Spectral Properties of lamps in my collection.

Someone suggested a while ago that it would be interesting to be able to compare the spectral properties of various lamps on here side-by-side.  I did line a few up back then, but thanks to the limitations of the spectroscope I was using at the time I just didn't have the resolution available to really show much.  Recently however I've upgraded the 'scope with a better diffraction grating and have acquired a camera which handles this type of work better.  As such, there are a selection of lamps from my collection shown here.  More will be added now and then or if someone gets in touch asking for something specific.

Please note that this page is intended for interest only and really shouldn't be treated as a full scientific reference!  The spectra below were captured using a home-made spectroscope made out of an old shipping box, a £2.50 diffraction grating, a couple of craft knife blades and truly unreasonable amounts of duct tape.  Being honest though, that bit works very well, it's the camera that is the limiting factor I think. 

It struggles particularly with over-loading by the strong mercury green line and the red-orange triphosphor emission band, and is particularly insensitive to the deep violet band so that in some cases seems to disappear somewhat at random unfortunately.

Lamps are arranged roughly alphabetically by manufacturer, grouped by technology type.


Compact Fluorescent Lamps.

General Electric BIAX Electronic Extra Mini FLE15TBX/XM/840.

 

General Electric BIAX Electronic Extra Mini FLE15TBX/XM/840

 

Impact Colorspiral 15W Green.  (Green glass filter).

 

Impact Colorspiral 15W Green.  (Green glass filter)

 

Impact Colorspiral 15W Yellow. (Yellow glass filter).

 

Impact Colorspiral 15W Yellow. (Yellow glass filter).

 

Marathon Electronic 11W 827 (2700K).

 

Marathon Electronic 11W 827 (2700K)

 

Megaman Compact 2000 11W Warm White (2700K).

 

Megaman Compact 2000 11W Warm White (2700K)

 

Morrison's Supermarket Own Brand 11W (Warm White) - 2003.

 

Morrison's Supermarket Own Brand 11W (Warm White)

 

Osram Dulux EL Longlife 11W 41-827 (2700K).

 

Osram Dulux EL Longlife 11W 41-827

 

Panasonic EFG15E50R (5000K).

 

Panasonic EFG15E50R

 

Philips Genie 14W Warm White - 2008.

 

Philips Genie 14W Warm White

 

Philips New Softone 6 Year 12W - 2005.  Warm White.

 

Philips New Softone 6 Year 12W

 

Philips Night Light Energy Saver - 2003.  Warm White.  Also has an LED output mode but it's too dim to catch with my current camera I'm afraid.

 

Philips Night Light Energy Saver

 

Philips PL E-T Pro 23W Warm White - 2003.

 

Philips PL E-T Pro 23W Warm White

 

Philips SL*9 Prismatic (2700K).


Philips SL*9 Prismatic

 

Philips SL*18 Comfort - 1993.  (Warm White).

 

Philips SL*18 Comfort

 

Philips SL*25 Prismatic - 1984.  (Warm White).

 

Philips SL*25 Prismatic

 

Philips Tornado ESaver CDL 865 - 2012 (6500K).

 

Philips Tornado ESaver CDL 865

 

PowerPlus 9W XEU48-9U - 2005 (2700K).

 

PowerPlus 9W XEU48-9U

 

Pro-Lite DayLite SCR-11W Blue Externally Filtered.

This lamp was modified for on-stage use by the original end-user.  It started life as a 6400K lamp.

 

Pro-Lite DayLite SCR-11W Blue Externally Filtered

 

Pro-Lite GU10/7W/FLU/40 (4000K).

 

Pro-Lite GU10/7W/FLU/40

 

Pro-Lite Plus SCR-18 18W Green (unfiltered).

 

Pro-Lite Plus SCR-18 18W Green

 

Sylvania Mini Lynx Pastel 11W Apricot.

 

Sylvania Mini Lynx Pastel 11W Apricot

 

Sylvania Mini Lynx Pastel 11W Rose.

 

Sylvania Mini Lynx Pastel 11W Rose

 

Tesco FLE20TBXT3/827 10Y - 2011. (2700K).

 

Tesco FLE20TBXT3/827 10Y

 

Unique 9W 6400K.

(Claim's to be a triphosphor lamp...Mr. Spectroscope claims otherwise!  See the MOOLIM F4T5D lamp in the linear fluorescent section below - That 4W lamp actually seems brighter as well!)

 

Unique 9W 6400K

 


Linear Fluorescent Lamps.

 

Ascot Siliconed 40W T12 2' Red.  Filtered red tube.

 

Ascot Siliconed 40W T12 2' Red

 

Atlas 15W T12 Warm White - 1975.

 

Atlas 15W T12 Warm White

 

Atlas 30W T12 Green.

 

Atlas 30W T12 Green

 

Cryselco 30W T8 White - 1979.

 

Cryselco 30W T8

 

Duro-Test Power-Twist True-Lite 20W T12.  (5000K Estimate).

 

Duro-Test Power-Twist True-Lite 20W T12

 

General Electric Polylux XL F18W/830 - 2010 (3000K).

 

General Electric Polylux XL F18W/830

 

General Electric Standard F20W/T12 35-535.  2008 (3500K).

