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Lighting Types

Popular lighting sources include fluorescent, quartz halogen, Light Emitting Diodes (LED), metal halide, xenon and high pressure sodium. Generally, for small or medium scale inspection applications; LED, quartz-halogen, and fluorescent are the most commonly used, whereas the remaining sources can typically be found in larger scale applications or in applications requiring intense illumination. Recently, LED have become the most popular lighting technology due to their increased operation security, longevity, application flexibility, and lower operating costs. Certain demanding lighting situations may call for the use of mixed multiple light sources alongside brightness. Spectral content is another factor for consideration when determining a specific light source for a specific purpose.

Additionally, there are several other relevant considerations related to matching a particular camera and light source:

• Matching the sensor’s peak sensitivity with the lighting source’s peak wavelength.
• Narrowing wavelength sources are advantageous for passing intentional wavelengths when matched with narrow pass filters.
• Avoid raw intensity and broadband spectral content, such as sunlight to achieve better visibility for inspection.