Daylight Lamps: any good?

[George924]

these fit in regular sockets, and you should be able to find them in other places..but for those who are looking Lowe's sells some nice lights...what ever you decide...always choose the 5000k to 5200k for the best lighting

[flyingfish]

Daylight lamps are pretty good: I have a portable one and a tabletop one and find both helpful. You might be able to find them in needlecraft / quilting shops in Aust also - that's where I got mine. I can't tell you how they compare to Ott lights, never having tried one.

Cheers.

[DrDebby]

Check your local building supply place. That's where I got my daylight bulbs. They fit in a regular socket lamp desk. It's a 60Watt bulb. Supposed to be good for 10,000 hours. Had it for over a year and use it every day. Not only for art, but for reading, writing, and hand sewing as well.

[Kiwi Girl]

Both Spotlight and Lincraft carry a range of daylight/natural light lamps- some with magnifyers attached as well.

[Mettaphorica]

Wow, great KG! Thanks! A Lincraft is only 5 mins away...been meaning to go anyway.Save me ordering something online sight-unseen. Any idea on $?
thanks
cheers
Donna

Originally Posted by Kiwi Girl

Both Spotlight and Lincraft carry a range of daylight/natural light lamps- some with magnifyers attached as well.

[Kiwi Girl]

All under $100 and I think starting at around $30.

[bedazzledx2]

Another Aussie here I have a fluorescent desk lamp with a daylight tube I bought from Bunnings. Didn't cost much and works great at night. NEC 15 watts and 5000K.
Deb

[Mettaphorica]

Gidday, Deb
Only 13 watts? George was saying 23 watts. I just scooted onto the Lincraft site, and low and behold, they do indeed sell Ott, but only one style (according to the website) and they are only 13 watts. I suppose best bet is to buy and old desk lamp from an op-shop adn get the bulb, rather than spring for a new lamp. Currently I have a halogen on my desk. I wonder if its bulb could be replace? though the bulb is tiny
thanks again, Deb
Oo roo
Donna

Originally Posted by bedazzledx2

Another Aussie here I have a fluorescent desk lamp with a daylight tube I bought from Bunnings. Didn't cost much and works great at night. NEC 15 watts and 5000K.
Deb

[Mettaphorica]

Oh, and I should mention Bunnings is only a 5 minute drive away for me, too...oh ,I am doing well today....should I decide to rush out into the summer storm

Originally Posted by bedazzledx2

Another Aussie here I have a fluorescent desk lamp with a daylight tube I bought from Bunnings. Didn't cost much and works great at night. NEC 15 watts and 5000K.
Deb

[Mettaphorica]

As an update to this, I did purchase a daylight bulb, but then did some further reading and discovered that the daylight bulbs are more or less tinted regular bulbs.

I then read up some on full spectrum bulbs. I then bought two. They were expensive. Worth every darn cent. Much, much better than the daylight bulb, so much so that I can draw or paint at night and I don't even notice the time going or my energy flagging, because the full spectrum bulb stimulates the body as if it were real sunlight. Love, love my bulb. And although expensive initially, lasts around 5,000 hours, whereas I think a regular bulb is less than half that.

These are worth looking into, especially if you find the bluish daylight bulbs still don't quite cut it for you.
cheers
Donna

[ManedWolf]

A simple test: make patches of Faber-Castell Polychromos or Albrecht Dürer colours 105, 106, 107, and 108. Look at them under the lamp. If they all look the same, the lamp is worth nothing.

The European Union wants to ban the use of mercury; I think that mercury thermometers can't be sold anymore (except for scientific use) - but at the same time the EU makes us use "energy saving lamps" and yes, they contain mercury. They fail my Faber-Castell test, too, as all four yellows look the same in their green light. Yes, it is. It is green. Yes, the energy saving lamps you buy at your ordinary supermarket are green. The better ones are hard to find and absurdly expensive.

Well, I've got some two hundred 60-watt bulbs. Should last for a lifetime.

Heikki

[RobinZ]

Those bulbs will go in a regular lamp.

[Mettaphorica]

Hi Pat
I will do the test you suggested. I too read somewhere about the mecury in bulbs...what a surprise! (not sure of the sitch in Australia)

and yes the bulbs I bought were absurdly expensive....about $42.00 AUD for one 32 watt. The so called daylight bulbs were around $5.00 each; so I hope I'm paying for something! However, the full spectrum does give me accurate light and colors, and, as I said, no fatigue which is something I didn't notice until the bulb change.So I think they're worth the money. I looked at this way: electricity is one of the most precious things we have. When it was first invented, the first bulbs and running electricity would've been horribly expensive. When I consider how marvelous electricity is, and how much we depend on it, I'm also amazed that we devalue it and expect to get it, and bulbs, at next to nothing. So, consider what it is, and the benefits of these bulbs, I had no trouble paying for them at all.
Just my rationale...
cheers
Donna

Originally Posted by ManedWolf

A simple test: make patches of Faber-Castell Polychromos or Albrecht Dürer colours 105, 106, 107, and 108. Look at them under the lamp. If they all look the same, the lamp is worth nothing.

The European Union wants to ban the use of mercury; I think that mercury thermometers can't be sold anymore (except for scientific use) - but at the same time the EU makes us use "energy saving lamps" and yes, they contain mercury. They fail my Faber-Castell test, too, as all four yellows look the same in their green light. Yes, it is. It is green. Yes, the energy saving lamps you buy at your ordinary supermarket are green. The better ones are hard to find and absurdly expensive.

Well, I've got some two hundred 60-watt bulbs. Should last for a lifetime.

Heikki

[Candle]

For those concerned about the mercury, I suggest checking out Solux lamps and bulbs. They are supposed to have the broadest daylight spectrum of anything out there, and don't contain mercury.
I got a standard screw-in, wide path flood bulb, put it in a nice architect lamp that I purchased locally, and I love it. I personally was concerned about mercury, and didn't want the tiring effect that flourescent bulbs have on my eyes (which for me is pretty extreme, to the point of eyes stinging and tearing).
Just another option for those who are in the shopping stage.

[moolane]

I think they are worth it, but so far I've had trouble getting them set up so they don't cast a shadow on my artwork. Any suggestions would be much appreciated!