Thursday, April 9, 2015

Before and after the tritube lamp

Since I bought my new Tritube lamp, some people have asked me to show them pics of the difference between the lighting of my table before and after getting it. Today I show you a very insteresting comparison, photos of the setup of my table with the old lights and the new one.

Happy me with my new lamp!

The important thing in this case is to take the photos using a camera where I can fix the aperture and exposure so that no matter the lighting, the camera does not adjust to the conditions, and that way we can better understand the difference. This test is even better than trying to compare one light after the other with our own eyes, because our pupil will adjust to the lighting and will hide us the real difference.

My old lighting was done using two Ikea lamps, one on each side of the table, and one of the lights was warmer than the other to compensate temperature. The comparison is made showing you the setup of the table from different angles; with one Ikea lamp, then the same situation with both Ikea lamps, and finally the tritube lamp. Judge by yourselves!

The whole table from afar:

1 Ikea lamp on the left

2 Ikea lamps

Tritube

Tritube at lower height

In this set we can see the whole table in each case. The intensity of the light is quite different, but it seems like the two Ikea lamps and the tritube are pretty similar in intensity in the workplace area except for the fact that the tritube illuminates more of the table than the two lamps, so we have a wider workplace in the case of the tritube. Also we see that we can elevate the tritube because it still illuminates everything without losing intensity so we can keep it away from us and be more comfortable.


The table closer from the front:

1 Ikea lamp very close

1 Ikea lamp further up

2 Ikea lamps

Tritube

In these four photos we see the workplace closer. Here we can see how the tritube makes a difference because it is much more intense, something we could not exactly appreciate in the previous set of photos.


The miniature working area up close:

1 Ikea lamp on the left

2 Ikea lamps

Tritube

And in these ones, looking closer at the miniature, there is not a big difference in intensity between using two lamps and the tritube. The difference comes with the shadows in each case. The Ikea lamps are creating stronger shadows because the light has more direction, but the tritube has a more diffuse light so the shadows are much weaker, and this is very helpful for us when painting. We will not be fooled by strong shadows caused by the light and our contrast will be better based on colour and not on the natural volumes of the miniature. And we will also see all of the defects much clearer so our end result will be much better.


Finally, some bonus gif photos for better clarity.

I believe you can find this lamp in many stores. For example, in PK-PRO online store, or here a bit more expensive. It is certainly not affordable, but if you paint a lot I think it justifies the expense very much. I can't live without it now!

EDITED: An anonymous comment in the Spanish version of the post mentions this Spanish store where it seems you can buy the same lamp for much less. It would be good to confirm!

3 comments:

Porta said...

Prueba a tener dos de estas,...y me dices.

Rafael García Marín said...

Eso ya es vicio Porta... XD

Rafael García Marín said...

There is an interesting review from MV about the tritube LED version of this lamp. You may want to check it out: http://massivevoodoo.blogspot.com/2015/12/mu-76-tritube-vs-led-tube-lamp.html