical mode allows the user to create continuous or strobe light trails without changing over flashlights. If you require high CRI for better skin tones in light painting portraits, or illumination purposes, then I would consider the (not as bright) high CRI 519A version instead. With fixed strobe brightness, the KR4 does not have the creative potential of the Light Painting Paradise LightPainter - Ryu's Lightworks V2 flashlight which has adjustable strobe brightness and frequency. However, the KR4 is still my favourite flashlight for light painting that hasn't been designed specifically for light painting. The Anduril 2 UI requires tech savvy users.
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