The difference a good drafting table lamp made for my eyes

I used a standard desk lamp for 5 years and thought my eyes were just getting worse. Switched to an LED drafting arm lamp with adjustable color temp last month and my eye strain went away completely. Anybody else notice a big change after upgrading their lighting setup?

3 comments

3 Comments

mason_barnes17d ago

Drafting lamps are basically witchcraft, I'm convinced. Mine was a $30 standard desk lamp from a big box store, and I thought I was going blind from staring at circuits all day. Switched to one of those adjustable arm lamps with a dimmer and color temp dial, and suddenly I can actually see what I'm doing without squinting like a pirate. I keep mine at around 4000K most of the time, sort of a neutral white that doesn't feel like a hospital or a cave. The real kicker was when my girlfriend walked in and asked why I was sitting in the dark with just a tiny spotlight on my work. Told her it was for my artistic vision, but really I just didn't want to admit the lamp was that big of a game changer.

tyler_white4217d ago

Huh, that's actually super interesting! Were you using warm or cool light before, and what temp did you land on that made the biggest difference for you? I've been thinking about upgrading mine but I overthink stuff like this and end up not pulling the trigger lol.

jadep4114d ago

@tyler_white42 something that doesn't get brought up much is how the color of your walls and desk can mess with how the light looks. I had my lamp set at a perfect 4000K but my desk was this dark wood and my walls were beige so everything looked yellowish no matter what. Turns out the light was bouncing off surfaces and changing the whole feel. Once I put a white mat under my work, suddenly that neutral temp actually showed up neutral. Just something to check before you drop money on a fancy lamp you might end up hating because of your room setup.