Jim Read scours the second hand shops finds a contact frame. He decides to build his own – and shows you how you can do it too.

To implement this new strategy, engineers realized that shaped lighting, specifically, fiber optics, optimized contrast, producing optimized resolution accuracy and overall performance, while avoiding illumination where it was not needed.

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However, the device was largely unsuited for any color evaluation and so had limited use. In 1996, the first “white” LED was offered for sale. The chip emitted what appeared to be white, bright light, but in essence, was a blue LED doped with phosphorus appearing to emit white light. Regardless of the technical trickery, in 1996, LED technology forever seated itself as a viable replacement technology for fiber optic lighting in vision applications for the following reasons:

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When the vision industry was just a fledgling niche technology, everyone invested all their time in software and video technology. Nobody ever considered the role lighting plays in application effectiveness. Any type or method of lighting would do; the camera coupled with the software would distinguish important features and the computer would perform the proper function.

Gavin Lyons shows how to make a Cyanotype image with a UV LED box. Cyanotypes are traditionally developed in sunlight, but in the winter the UV light isn’t so strong…

Manufacturing Standard and Custom fiber optics for Industrial, Medical, Commercial, Military and Machine Vision applications since 1977.

You can spend hundreds of dollars on a great frame or try scoring one in a thrift shop, in any case, here are a few ideas. A simple, economical contact printer Peter J. Blackburn presents a simple printing device capable of producing sharp prints with ease. Darkroom DIY: Making a contact print frame Jim Read scours the second hand shops finds a contact frame. He decides to build his own – and shows you how you can do it too.

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First conceived in 1962 by Nick Holonyak Jr., continuous improvement of the light emitting diode (LED) made this electronic device a more relevant, less expensive alternative to fiber optic and other types of lighting technology.  The LED was first widely available in its red incarnation, which suited some vision applications; those working with monochromatic (B&W) cameras.

Just like fiber, LEDs have their weak points. As you will probably notice, the weak points of each technology can be offset by one another.

Using sunlight as a light source when printing can give unpredictable results. Wanger Lungov explains how a UV exposure meter can help when printing for example Van Dyke Brown, Cyanotype,…

As vision technology evolved in the late 1990s, lighting became recognized as a key to solving marginal or unworkable vision applications by selectively controlling contrast in the field of view (FOV). Hard to see features were more readily resolved, which improved processing speed and accuracy.

Today, most general vision applications prefer the less expensive, longer lasting, and effective lighting produced by LEDs. However, for several reasons listed above, fiber optic lighting is still the preferred lighting source.