What light bulb for computer room ceiling light?

[kalniel]

The pleasant thing about CFL bulbs is they last for ages before needing replacement. Of course that means when they eventually do, I'm out of touch with where the current technology is!

So any recommendations for the ceiling light in a very small study (box room)? It's our computer room, so we don't need/want anything too bright. I do a lot of photo editing so having something without an obvious colour cast would be beneficial. A quick warm up time would be nice too. Absolutely needs to avoid flicker if possible!

Thanks!

[Spreadie]

I went with a couple of dimmable LED spots with White LEDs. However, if it is just a single light source and not two or more overlapping, it can make for some pretty harsh shadows - not ideal for studying.

[kalniel]

Yeah it's single source and I definitely want to avoid shadows, as omni-directional as possible would be good.

After some more reading, I guess I want high CRI, around 600 lumen, and colour temp around 4500k. But I can't find anything hitting that LED seem to go for either very warm (2700K) or very cool (6000+K).

[Dashers]

I went for a dimmable LED strip bulb. Seems to fit in a standard housing. Think the colour is around 5000K.

[Dashers]

I take that back. It's 6000°K according to the sticker on the bulb, but their website says 5500°K: http://www.voltacon.com/t8-led-tubes

I've got a 20w 120cm one that puts out a decent amount for a small study.

[cptwhite_uk]

Philips are my go-to brand. I've never been disappointed with their bulbs. For reference 2700K colour temperature is equivalent to incandescent bulbs, which I personally prefer in the home. If you want more natural colour tone search for daylight white.

Use their selector here:

http://www.philips.co.uk/c-m-li/choose-a-bulb/need-help

[kalniel]

Yeah looks like I'll have to settle for 2700K, the philips daylight white type ones are a little too cold at 6K.

[Dashers]

I'd rather 6000 over 2700 for photo editing. But I've seen a lot of LEDs around 3500K.

You could also paint your room cream to warm it up a bit with a 6000 light.

[peterb]

Try this

https://www.ledhut.co.uk/led-bulbs/b...placement.html

Or others from the same source.

I've used this company for about three years and all but one of the lamps in my house are LED from them.

[kalniel]

Try this

https://www.ledhut.co.uk/led-bulbs/b...placement.html

Or others from the same source.

I've used this company for about three years and all but one of the lamps in my house are LED from them.

Nice, thanks. How do you find their colours? They list the cool white as 5000K which might be ideal.

[EndlessWaves]

Yeah it's single source and I definitely want to avoid shadows, as omni-directional as possible would be good.

After some more reading, I guess I want high CRI, around 600 lumen, and colour temp around 4500k. But I can't find anything hitting that LED seem to go for either very warm (2700K) or very cool (6000+K).

CRI is a fairly dubious measurement. LEDs do tend to be better than flourescents were about generating reasonable CRI numbers but some of the budget bulbs can still be well out of whack. A new TM-30-15 standard was devised last year, but you probably won't see it on standard bulbs yet.

600 lumens isn't that bright, only around that of an 11W flourescent, and less than the 850 lumens of a 60W incandescent. It's not unreasonable, but know what you're getting.

[peterb]

Nice, thanks. How do you find their colours? They list the cool white as 5000K which might be ideal.

I have a 2700K in the ceiling pendant light in my study, and a 5000K in a desk lamp. A lot depends of the colour of the walls. White or pale pastel shades would be fine with 2700K, but darker colours may look a bit dingy.

Of course you could be one of each and use the one you don't use in your study somewhere else!

The filament lookalikes are very good in table lamps, the translucent cased ones (like the one I linked to) are better for ceiling pendants where the light is diffused by both the lamp and the shade.

[watercooled]

I quite like what I think is B&Q's own brand Diall for LED lights. In fact I actually prefer them over an Osram one I tried for a couple of reasons;

Firstly, the Osram one projected most of the light down, leaving the ceiling very dull which I found unpleasant - the Diall one does a good job of lighting the room more evenly. The Diall one also seems to emit a much nicer i.e. higher CRI light.

The Osram one had what I found to be very noticeable flicker, IIRC it wasn't at 50Hz but something more akin to PWM flicker around a few hundred Hz. It also seemed to be emitting interference at around that frequency, strong enough to show up on my oscilloscope across the room.

The Diall one doesn't seem to have anything like PWM and is far more electrically quiet.

Of course I'm only comparing one lamp to another so it's probably not fair to sum up a whole brand based on that, but that's my experience anyway. I also purchased both of these lamps a number of years ago so they could have completely changed by now. But it's more important to try some and find one you like to install throughout your house as they're far less consumable than even CFLs given how long they last.

[GoNz0]

Osram do some good LED's and tesco stock them otherwise I have started to use Screwfix offerings (LAP) as they are quite good and don't flicker like the ones I saw from LED hut in a friends house.
Philips probably do the best but the price reflects that.

[peterb]

I've fitted around 60 to 70 lamps from LED Hut, most of them lumi-life and not had any problem with flicker. However non of them were dimmable versions.

[kalniel]

Found what could be perfect:
http://www.weloveled.com/products/21...-neutral-white

9W, 860 lumen, and importantly, available in a 4000K setting. Slightly narrower beam angle of 240 degrees but it's a small room so that should be enough. Will update tonight.

edit: Not bad at all. I wouldn't want to go any cooler. It is very close to a day time shade, there's a slight blue-green cast but pretty sure that's the duck-egg walls/curtains rather than the bulb