LED Table Lamp (Recommendation)

Picked this up recently and thought I would recommend it to those that may not have something like this for viewing coins...

It's a small and lightweight (therefore portable and easy to move) table lamp (aka desktop lamp or as the manufacturer calls it on the box: "Task Lamp"). The lighting is phenomenal for analyzing coins, especially when using a loupe. It's bright but not too bright to where it's annoying or hurts your eyes. Best way I can describe it is it illuminates the face of the coin in an even and soft brilliant light.

The "neck" of the lamp is also adjustable which allows me to position the bulb head so I can use it at different angles or whatever is most comfortable.

Even though I'm recommending this one I am not affiliated with this brand. Any brand that makes a similar LED lamp should be about the same. I really like the one I got though since it's so small, light, flexible, good quality and inexpensive ($29.99 @ Office Depot). It's also got a nice stylish look to it.

 

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Not a good light source for Authentication. Too bright.

 

Add one of these:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lutron-Credenza-300-Watt-Plug-In-Lamp-Dimmer-White-TT-300NLH-WH/100145680

 

I don't find it too bright but I suppose it depends on what you are looking for. If you want to see if a coin has different color shades across its surface than maybe the LED light obscures the differences between dark and colored areas, but for someone like myself that just wants to see mint marks, dates and such, it works great.

 

Sure.... except for the fact this one doesn't work with LEDs.

 

The guy at home depot says it was designed for bulbs but will work with LED lights too seeing it is just a voltage reducer. Mine works just fine on all types of bulbs.

 

I'm only going by what I found after a little searching; absolute fact or not, I don't know as I've not personally tried. There's another model from the same company for general use with LEDs, and I guess this will work with dimmable LEDs, yes... but doesn't appear to work with non-dimmable.

A traditional dimmer, which this is, is a crap shoot with normal LED bulbs. Perhaps I should've said "might not", but still, if you've much experience with HD employees, you already know there is often a different between what they claim and reality.

While I suppose personal preferences sometimes differ, the other gentleman was correct in that LEDs are generally not optimal for coin examinations anyway.

 

Then that dimmer should be the choice for LED lamps - nothing to worry about, just peace of mind! Dimmers were also NOT to be used with ceiling fans but they work with mine just fine. Like I said - dimmers are voltage regulators, less voltage, less light or fan speed. Regulations are meant to cover the companies ass - have to put everything into their descriptions to cover their asses just in case!

 

This lamp is the lumens equivalent of a 40w bulb; I doubt it's too bright for anything coin-related. Looks like a good research tool, but the head is too large for photographic imaging.

If you have an Ikea in your area, check these out:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20169658/

Those are the lamps I use for photography. The head is only about an inch wide, and they can therefore get very close to perfectly vertical above the coin, which is important in many circumstances.

 

I recommend these as well. I've been using them for almost 2 years and I love 'em.

 

How can you go wrong for $10? They have weak switches - I've already had to replace one - but that's $1.50 at Lowe's and 30 seconds' work.

 

The funny thing, Markus, is that I've lived through just this type of situation and it (LED lamp w/ dimmer) didn't work, at least as hoped. Was that just the companies covering their asses then? Again, I should have initially said "may not", but that doesn't mean the post was based on a total assumption or ignorance.

http://www.ledsmagazine.com/article...-issues-to-ensure-compatibility-magazine.html

http://www.ledsmagazine.com/article...-issues-to-ensure-compatibility-magazine.html

 

The last two I bought came with extra switches. I still haven't needed to change them yet.

 

with any lighting source the important thing for photography is:
A-degrees of Kelvin
B- CRI ( Color rendering Index)
but were not talking about photograph so I'll mind my own business
PS I use dimmers on all my lighting

 

+1 CRI

 

Regarding dimmers:

Well, it's complicated. (Here's the very abridged Cliff's Notes version that skips over LEDs being current devices)

Often dimmers in general, and specifically LED dimmers are not just voltage regulators. They use PWM (pulse width modulation) to switch on and off LEDs several thousand times per second. When the LEDs are switched on, they are on fully, and when they are switched off they are off fully. Since your eyes can't perceive any switching taking place at 1000 times per second, the LEDs just appear to be on but dim. How dim they appear is related to how much of the time the LEDs are on and how much of the the time they are off.

Even when the dimmer is just a voltage regulator it can't be used with just any LED light. This is because LEDs need some form of power conditioning between the 110 volts, 60 hertz AC coming from your wall and the 3-4 volts DC that an actual light emitting diode-junction needs to produce light. If that power conditioning circuit isn't designed to work with a dimmer then it may very well output full brightness down to some minimum and then cut out completely.

 

All of your comments are welcome here. Please enlighten us with your knowledge. (See what I did there? )

Daaaaayyyuum... you guys is smart.

 

CRI has relevance to coin photography in the case of colorful coins; more monochromatic examples don't present enough of a color challenge to matter. Color Temperature matters not at all if you've an efficient custom white balance solution.

 

Another approach - every time I go to a coin show, I get people saying "official grading style light of..." name your TPG.

So, what exactly is it that the TPG's use for grading? Wattage, color, bulb type, etc?

 

If it matters to them, they don't know enough about coin photography. Aside the desire for more full-spectrum lighting for colorful coins, any other aspect of lighting can be corrected for either with white balance manipulation or lighting diffusion.