Lighting Recommendations

Hi I am a Lampworker so what works for me might not be the best for you. (I where dark glasses) Anyway I found that a combo of florescent and halogen seams to put out a good range of light. The florescent has a sort of blueish light and the halogen gives off a more yellow to red color. The glass isn't quite the same color as if in sun light but it's the closest I have found.

I have had people recommend the florescent made for fish tanks (one light blue bulb and one dark purple bulb) But i found that the flickering bothers me if I use only florescent.

I would get some track lighting that you could put a couple of halogens, a few of the GE reveals, and a couple of those screw in floresents. I panted my sealing white and aimed all of the lights at that to minimize glare.

hope that gives you some ideas Stone (matt)

I light my shop with GE's Chroma50 bulbs which replicate sunlight at 5000 degrees Kelvin color temperature. They aren't broken spectrum like a conventional flourescent tube. They cost a few bucks more but they are worth it in my opinion. I think Phillips also makes a similar bulb. These tubes are used in photo labs for critical color inspection areas. You know how a picture taken under flourescent light always looks greeen? These tubes will not do that. That's what I mean by not being broken spectrum, the conventional tubes have a very low magenta emission, causing your photos to be green. Our eyes and brains accomodate and adapt and we don't consciously recognize that something is "off color", but the film does. So, if the light is missing part of the spectrum, how can you accurately choose glass to match each other? What looks good under one light may look like hell in daylight........if you must use regular flourescent, add 200 w of incandescent per 4 of the 48" flouros.

I use all "full spectrum" lighting in the studio. shows glass up the best, just like sunlight. It was developed by the Fins to help with their long winter night. do a search on "full psectrum lighting" this is also very healthy for those in a studio.

several good sites, do shop around. good natural light is at least :CRI 89-

I found the T8 x 48" (flouresent) fittings to be best value..home Crapo and Loews both stock the 48" 32 watt t8 tubes at about $7.00 ea.

What is the real definition of "Full Spectrum Light"

Simulated full spectrum light is color corrected light that operates in the range of 400 to 800 nanometers. This light will simulate the optical brilliance of outdoor light at noontime. This light can be measured by two numbers, CRI (Color Rendering Index) and Kelvin Temperature or (Degrees Kelvin). The secret to true color light and optically balanced light is how close you can get to the optics of natural light. The Sun at noon has a natural color temp of 100 CRI and between 5000 and 5500 degrees Kelvin at noon time. Both CRI and Kelvin are important for the simulation sunlight.

When you simulate light that matches the optical brilliance of sunlight the pupils in the eyes will become smaller. This response generates clearer vision and higher perception. The results are lower glare and eye fatigue. When you can combine lux intensity with high CRI and balanced Kelvin temp you will have quality light that not only matches the optical brilliance of the sun, but reduces levels of melatonin and the stress hormone, cortisol.

This light is not blue light or daylight color. It is clear, brilliant, white light and simulates the exact color of sunlight at noon. The one fact that proves that this is true is asking ourselves; What is the one thing in our life that is missing? We spend so much time indoors, not only in the winter when the days are shorter, but when we work all the time. Sunlight is what we are missing and light that simulates those brilliant life giving wave lengths will be much more effective in treating seasonal depression than any other source or color of light.

What separates our lights from the rest are color temperature ratings. It is also important to note that with light therapy, intensity is also important. The facts are simple, we offer the highest optical performance of any light therapy unit on the market today, while still delivering the highest lux output. No light performs better than UltraLux in all three categories. Ultralux II produces the highest lux output per sq inch of any light made and we do this while maintaining a CRI of 91+ and a Kelvin temp of 5000. You will see many companies state that they use full spectrum lights but you will not see the numbers in print or graphs below to prove they use full spectrum lights. We do not need more blue light we need more sunlight.

And no matter what you use, don't put a dimmer on it. When you turn it down, it changes the color temperature.

Every year at this time I'm gonna build a therapy light box but by the time I get around to it spring time rolls around.

Jack

Build one? Go to Homer D. Poe's supply house and buy a 2 tube flouro dhop lite fixture with a reflector. The one I got had a cord wired in, with a pull chain switch. I think I paid $35 or so for it, and get 2 of the aforementioned 5000K bulbs. I have mine in the bedroom, and I turn it on for about 45 mins in the morning while I lay back and drink coffee and watch Fox News. I don't do it every day, just the cloudy, wet days. You don't have to look straight into the bulbs, just off to the side at a 45* angle will work. I lean it up against the chest of drawers and let er rip. I have mine about 42" away from my face. I absolutely can tell the difference in my mood when the sun shines and if I don't use the therapy lamps.

She who must be obeyed knows, too! And reminds me.

so, is this the excuse i've been looking for to buy a tanning bed as a tax write-off? m

Will it make you "happy"? If yer in a funk you can't work, right? Sounds like a production tool to me.

You can hold a plate in there with you and "anneal" it. Or, buy a quart of that UV glue and go into the "repair" business when you ain't sunning yer buns.

Good info. I'll have to try it. I understood some of the problem also comes from the short daylight period, not just clouds etc. Sounds like your experience shows different. Off to the hardware store.

Jack

Yeah, I really struggle with grey days and no sunlight. I just watched an hour of TV with the lamp on me. It seems that the results are cumulative, and it doesn't have to be in the mornings...I was a bit afraid to use the lamp at night because I was afraid it would keep me awake, but it doesn't. The whole "malady" is called Seasonal Affective Disease (SAD).

The tubes I have are Phillips F40C50 Colortone...direct from Homer's place.

here in Finnland it is recommended to switch the "daylught lamp" on 30-45 mins before wakening. So you wake up into a sunny morning every day. I have not yet tried it, however.

-lauri

how would one switch it on BEFORE awakening?? m

Even in Finland, they have "timers", eh?

oh, duuuh. m

Mebbe she has one of those programable kiln sitters that's doing double duty?

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A program I watched about SAD showed a light box that ramped on gradually over a short period before you wake up. Simulating a sunrise.

Another good way to get around SAD is to spend Nov-Mar in New Zealand. Jack

Or Naples, FL , or surrounding vicinity.

Just for the record, I'm not she though the Finnish name is often understood as female.

For the second, I do not trust my cat as a kiln sitter.

-lauri

Mo> Mebbe she has one of those programable kiln sitters that's doing double > duty? >

That's more in my price range.