 

General Electric Standard F20W/T12 35-535

 

Industrial F40T12/DP Display Pink.

 

Industrial F40T12/DP Display Pink

 

MOOLIM F4T5D - Halophosphate Daylight.

These seem to pop up all over the place in battery powered lanterns etc.  I seem to have about twenty of them from various sources!

 

MOOLIM F4T5D

 

Narva LT 30W/016 Yellow Special.  2008.

 

Narva LT 30W/016 Yellow Special

 

Osram Liteguard 40W 2' T12 Daylight.  1981.  Approx 4000K.

 

Osram Liteguard 40W 2' T12 Daylight

 

Philips 2ft 40W White 35 - 1971.  3500K.

 

Philips 2ft 40W White 35

 

Philips F8T5/05 - 2008.  (Unfiltered blacklight).

 

Philips F8T5/05

 

Philips Fluotone F15T8/35 With External Purple Filter.

 

Philips Fluotone F15T8/35 With External Purple Filter

 

Philips MCFE 2 Foot 40W/535 White.  3500K.  1991.

 

Philips MCFE 2 Foot 40W/535 White

 

Philips MCFE 20W/535 with external "gold" filter.  2009.

 

Philips MCFE 20W/535 with external "gold" filter

 

Philips TL 8W/35 (with pink external coating).  1988.

(Note that due to the lower output level of this lamp I had to turn up the camera's sensitivity to capture the full spectrum - this results in quite a bit of loss of definition I'm afraid).

 

Philips TL 8W/35 (with pink external coating)

 

Philips TL RS 20W T12/33-640. 2009 (4000K).

 

Philips TL RS 20W T12/33-640

 

Pro-Lite F8T5 4000K.

 

Pro-Lite F8T5 4000K

 

Sylvania 20W 2' T12 Green.  Unfiltered green phosphor.

 

Sylvania 20W 2' T12 Green

 

Sylvania Standard F40W/29-530 Warm White (2900K).

 

Sylvania Standard F40W/29-530 Warm White

 

Sylvania Standard F100W-535 - 2010.  (3500K).

 

Sylvania Standard F100W-535

 

Thorn 40W Natural - Universal White 25 - 1992.

 

Thorn 40W Natural - Universal White 25

 

Thorn 20W T12 2' Pink Coloured Lamp - 1980/90s.  Non-filtered pink phosphor.

 

Thorn 20W T12 2' Pink Coloured Lamp

 

Tungsram 20W T12 2' Blue Coloured Lamp - 1990s.  Non-Filtered blue phosphor.

 

Tungsram 20W T12 2' Blue

 

Unlabelled 1970s F8T5 Daylight (Assumed to be of Philips manufacture based on construction).

 

Unlabelled 1970s F8T5 Daylight

 

Unknown US Made 15W T8 "Cool White" - Estimated to be from 1970s.

 

Unknown US Made 15W T8 "Cool White"

 

 


Induction Lighting.

 

Jacksta 40W Induction Lamp (5000K).

 

Jacksta 40W Induction Lamp

 

Philips QL 85W/830 - 2005 (3000K).

 

Philips QL 85W/830

 


Mercury Vapour Lamps.

 

Iwasaki Eye R.F.F. 160W PAR38 Self-Ballasted Mercury Reflector Lamp.

 

Iwasaki Eye R.F.F. 160W PAR38

 


Metal Halide Lamps.

 

Philips MasterColour CDM-R 35W/830 PAR30L 10 Deg

 

Philips MasterColour CDM-R 35W/830 PAR30L 10 Deg

 


Sodium Vapour Lamps.

 

Philips SOX 18W - 2003.

 

Philips SOX 18W

 


LED.

 

Philips Master LEDbulb MV 12W 806Lm - 2010 (2700K).

 

Philips Master LEDbulb MV 12W 806Lm

 

Unknown Manufacturer - Blue LED MR16 Retrofit (Discrete 5mm LED based).

 

Unknown Manufacturer - Blue LED MR16 Retrofit

 


Incandescent.

 

Crompton Fireglow 60W.

 

Crompton Fireglow 60W

 

Kingston Green 60W.

 

Kingston Green 60W

 

Luxina MR16C 12V 50W Dichroic Purple.

 

Luxina MR16C 12V 50W Dichroic Purple

 

Osram Active 60W - 2005.  Slightly blue tinted lamp.

 

Osram Active 60W

 

Pro-Lite True Colour EXT-P 12V 50W Dichroic Lilac.

 

Pro-Lite True Colour EXT-P 12V 50W Dichroic Lilac

 

Pro-Lite True Colour FTC-P 12V 20W Dichroic Blue.

(No...the cutoff in the blue is not a camera artefact nor is it a scaling error - the blue/purple band on this lamp is actually filtered strangely...)

 

Pro-Lite True Colour FTC-P 12V 20W Dichroic Blue

 

Tesco Value 60W Pearl. 

Here's our basic "reference" for the incandescent section.  A bog standard 60W incandescent lamp.

 

Tesco Value 60W Pearl

 


Updates:

25th January 2021: Minor changes to page formatting to improve usability on mobile devices.

28th April 2023: Revised Statcounter code to allow for HTTPS operation.


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