5000°K Lighting

OTA*

In earlier postings I've mentioned building a print studio in my home that would include a viewing booth of sorts. This consists of a steel panel on which I can hang prints using small magnets, and 5000 degree Kelvin lights in an overhead track.

I hung the steel panel some time ago; it's working out nicely. I ordered LED bulbs with a GU10 base (MR16 base dimensions, but with larger, "nail-head" like pins). These are 5000°K bulbs made by Lighting Science, ordered from 1000bulbs.com in April, for a bit more than $30 each (including the shipping cost). The day after placing the order I received an email from my rep there, saying these bulbs were not in stock and not expected until June. She said they had no equivalent 5000°K bulbs. I decided to wait. These bulbs are exactly what I wanted, and I had already purchased the fixtures for my lighting track, so I needed the GU10 base.

In the second half of June I wrote the rep at 1000bulbs.com, asking for the status of my order. She said they'd not received these bulbs from Lighting Science, and the company could not provide a shipping date, perhaps indicating a manufacturing problem. She offered to send a different bulb from the same manufacturer, but with a narrower lighting pattern. That wouldn't work in my application. I canceled the order and started the search for another source.

As it turned out, 5000°K, GU10-base, LED floods aren't easy to find!

Eventually I found them on the site of a Chinese distributor. These were not made by Lighting Science, but had the right specifications and were, in fact, slightly brighter, a good thing. I'd never heard of the vendor, "Light In The Box, Ltd.", through their miniinthebox.com site. I was a little skeptical because the price was amazingly low and the vendor paid the shipping cost. But for $6.00 each, the risk was low, so on 18 June I ordered three.

One of the completed fixtures

Two days ago an envelope appeared in my mailbox. The package was in terrible condition, dirty, torn, and flattened. The shipping label included import/customs information along with a block of Chinese characters. Inside were my three LED bulbs, intact and working.

The LED bulb (rear) is slightly longer than
the standard MR16/GU10

These bulbs are about a quarter inch (.6cm) longer than the standard GU10/MR16 lamp. My track fixtures are small, designed for the form-factor of the normal GU10. I had to modify the fixtures slightly so the LED bulbs would fit. A trivial bit of machine work did the job. The bulb extends slightly through the front bezel of the fixture. I think it looks good.

As you'd expect, the lighting on my magnetic board now seems quite blue compared to the normal halogen lighting in the room. If I photograph directly into one of these bulbs, the camera data show the white balance/color temp at 5100°. That's the best I can do to measure the output of the bulbs. In any case, they're certainly better than the typical warm halogen or florescent lighting.

--Jay

*Off-topic Alert: This posting isn't directly related to life with a 7900. It is, however relevant to my printing efforts.