Lighting a Layout effectively ...

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goscrewyourselves

I'm the one
What do you guys use to light your layouts? Is it just the room light or do have other lighting specifically for the layout as well?

Even though I have a "standard" room light and two LED lights, I can't seem to get enough light onto the layout for any decent photo's or a clear and color close video - they all look very yellowish and or dull especially when trying to get a video of the Engineers View - that just doesn't work period.
 

Bruette

Well-Known Member
Great question Tony and one I have been considering as well.

All I have now is 2 fluorescent shop lights with 2 40 watt "day light" bulbs each over my O gauge layout (no it is not O scale because I run both full scale O and traditional O).

I like bright light, but when running during Christmas season I have lighted Christmas trees and lighted accessories so I turn off the over head lights. I really like the look, but it happened purely accidentally.

For my little HO scale layout I use the room lighting. I am in the process of building a small N scale layout (lumber stacked in the corner for now) and I had planed to also use room lighting.

I will be interested to hear what others are doing for lighting for everyday operation. I hope to borrow/steal somebodies creative lighting idea. :)
 

goscrewyourselves

I'm the one
Good Morning Louis,

I was thinking about two ways of going, 1 - using a series of short (24") fluorescent lights or putting in down lights that could be connected to a dimmer (my preference by the way).

The florescent lights would certainly provide the light I think, but you get what you get - on or off pretty much and they aren't exactly the most appealing things to look at. The only downside to the "down lights" is my concern about how much lateral light they put out. With me, any down light would only be about 21" above the layout so I don't know if that is high enough to get a good lateral light or without having to install a million of them to cover the layout. That make sense?

I have seen some down lights with 1600 lumen and 2400 lumen which would be way bright enough BUT are also something like $250 each!!!

I wish there was a "chart" of some kind that showed the lateral light from a given down light at various heights that you refer to.
 
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Red Oak & Western

Active Member
Even though I have a "standard" room light and two LED lights, I can't seem to get enough light onto the layout for any decent photo's or a clear and color close video - they all look very yellowish and or dull especially when trying to get a video of the Engineers View - that just doesn't work period.

This is a whole separate issue from the general layout room lighting. Right now, on the layout, I only have 240w of standard room lights plus a 9' x 4' window facing south. For photography, you'll need lots of extra light. More than what you'd want on a day to day basis. The yellowish cast is a result of incandescent filaments. Greenish cast is typical of fluorescent. You can either use "color corrected" lamps or adjust your camera's "white balance". Even without adding extra light, you should be able to improve your photos in camera by changing the white balance versus adjusting the white balance in post production.
 

Bruette

Well-Known Member
Tony I do like having the fluorescent overhead lights for maintenance and other tasks. I would however like to have a more appealing light for running my trains. I think your idea of something that can adjusted is a very good one.

Kevin do the "day light" or "soft white" fluorescent tubes have a different affect on the white balance as opposed to traditional fluorescent tubes. I have not noticed any affect on my pictures but I also use a flash and my eye sight is poor.

Lionel 6-38404 CSX B&O Heritage AC6000.jpg Here is an example of one of my pictures with the fluorescent "day light bulbs" 160 watts total and a flash. Using my Olympus SP-350 8.0 Megapixel set on automatic. I picked this picture because I know Tony likes it. :)
 

ctulanko

Member
Yellow hue is common with standard luminescent bulbs...photographers using film used filters to negate the yellow hue they give off in photos. In contrast, fluorescent bulbs used to give more of a greenish hue with film, but I find them very acceptable when photographing with a digital camera. The problem is they are usually mounted to a ceiling, so you may need a lot of them to brighten a room. I actually tried the bright white type of 4' fluorescent bulb and it was considerably brighter than the standard soft white fluorescent light next to it. It was almost too bright at first, but then I started to like it, as with my age I see much better the brighter things are and it helps a lot. I am going with them, but each person has their own taste and you may want to experiment a bit before committing to permanently lowering the lights.
 

new guy

Active Member
What do you guys use to light your layouts? Is it just the room light or do have other lighting specifically for the layout as well?

