How are your eyes? I’ve recently read about eye strain from imperceptibly flickering LED bulbs and blue light from PC monitors. I know I need to improve the very bright lighting in my home office, especially given that I suffered 18 months ago vitreous detachments in both eyes, which isn’t atypical for someone pushing 60 but isn’t encouraging either. (All three of my siblings have vitreous detachments too.)
This morning I reset MS Word so it now displays white text on a black background. It’s weird. I then read read some expert opinion that the white-on-black setup is especially bad for eyes. I have dual monitors (32 and 27 inches) with a desk lamp peeking out above them. The lightbulb is an LED 60-watt equivalent. Not bright, but it’s kind of glary given my-now black Word docs. Some experts caution about the constant flickering in LED. I cannot see any flickering but perhaps it cycles too fast to see, yet still causes eye strain.
Honestly, the only thing I need illuminated is my keyboard. Has someone here tried replacing their desk lamp with an overhead spot beam that illuminates just the keyboard and immediate desk around it?
Is a desk lamp needed at all? With my-now much darker Word documents, perhaps I should buy a backlit keyboard and do away with desk lighting altogether. My concern is, no matter what choice I make, I’m sure The Experts in 5 years will tell me I chose the worst possible setup.
I had an computer desk at m house with a keyboard tray/shelf that slides in and out. I mounted a small under-cabinet light under the desk, above the keyboard. Works like a charm. It didn’t need to be at all bright, I just needed enough light to be able to get my hands to the correct spot on they keyboard in an otherwise dark room.
I think a desk lamp, with a very dim bulb and oriented in a way that light wasn’t in your eyes would work just as well.
Also, regarding eye strain, get a back light for your monitor. An LED strip adhered to the back works well, but even a small lamp that puts some light on the wall behind the monitor. I can’t say I’ve ever done that on a computer, but on a TV, especially in a dark room, it makes a considerably bigger difference than you’d expect. I assume it has something to do with your eyes not having to transition directly from dark to light every you look away from the screen. I can’t imagine I’d have a TV without it again.
Oddly enough, the first time I set that up, I again used an under cabinet light. I just found a way to hang it off the back of the TV.
It doesn’t need to be anything special. You can pick up some LED lights or a cheap lamp for a few bucks, but, again, this really does make a huge difference.
Also, if you just need to be able to see the keys, you could get a lighted keyboard.
I don’t like working in dim light. Sometimes I have to read things that aren’t on the computer screen. When I’m working on my computer, I have the overhead lights on (LED recessed) and the desk lamp (also LED) off. The desk lamp is mostly for reading things when I’m not on my computer. I have a blue filter on my glasses, which helps a lot with the blue light problem both on computer and TV.
From what I read from brief research online, LED lights only flicker if there are fluctuations in the power. I couldn’t find anything about LED lights flickering faster than you can see them as an endemic problem. For the record, sometimes I wake up in the small hours and can’t go back to sleep, so I get up and fiddle around on the computer (games or whatever, sometimes I’m on here) for an hour or so, and then I can go back to sleep with no problem. During this time the overhead lights are off and the desk lamp is on at the lowest setting, because I know I’m not going to be reading anything offline.
Very helpful. My question really pertains to late-night computer work. I will try the monitor backlighting idea and blue-filtered glasses. As for overhead lighting, the ideal for me, I think, is a soft cone of light on my keyboard. I’m also trying MS Word docs with a darker page color, to dim the entire screen, yet keeping the black lettering. The experiment continues.
There are many backlit keyboards to be had so you can see the letters just fine.
Is there a reason you want them front-lit?
I will say I think working in the dark is not ideal. Some indirect illumination to brighten the room is worthwhile. But, if you want direct illumination maybe this is your thing (that would bug me though since my hands would cast a shadow…YMMV):
I bought an LED light bar to use on my laptop when travelling, to help me see the keyboard if the lighting wasn’t good. It could be used on a monitor. For the application you suggest, you could simply put it on the monitor backwards!
As far as my lighting: I have a lamp in my office (my daughter’s bedroom, now that she’s moved out) that is across the room. I cannot STAND overhead lighting - and this manages to illuminate the room enough without hurting my eyes. If it’s a bit too dim at the desk, I have a really cheap flexible-neck lamp (LED) that I can aim wherever it suits me, and has some color / brightness adjustment. The desk itself has a hutch with a fluorescent light under the shelf, but I really dislike fluorescents.
Joey_P is on to something here. I did something kind of similar. I got some small floods and clamped them behind my monitor so they shine up on the white ceiling more or less above the monitor. They also leak a lot onto the wall behind the monitor, which effect is like the back light. Having light aimed at the ceiling also provides light for the room and provides suitable diffuse lighting from an angle above when I’m in online meetings.
And, this isn’t something you have to hobble together on your own. The first time I did it, I used an under cabinet light that I hung from the back of the TV (somehow involving a clothes hanger) and it worked like a charm.
On my current TV, I picked up an LED backlight kit. Which, was nothing more than an LED strip with a USB plug and a remote.
You can find these same kits for about 10 dollars on Amazon and they take about two minutes to install. The only thing I’d suggest is make sure, at the very least, you get one that dims. You don’t want a super bright light back there, especially since you’re sitting so close. Even better, get one with multiple colors. Because, honestly, you probably don’t want white either. Blues and purples and dark greens work really well here.
On my TV, the LEDs slowly switch from one color to the next. For how much something like that should bother me. It works perfectly. My brain completely tunes it out instead of focusing on it.
Yes, I think indirect lighting sounds much better.
I’m a night owl. I sometimes wake up at 3 or 4 a.m. and do my most creative work, but I want to avoid the glare of lights. Soft lighting sounds great, which leads me to think I need dimmable LED bulbs. (duh!)
The table lamp that rises above my 2 monitors throws light everywhere. It’s only a 60-watt equivalent LED, but it puts out a lot of light in a dark room. I don’t need the lamp’s shade to be illuminated. I’m looking for soft lighting of my desk, without eye strain or shadowing. I agree with one poster here who discourages the idea of a really dark late-night office, with only the keys (and monitors) visible. That just sounds like something future researchers will sound the alarm on.