layout lighting

gmbrd

New Member
Hi all! I'm on a roll here. My next question is about overhead lighting or just lights in general. I have a 10X30 room with 6 shoplight fixtures. It is quite bright with no shadows. Is this OK or should I do something different?
 

shamus

Registered Member
Originally posted by gmbrd
Hi all! I'm on a roll here. My next question is about overhead lighting or just lights in general. I have a 10X30 room with 6 shoplight fixtures. It is quite bright with no shadows. Is this OK or should I do something different?

Hi gmbrd,
If you intend to do a lot of photography later, my advice is to use Fluorescent Daylight tubes on you ceiling approx 18" apart - the whole length.
If on the other hand you don't do photography then the shop fixtures are fine.
Shamus


 

Vic

Active Member
Hi gmbrd, Shop lights do put out a lot of light but like Shamus says the daylight tubes are much better for photography.

A big drawback of any florescent tubes is that they put out large amounts of ultra violet light which will quickly fade your scenery. The daylight tubes probably put out the least but they cost 3-4 times that of the others.

If you want to stay with your shoplight tubes you can get UV filters that slip over the tubes and will cut out most of the UV. They are not expensive and you can use them over and over again when you have to change tubes. You won't find them at the Wal~Mart though. Check with a lighting supply store.
 
Hi, gmbrd. For general lighting purposes I use a mixture of lighting. In my shop lights, I have GE Chroma 50's (these are the daylight tubes already mentioned; they're available in other brands also), but I also have small 50-watt incandescent spots in track lights for highlighting certain areas.

When I want to take pictures, I simply turn off the incandescent spots; the daylight tubes are color balanced for daylight films, so there's no weird green color shifts. (Recently, however, I have been photographing my layout with my new digital camera. I leave the white balance set to "auto" and it has no trouble handling the mixture of incandescent spots and florescent tubes.)

If you plan to have your shop lights on for long periods of time, I recommend you follow Vic's advice about using UV filters on the tubes.
 

alkcnw

Member
I was thinking about changing the lighting on my layout also. Right know I have 4' shop lights over head. Never gave the UV rays a thought. Might just scrap them out and go with track lights with floodlights in them!!:eek:
 
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