Even though I have a "standard" room light and two LED lights, I can't seem to get enough light onto the layout for any decent photo's or a clear and color close video - they all look very yellowish and or dull especially when trying to get a video of the Engineers View - that just doesn't work period.

Am replacing the fluorescents over the future layout area with 3 of these. Thought they looked 'railroady'.

WIN_20150829_194835.JPG
and 2 smooth finish white ones for the other half of the basement.

I will use them to 'spot' different areas as well as provide general light, and bought 146 feet of incandescent rope lights for under the shelf and table.

3 Searchlight cars and a disco ball weren't enough!
 

Iron Horseman

Well-Known Member
All I have now is 2 fluorescent shop lights with 2 40 watt "day light" bulbs
Not lighting a layout but related to fluorescent bulbs. My library has had 24 four foot fluorescent lamps for the past 50 years (yes long before it was "my" library it had this configuration). The library is north facing and the windows are low and shallow, so there is not any sunlight coming into this room. This summer we rebuilt one of the bookcases (specifically for my train books), and in the process we noticed the backs of the shelves were faded. Checking we discovered many of the books were faded too. I had been planning to change out the lighting with LEDs as we have done in other parts of the house simply to save electricity, but while researching that for the library I discovered that fluorescent lights emit more UV radiation than I imagined. The UV from the florescent light is what faded the shelves. Due to this discovery I will NOT be using florescent lighting for my layout. The last thing I want is extra and continued fading, beyond what I intentionally weather into the locos, equipment, structures, and scenery.

In the other parts of the house the LEDs have not only reduced the power consumption by 50%, but provides a much nicer brighter light. One can get them in any color from warm white to bright white light.
 
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goscrewyourselves

I'm the one
It seems as though most have gone with florescent lighting for the "light", but what Horseman has said is interesting - they can cause fading. Now I realise that it probably took years and years and years for that to happen, but it is interesting none the less.

Most down lights are designed to be mounted in the ceiling of a room, that is true and those that aren't seem to be ridiculously expensive. What I imagined is this ... a single down light flush mounted in an 8' ceiling of a room gives out X amount of lateral light, cone shaped right?
Therefore, the lower that light is hung, the smaller the diameter of the bottom of that cone becomes - which equates to less lateral light dispersion.

So if one down light (8' above the ground) produces a 6' diameter circle of light on the ground then the same light hung 4' off of the ground should produce a 3' circle of light right? Give or take. So what I would really like to know is what diameter circle a down light will produce when hung from 8' or 7' 6". Now I know that will depend on what type of globe is used, LED, incandescent etc.

With that being said though, looks as if fluorescent lights might be the quickest and easiest to set up initially.

In so far as photography goes, I agree with all the things that have been said; however I suppose the lighting issue is more to do with the video side of things than the stills, and more importantly the engineers view of the layout. Keep in mind that I only use a very cheap little micro camera for those engineer view video's, one that isn't at all sophisticated where changes can be made.
 
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In our master bedroom we have ONE light with a GLOBE..... The GOLBE distributes the light very evenly. When I was in elementary school ALL the lights above had white globes, no fluorescents and they lit the classroom very evenly.

Once I tried DAYLIGHT bulbs, I never went back. They give off a more FULL color spectrum than any other type. That also means COLORS look more true even to the naked eye, and Because of this, daylight bulbs give off more VISABLE light for the same LUMENS. You eyes were not lying to you.
 

goscrewyourselves

I'm the one
"Daylight Bulbs"? I will have to have a look at them, thanks. If they are as good as you indicate, it might save me a lot of time, money and effort!
 

Bruette

Well-Known Member
Not lighting a layout but related to fluorescent bulbs. My library has had 24 four foot fluorescent lamps for the past 50 years (yes long before it was "my" library it had this configuration). The library is north facing and the windows are low and shallow, so there is not any sunlight coming into this room. This summer we rebuilt one of the bookcases (specifically for my train books), and in the process we noticed the backs of the shelves were faded. Checking we discovered many of the books were faded too. I had been planning to change out the lighting with LEDs as we have done in other parts of the house simply to save electricity, but while researching that for the library I discovered that fluorescent lights emit more UV radiation than I imagined. The UV from the florescent light is what faded the shelves. Due to this discovery I will NOT be using florescent lighting for my layout. The last thing I want is extra and continued fading, beyond what I intentionally weather into the locos, equipment, structures, and scenery.

