Thank you both for your quick replies. I’m considering fabricating a multi-head ultra-bright LED light source. I imagine mounting it on the wall or hanging from the ceiling would provide the most flexibility of use without having another piece of equipment clamped or mounted to the table, or taking up floor space.
Imagine this lamp upside down with longer gooseneck arms and either halogen or LED lighting instead.
Profession rigs make a light box and run a fiber optic line from that. It focuses all the light into the fiber optic, and the terminus of the fiber optic line can be aligned and mounted with the vision equipment. With that set up, one would never have to adjust the light and vision equipment separately.
Fiber optic lines can be purchased for less than $100 based on how long one wants the line to be. You should not need more than 4 to 6 feet. Make sure your light box is designed to cool the light rid, be it with fans, or some other set up.
My light is halogen. It can be moved in or out and it can be moved off to an angle that allows some shadowing of the hairs. I’ve found that hovering a finger over the area allows some of the reflection of surrounding areas to light the area I’m focusing on…allowing the follicle opening to show up.
Caith, I would be concerned that the multiple lights like those shown might be TOO much light. Perhaps if they had individual light switches??? …and perhaps LED over halogen or other… When I get my office moved, I have this very modern ceiling fan with halogen lights that can be moved to different angles. It has three lights, I believe. Looking forward to that setup!
Barbara, I agree with you about providing separate switches for each light. Five lights is too many, two (or three at most) is about right. I have some inexpensive LED lights coming, as well as two halogens, and I’ll have to evaluate both of them for their suitability. The really good thing with the halogens is they have a 34-inch flexible goose neck mount. Their downside is the unavoidable heat.
James, you’re right about using a light box and fiber optics. It puts the halogen heat source far away from the client. Similar projects exist for home media rooms, providing a “star ceiling” with many, many small points of bright light. Many of these projects changed from halogens to ultra-bright LEDs in recent years, eliminating the heat and the noise of cooling fans.
Meanwhile, I usually use two (medical) halogen lamps with reflector and preferrably a strong diffuse background (standard office lighting is sufficient). A bit more comfortable and flexible than only one directed halogen source.
I would prefer LED due to the lower heat production - but medical LED lamps are way too expensive for my small business.