Daylight Lightbulbs

[aqualarue]

<p>Hi, just bought some daylight lightbulbs, unfortunatley can not get lower than 60w. I was wondering if there was any particular wattage that photographers generally prefer when using these light bulbs in evenings, have calibrated my monitor to 5800k at 124 d/m2, at least that's what the spyder suggested, which makes sense. But is there anyone using thses daylight bulbs themselves, and what do you find?</p>

<p>regards</p>

<p>chris.</p>

[patricklavoie]

<p>i would suggest to calibrated your monitor to 6500K, gamma 2.2, lumiance 110...i get the best result when judging inkjet print and commercial final proof, in my studio and on the commercial printer.<br>

60w is enough for me, i sometime open only 1-2 light to work..i like a dim environement.</p>

[joseph_wisniewski]

<p>Working in a dim environment results in too dark pictures. Your perception of image tonality constanty adapts to yoru environment. So you need reasonable lighting levels (I like to see 120 lux, minimum) and a monitor white point adjusted to the same color temperature as your lights.</p>

[patricklavoie]

<p>depend how dim you set it : )<br>

my environement is for me perfect, and what i see on monitor is what i get. My monitor at 120 is way too brigth and make my print look darker..when in reality they are perfect, so by putting 110 for the lumiance i get a better real match to real life situation.<br>

I think the monitor withe point should be set to 6500k whatever ligth you have, and i find that 6500k is close to a 5000-5200 daylight bulb when a print is see under a GTI table.<br>

Again, that setup work for me, and as a person who do this for a living, i wont change it since the result is perfect.</p>

[Tim_Lookingbill]

<p>The wattage you have seems reasonable. I just bought several daylight bulbs for viewing prints for a research project I'm conducting on this very subject.</p>

<p>The Solux I have is a 50 watt MR16 halogen in a clip-on desk lamp fixture and prints exactly match my monitor calibrated to 90cd/m2 as long as I have the Solux within two feet of the print. Start pulling back and prints don't darken but start to lose contrast and become somewhat flat and murky looking.</p>

<p>I also have a 100 watt OttLite CFL which puts out a lot more light but it's diffused compared to the directional spot flood of the Solux. This diffusion reduces contrast and definition so I have to get the bulb closer than the Solux.</p>

<p>Here's how the Solux makes two well known standard color targets appear positioned about 20" from the print.</p><div></div>

[raysgallery]

<p>I use two desk lamps with {27watts with 150 watt out put from Home Depot $19.00 each} fluorescent bulbs. I mounted them on the wall, over and behind my monitors. The have a 6500K output.<br>

I hit the luminous setting on my i1 right on the nose with them. </p>

[andrewdarlow]

<p>Hi Chris:<br>

Lighting is such an important part of proofing and viewing any print. I really like the original Solux Task Lamp, which comes with a SoLux 4700K 50W bulb:<br /> <br /> https://www.solux.net/cgi-bin/tlistore/19115.html<br /> <br /> They also have a:<br /> Clamp on Goose Neck Fixture without bulb: $69<br /> (bulbs are about $10 ea)<br /> <br /> and a Clip on Fixture with SoLux 4700K 50W bulb: $54.90<br /> <br /> Which color temp to choose? I would use the 4700k and then purchase a 3500k to simulate a typical home, gallery or office track light system. It is "safer" to proof under 4700k because if you proof under 3500k, there is a good possibility your work will be viewed by a client or collector under daylight, which will tend to make it look cool (or even greenish). <br /> <br /> I've been using GTI fluorescent boxes and compact fluorescent lights for years and they produce a decent light, but they have spikes and the light is too flat for my taste when looking at inkjet prints (especially on matte papers). I've noticed that the color of the screw in CF bulbs also vary quite a bit from manufacturer to manufacturer.<br>

<br /> I wrote an article that includes some additional lighting info here:<br /> http://tinyurl.com/2b3gfo<br>

Hope that helps,<br /> <br /> Andrew<br /> ---------------------------------------------------<br /> Andrew Darlow<br /> Editor, The Imaging Buffet<br /> http://www.imagingbuffet.com<br /> Author, 301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques:<br /> An Essential Printing Resource for Photographers - http://www.inkjettips.com</p>

[Tim_Lookingbill]

<p>Andrew,</p>

<p>Nice article. Have you found on the web anyone or any web page that shows photo's like the one I just posted above that accurately shows how inkjet prints look under various brands of artificial lights.</p>

<p>I couldn't find anything on the web on this, so I'm in the process of photographing inkjet prints myself and try posting my results on the web maybe here at Photo.Net or somewhere. No one, not even Solux's site, shows this accurately in promo photos. And I find it very odd with the many full spectrum artificial light competitors there are no one yet has attempted this.</p>