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Hey everybody. Ive ran into some opalized belemnites that I bought about 25 years ago. I don't know what kind of lighting is best to show the colors of them? I did a google search and got everything under the sun except for what I was looking for. Any help/ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much RB

I haven’t gotten it in the mail yet, but I recently purchased an American Optical 569 Stereo star zoom microscope on a boom arm. I’ve been very excited about this. I just realized, though, that it doesn’t come with a light source! I will be using it to prep fossils I find. These typically span from a couple of inches to about a foot, including the matrix. Where I live in Iowa, I find mostly brachiopods, corals, and some crinoids. So far, I’ve been prepping with brushes, dental pics, an electric engraver, and a Dremel rotary tool. I would really appreciate any suggestions for how to illuminate what I will be working on when I use my cool new scope. Thanks much.

I'm hoping to dive the Cooper River in the next month or so. Most of my questions were answered by watching a bunch of videos on Youtube and perusing the internets. The main question that I'm left with is "how much lighting do I need?" I see a BIG range, in terms of the brightness (or lack thereof) of lighting setups that people are using. From people using a ~500 lumens main light, to people using a helmet with a 6,000 lumens main light and two 1,000 lumens backups. I've currently got a 1,000 lumens light with a glove for my primary and ~600 lumens (I think it would be next to useless diving there...from the videos I'm seeing) for a backup. For the purposes of diving the Cooper, I am leaning towards putting together a budget helmet lighting setup. Budget, as in two self-contained 1,000 lumens main lights. My question...do those of you that have dived the Cooper think that two 1,000 lumens helmet mounted lights would be sufficient for a primary lighting source? For those of you that have put together a helmet, do you have any feedback on what did and did not work for you? ex. I see people using ~$40 skateboard helmets to mount the lights. If that works, I don't see the point of spending ~$80 for a "diving" helmet. I would appreciate any advice that you can offer. Thank you.

What is the best way to light my display cabinets up?

Here it is, the show booth layout! What do yah think? did we get enough fish this year? I am kind of fond of the table, it is fully lit all the way around the inside with LED lights!