[Tfug] Yet another optics question

[JD Rogers]

>> My question:  do I need to situate the LEDs at the same position
>> of the filament in the original bulb?  If so, that would suggest
>> I need to use a single ultrabright LED as trying to locate multiple
>> LEDs in the same small region would be problematic.

* /me glances around to make sure nobody from OpSci is listening*
Go for it!

When you have a high-end / high magnification microscope, the
illumination is fairly critical (hehe, that's my little inside joke,
because it's actually Kohler as opposed to critical). But seriously,
the illumination can impact the resolution and the way the object
looks pretty severely.

On the other hand, you are talking about a stereoscope, so the
resolution is probably crap and the magnification not that high, so it
should matter very little as longs as the illumination is enough to
see what you are looking at comfortably.

The problem with replacing the incandescent bulb with an LED is the
power supply. You'll need DC with somewhat regulated current. I'd be
tempted to buy one of those cheap flashlights that uses LED's and try
to rig up a DC current source to it so you don't replace batteries
constantly. But you may just be offloading some of the wasted heat
from the bulb to the power brick (although probably not quite as much
waste).

JDR