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Black light comparison As requested, I have taken a picture with the two UV Black-lights running. I have made a montage with the images for easy comparison. The camera White balance was fixed to fluorescent for all pictures and the background is of white paper. The top most image is of the good quality Eye lamp. I have also added some fluorescing and scintillating items to compare in the insert pictures for the lamps. Very noticeable is the GEC MBF/U lamp which fluoresces clearly under the Eye and not noticeably under the other lamp. However, the visible light level is noticeably higher for the lower lamp and this may be masking the fluorescence. The visible light level isn’t so noticeable in the two pictures (may have been still auto), but there is over saturation in the lower to suggest it. Keywords: Lamps

Black light comparison

As requested, I have taken a picture with the two UV Black-lights running. I have made a montage with the images for easy comparison. The camera White balance was fixed to fluorescent for all pictures and the background is of white paper. The top most image is of the good quality Eye lamp.

I have also added some fluorescing and scintillating items to compare in the insert pictures for the lamps. Very noticeable is the GEC MBF/U lamp which fluoresces clearly under the Eye and not noticeably under the other lamp. However, the visible light level is noticeably higher for the lower lamp and this may be masking the fluorescence. The visible light level isn’t so noticeable in the two pictures (may have been still auto), but there is over saturation in the lower to suggest it.

HPLR400.jpg BL_g_by.jpg BL400.jpg 250BL.jpg PH_BL125.jpg
Lamp/Fixture Information
Model Reference:UV Black Light
Lamp
Lamp Type:mercury vapour
File information
Filename:BL_g_by.jpg
Album name:Tuopeek / Mercury Vapour
Keywords:Lamps
Filesize:374 KiB
Date added:17 Nov 2025
Dimensions:2141 x 3000 pixels
Displayed:40 times
DateTime Original:2025:11:17 19:30:14
Exposure Time:1/50 sec
FNumber:f/5
File Source:Digital Still Camera
Flash:No Flash
Focal length:30 mm
ISO:125
Model:NIKON D3400
Software:Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0
White Balance:1
URL:https://trad-lighting.net/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=1058
Favourites:Add to Favourites

Comment 1 to 5 of 5
Page: 1

Sammi   [Mon 17 Nov 2025 at 20:01]
You can certainly tell the difference in quality Blacklight Mercury Vapour Love
Tuopeek   [Tue 18 Nov 2025 at 17:02]
It's definitely a weird lamp. The mercury bit looks quite good just the rest isn't right:-)
347vPowerlite   [Wed 19 Nov 2025 at 02:35]
Interesting comparison! I have a generic 400w MV black light and I'd love to get my hands on an EYE.
Tuopeek   [Thu 20 Nov 2025 at 21:46]
Thanks, Eye seemed to have the market in these originally. They are still around although the prices has gone up a bit. This is the second one I bought. The first died quite early on. I suspect air got in and corroded the mercury lamp feed-in connections A generic one should be just as good so long as it has a proper 'Wood's' glass envelope. I got this fake one really cheap, so I think the vendor knew there was a problem with it.
Max   [Thu 04 Dec 2025 at 22:35]
Thank you for posting such a nice comparison. The differences between the two lamps are really impressive, we can see what a lack of UV-A in the bottom case does to the fluorescence of paper and of the mercury lamp's vanadate phosphor. It is clear that heavily doped cobalt glass is far less transparent in the UVA than the classic Wood's glass. Here is really a case of lamp "designers" having gone for matching appearances rather than proper optical characteristics.

Comment 1 to 5 of 5
Page: 1