white LED vs. halogen lamps for worm picking

Model Organism: Worms Scientific Discussion
1

Hello all,

I am looking to purchase some new stereomicroscopes for routine worm maintenance, and I was looking for impressions of the new white LED light sources compared to the traditional halogen. I already know all the upsides of LEDs, but I haven’t heard any downsides. I am particularly interested in color balance, eye strain, perceived resolution and sharpness, etc of LEDs with the strong blue peak vs. halogens.

Thanks!
-Kevin.

2

We had a number of halogen scope bases as well as the Olympus LED. The Olympus LED was great for worm/embryo dissection, but was a bit tough on the eyes when looking for males or screening large numbers of plates. For these, I preferred halogen. The Olympus had a very cool blue/white color, though, so perhaps another warmer LED might work better.

3

Thanks!

4

Just an update to anyone interested: I did get Schott KL 300 LED’s to go along with Leica M50’s, and they do look significantly different. The white/blue mix is a little wonky–not quite natural, but the source is adjustable to very, very bright, and has a nice small profile. I am sure I will get used to it, but the light doesn’t seem as warm as the halogen bulbs.

-Kevin.

5

I guess you could always retrofit a ring filter to warm up your cold (5600K?) led light, but then you take a significant hit on the output.

OR…you could kit your team out with blue light-blocking glasses: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20030543 and have a happy team 8)

Steve