For many years, mercury and metal halide lamps have been the go-to illumination technology for automated imaging systems. Even as LED technology has quickly evolved to offer many significant benefits, the perceived risk has sometimes been a factor in original equipment manufacturers sticking with the conventional option.
However, we have now reached a turning point where LED illumination technology has matured to become a highly efficient (and even more reliable) alternative to mercury and metal halide options. Let’s explain:
Modern LED illumination options such as the Amora consume less than 10% of the energy consumed by a mercury or metal halide lamp. For automated imaging systems which can be running for days at a time, this difference quickly becomes significant. It’s not only much better for the environment, but also reduces operational costs for the end user.
The associated cooler operation enables a more compact system, and further energy savings are possible by TTL synchronisation with the LED and camera, because solid state switching is much faster than a shutter and this time adds up.
You can read more about power and cost comparisons in Green Light Laboratory’s report here.