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What Lighting Is Good In A Computer Environment?
Woodrow Stool asks: "My business is software development and I am updating my home office. Does anyone have any experience with the latest and greatest task lights for workstations, such as the Eclipse? Any other suggestions for the best reasonably priced task lighting for a workstation environment?" I love my Eclipse, but I wonder if there are better options out there.
A 60-watt floodlight above and just behind you to give light in your area, but not glaring off the screen. If your face is in shadow then there won't be a reflection of you on the screen. There are suggestions that your head needs daily light (and some in your eyes, which could be from indirect light off a wall behind the monitor).
Aim some spot or pin lights at your table workspaces and keyboard. (pin lights have very narrow beams, spotlights have narrow beams, floodlights scatter the light widely) Splatter some floods or bulb light across walls/ceilings but not behind you where they'll reflect off the monitor.
The light of dawn after a night of bug hunting is the most inspiring light that can drive the user into awe.
Of course someone could take a snapshot of the window upon dawn, measure luminance with a photometer and build an LCD display the size of a window to emulate dawn. Volunteers ;-) ?
A friend of mine has a daylight bulb in his home-office. Its a standard filament lightbulb but puts out a much bluer light than the standard type. Its not a halogen bulb either. He says its much better for reading and computer work.
Searching for 'Daylight bulb' on google gives me loads of links to reptile and amphibian sites, so I guess they are recommended for animals! See if your local pet store stocks them!
Baz
halogen is good, but be careful with the el-cheapo units that point up... heat + dust = fire hazard.
In terms of proper lighting, I like using overhead track halogens aimed at the walls to provide ambient lighting, and a desk lamp to give task lighting for my books and papers.
I tend to buy good bulbs, and pay attention to the colour temperature of the output. It's worth it, and if you do graphics work, it's damn near essential.
Go to a good lighting store and ask about bulbs. You'll be amazed at the differences there are in width of beam and colour temperature.
~ a low user id is no indication I have a clue what I'm talking about.
I have a florescent torchiere lamp like you are talking about. It also provides the nice ambient lighting/compact size/etc. I enjoy it because it burns cool and looks nice too. I got mine at Lowe's hardware... I think it was like $20-$25.
Just a suggestion... might save you a few bucks on a/c bills (of course if you live in a cold place, perhaps the halogen's are better) =]
-andy
Just kidding. It's best to have little to no light directed at your monitor, to reduce glare, but you should have some light, preferably from a window behind your monitor. I prefer to compute in something of a twilight setting, but that's a preference thing. Thinkgeek has a nice looking light. The only troublesome thing about it is that it runs at 60hz. Alas, I do not have one, so I can't tell you anything else with certainty.
hmmm...perhaps I should have read the real question instead of the title. Anyway, light behind you is BAD, light in front of you (but behind your monitor) is GOOD.
and another one on the desk which is only on for reading papers,,,,,
in a room with no windows of course....
... comes from my flaming iMac, spontaneously combusting after trying to run Quake III Arena.
"Case fans? We don't need no steenking case fans!"
You know, the standard lamps with the halogen bulbs that you could cook a turkey on. I like mine because all the light from the bulb is directed upwards to the ceiling. This allows for ambient lighting in the room, but is still more than bright enough to read documents on your desk, etc.
These have a couple of other benefits as well. They are relatively inexpensive (I forget how much mine cost, but I got it at walmart:) and the bulbs last a very long time. I've had mine for three years now, and it's still as bright as ever. Plus, being a university student, I move very frequently, and this light breaks down quickly and easily into a 1' X 2' X 4" box. A definite plus in my books.
Of course, you may need more heat sinks/fans in your computer, because this will raise the ambient temperature in your room a fair amount. Mine is 300W, but I frequently need and am greatful for the extra heat it kicks out (low-budget student housing).
It may look like I'm doing nothing, but I'm actively waiting for my problems to go away.
--Scott Adams
Depending on what you're doing, the light from a nice CRT can usualy provide enough light to see the keys on your keyboard, however if you have to read things that are off your screen, track lights are always good. I have mine on my wall, reflecting off the celing
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Quite standardly, YMMV.
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"We'll sing and we'll dance,
It's come as you are."