The importance of lighting when doing visual inspections

Working conditions vary. Perhaps you’re sitting in a dark room with your digital microscope and need a light source to properly see your sample.

Or perhaps you’ve already added a ring light, but now you’re experiencing distracting shadows on your object, which make it difficult to check whatever you’re supposed to check. Well, don’t worry. Here’s a walk-through of the different light options from TAGARNO and how they’ll make all the difference when using a digital microscope.

White ring light

Okay, this one might be simple, but if you’re sitting in a dark room and you’re not able to see your sample clearly, try using a white ring light. The ring light will cast a white light on your sample, making it much easier to see your object. You can of course adjust it to the appropriate intensity with a control box from TAGARNO.

Extra tip #1

Unfortunately, adding a white ring light isn’t always bullet proof. Sometimes the bright light isn’t focused where you need it – perhaps you’re looking into an indentation or a tube and you need the light to be focused on one specific area – or maybe you’re experiencing the exact opposite – the light isn’t hitting your entire sample, leaving some areas in the dark. Adding a fresnel or diffuser to the ring light on your digital microscope might just solve the issue.

Extra tip #2

But what if the ring light is too bright and creates reflections on your sample? Or maybe the light causes your sample to cast shadows on your work surface, making it difficult to see the outline of your sample? Try using a polarizer set or glass table to eliminate reflections and shadows.

UV ring light

Okay, so maybe the ambient lighting or additional lighting is just fine, but you’re looking at transparent or clear materials that aren’t visible to the naked eye, such as conformal coating material, as your working with the digital microscope. The coating material is a thin polymeric film, which conforms to the contours of a printed circuit board to protect the components of the board from moisture, dust, chemicals and temperature extremes. Using a UV ring light enables you to easily check whether components are well protected or not by making areas lacking coating clearly visible.

Backlight

The final light option provided by TAGARNO is a backlight. It’s the ideal choice when you want your object illuminated from below. You can either use the backlight on its own or in combination with the white ring light for high intensity illumination. Similarly to the other light sources mentioned here, you can of course regulate the intensity of the backlight using a TAGARNO control box.