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We have been testing a number of the solid state light sources. We do a lot
of live cell imaging and they are all way too bright for live cells. We
either add more ND filters so the cells don't die or we turn them way down
in % output if that is an option on the light source. The companies seem to
be making them brighter and brighter. I would love to know what applications
people have that need all this light? We usually advise people to use less
light and longer exposure times even with fixed samples.

That being said we were able to get institutional support to replace our
mercury sources as part of a sustainability program at McGill in a Mercury
Free Microscopy initiative. This will save us lots of time and money in
replacing the mercury bulbs all the time in addition to a reduction in
mercury. Depending on how the sources are used they can also save a lot in
power consumption too.

We have been more interested in stability of the light sources on different
time scales and they really perform well. Variability is in the single
percentage range or less on most time scales. I would be happy to provide
more information to anyone offline if they want to contact me.

Sincerely,

Claire