LED fiber-optic macro lighting setup

Wayne Baker · Post by **Wayne Baker** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 1:13 am

Hey there.

I've seen a few of these LED fiber optic lighting setups and am pretty keen to get hold of one. I'd really like something like this from Schott:

I've emailed Schott in the U.S. TWICE and have received no response from them. Maybe their product is so good that they're sales team are too busy to answer my question which is simply 'where can I buy one of these things from?'

I thought I'd ask here if anyone knew where I could get one of these, or even another brand that's equivalent...???

I'm in Melbourne, Australia. These types of setups haven't really caught on here yet so finding a local supplier has been a challenge...

Cheers!

Wayne

elf · Post by **elf** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 1:43 am

Have you tried here:

SCHOTT Australia Pty. Ltd.
1/9 Rodborough Road
Frenchs Forest
NSW 2086
www.schott.com/australia +61 (0)2 8426 1600
+61 (0)2 8426 1666
E-mail Mr. David Bell

Wayne Baker · Post by **Wayne Baker** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 1:56 am

Cheers for that I'll give it a go!

AndrewC · Post by **AndrewC** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 3:50 am

You can get them from Hong Kong on eBay.

Andrew

Wayne Baker · Post by **Wayne Baker** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 3:59 am

I always thought eBay had everything.

AndrewC · Post by **AndrewC** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 4:53 am

Just make sure you get one with a high power - 150W ? There are some about with much smaller bulbs and they aren't really up to the job.

Andrew

lauriek · Post by **lauriek** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 5:03 am

Is that one really LED driven? I thought most of these fibre illuminators used a conventional (and bright) bulb... I can't see an LED device putting out anything like 150W, that would take 30 high powered CREEs or more!

AndrewC · Post by **AndrewC** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 5:18 am

lauriek wrote:Is that one really LED driven? I thought most of these fibre illuminators used a conventional (and bright) bulb... I can't see an LED device putting out anything like 150W, that would take 30 high powered CREEs or more!

Whoops, didn't notice "LED" in the original post. You can get LED powered versions, they are cooler, the "bulbs" last longer and the ones I've seen don't have a cooling fan. Probably why you are seeing the halogen bulb ones on eBay.

Wayne Baker · Post by **Wayne Baker** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 5:37 am

All I can find on eBay are the halogen variety which I would prefer to avoid... Some I've seen are pretty reasonably priced though...

g4lab · Post by **g4lab** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 9:39 am

At this time you should still use quartz halogen(or regular tungsten) for photography, if you want excellent to perfect color rendition. All current LEDs have a hump in the blue part of their spectrum that lowers the color rendition index. This cannot be corrected for, by white balance manipulation. I suspect that they do a mathematical analysis to determine what supposed color temp gives them the highest CRI.

But LEDs are not black body radiators like incandescent (Quartz halogen) or the sun or carbon arc lamps (ones with no additives) They are more akin to fluorescent lamps although VASTLY superior to these. And make that double vastly if the fluorescents are Compact Fluorescents.

LEDs are getting better everyday but I think that before they get as good at color rendition as the above mentioned sources, people may start recalibrating what they expect to see because they will become ubiquitous for energy conservation reasons.

Rik maybe you could jump in here with some scholarly elaboration on this subject.

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 10:23 am

g4lab wrote:Rik maybe you could jump in here with some scholarly elaboration on this subject.

There's been a lot written in the forum on this subject. Most of it can be found by searching the archives for "metamerism".

One good discussion can be found starting HERE.

--Rik