Can anyone recommend a decent lamp for gem examination? I am thinking of a gooseneck type. I am a bit confused on the terminology about light- monochromatic, white, natural, different temperatures, etc. Is there a lamp type that works best for general gem examination?
there two bests...one for when you are buying and one for selling lol
look up kelvin scales on lights and learn the difference..2700k will be at the yellowish end of the value and 7000 at the blue end...your question needs to be more specific...are you looking for a light to examine for color or for flaws in the stone?
I use a clamp down task light that has two bulbs in it.
One is a fluorescent tube shaped in a circle. I buy daylight balanced full spectrum bulbs for this one.
In the center is an incandescent bulb, which I fit with a warmer high wattage bulb.
This setup gives me most of the lighting combinations I need when working with stones.
Daylight Incandescent Mixed
I am not sure what size town you live in, but if you have a specialty bulb store go there and the staff should be able to get you sorted out. As you are discovering, you cannot just walk into any store and buy a lamp that is good for stone work.
Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2006 1:20 am Posts: 2756 Location: Southern California, U.S.A.
FWIW, I just bought an led table lamp with both adjustable color temperature and brightness along with other nice features. It's TaoTronics model TT-DL029, under 40 bucks from Amazon. It has 5 different color temp modes.
Most of the color temp adjustable LED are great for some things but lacking in others. They are lacking the full spectrum of light, and so do not show realistic colors despite the Kelvin changes. You must pay attention to the LED Color Rendering Index CRI when choosing if you want accurate colors. Stay above 90% at whatever Kelvin you choose.
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