In the other parts of the house the LEDs have not only reduced the power consumption by 50%, but provides a much nicer brighter light. One can get them in any color from warm white to bright white light.

Thank you Iron Horsemen! That is a RED FLAG for me, I don't want any fading! I like my things to look brand new, right out of the box. Fortunately I don't have much invested in my fluorescent lighting maybe $40 total. I will continue to use them for maintenance because the bright light helps me to see and for taking pictures, but I will most defiantly limit how much I use them from now on. No more forgetting to turn them off over night. Another lucky thing for me is I am always changing what I have on my layouts and I don't display anything other then what is on the layout.

My wife had a good suggestion I think I will try next, probably after Christmas. Her suggestion was for me to use table lamps with LED replacement bulbs. She told me we have several of them in the attic collecting dust. I'll just need to pick up some LED bulbs and experiment with wattages, colors, shades and placement. She is a beautiful and brilliant lady. Only God knows why she is with me, all I can say is thank you God!

Please keep the ideas and information flowing everyone. Eventually my wife and I will move when our kids have all moved out, a year or two, and I will be starting my train room over from scratch. I'm my new permanent train room I want to have shelves on the wall for displays as well as my layouts and lighting will be critical to achieving the look I want.
 
BEWARE not ALL so-called bright white/daylight bulbs are TRUE daylight color.
I caught homeless depot trying to push quasi faux daylight bulbs a few yrs ago. Yet I get my 48" at HD, go figure?

Check the COLOR TEMPERATURE rating. It should be about 6400k - 6500k. I have caught bulbs w/color temps rated at about 5700k with misleading packaging, so look carefully! I recently bought a box of Philips Daylight 6500k 48 inchers, my old bulbs are past-due for changing. Sylvania also makes them and I get Feit brand daylight screw-ins, (40w/60w/75w) for fixtures.
 

goscrewyourselves

I'm the one
Thanks realgijoe, I am assuming if HD sells that stuff, their competitor (Lowes) also will, or something similar anyway. I was also aware that a true daylight light was 6500k and also saw (while browsing for these things) many with a 5700k designation being sold as daylight globes as well.

Thanks for the tip on the "fitting" as well, that will be handy. In fact, I may have to take a run up to the local Lowes and see what they have.
 

Iron Horseman

Well-Known Member
We set up a series of lamps down the hall to compare. The 3000K were way to yellow and light bulb like, 3500K were just a bit yellow and dim looking, 4100K was most like a standard florescent, 5000K seemed very blue (not white) compared to the others. At the time we did this test (4 years ago. wow!) there was nothing available in the 6x00K range.

When we buy a new case of bulbs we get ones in the 3800-4200K range. Your eyes will vary.

Also watch out for the price. I've purchased about 100 bulbs so far. All of which I've gotten in the $7.99 to 11.99 range. I refuse to pay the $29.99 and up that many companies want to charge.

Then a further warning. There are three or four different power connections for them. I like the "straight" power ones, but I have to re-wire the light fixtures for them removing the ballast. The power can come from the two pins on one end (non-shunted) or from the pins one either end (shunted). Likewise they make ones (direct mount, or direct replacement) that work with the existing ballast, so you don't have to re-wire the fixtures. The problem with those is that the ballast is still there sucking electricity for no reason at all. Since my original main goal was to save electricity, that option just seemed silly.
 
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I got a case of Philips 65000k daylight 48"ers at HD for UNDER $30.

BTW any US military active duty or vets here?, .. ATTENTION! .. .. .. HD and Lowes both give vets a 10% discount with ID, (Menards quit doing Vet discounts). I know 10% may not seem like much but for me every dime counts.
 
Never thought 'bout yer handle being a down-under name... that is till I noticed yer location info, which I never even looked at B-4.

Now knowing yer was an ausse, do ya dotings up-side-down aussie style?

The up is off and down is on seemed strange to me, a Nord Hemisphere critter.

Anywho WELCOME
 




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