Material Safety Guide DT Stellar Lighting

introduction material safety of dt stellar lighting material safety is our highest design priority digital transitions considers material safety to be one of its three core design goals, along with preservation grade image quality and productivity the impact that digitization lighting has on the safety of materials comes from several attributes of the light uv content total power output heat output fire hazard operator ergonomics capture quality these attributes can, in turn, be derived by some combination of technical specifications and practical evaluation, which we do for the dt stellar light below note that the name "dt stellar" is used throughout – the "dt gemini" combines two dt stellar lights with a bracket and diffuser to provide a larger area of illumination because the dt gemini is two dt stellar lights, any statement about the quality and safety of the dt stellar applies equally to the dt gemini uv content the dt stellar is extremely low in uv output for most materials, uv radiation is more damaging/problematic than radiation in the visible spectrum the sun and many kinds of artificial light sources contain uv radiation along with visible lightince our eyes cannot see uv radiation, it's important that the uv content of prospective light sources be measured and known to be minimal a high accuracy spectrum of the dt stellar output is attached ( material safety guide dt stellar lighting /#dt stellar panel spectral irradiance ) and exhibits extremely low uv content total power output the dt stellar dims between captures and the user has 0 01 stop control over power some light sensitive materials degrade in relation to the amount of total visible light to which they are exposed the user has complete control over this with dt stellar lighting the lights can be dimmed between captures to greatly reduce light exposure during staging/setup/handling the lights can be set to pulse during capture at any level the institution deems appropriate with 0 01 stop control, it is easy to balance material safety, operator comfort, and capture requirements without using any more light than required heat output the dt stellar generates extremely little heat, even in the immediate vicinity all lighting produces heat, but different technologies produce vastly different quantities the dt stellar uses led panels which inherently produce very little waste heat additionally, the internal design of the system has been optimized for heat dissipation, including an outward facing fan that ensures a low and stable operating temperature heat output in the immediate proximity of the dt stellar does not exceed that of the human body, which makes it possible to place photographic film immediately above the light fire hazard the dt stellar is ce certified, professionally designed, assembled, and individually tested poorly designed or poorly built electronics can pose a fire risk that can indirectly threaten the safety of material in the collection the dt stellar was designed by dt in the usa we individually assemble and test each unit at our facilities in the usa we carefully monitor and minimize batch variation and hold the system to a mission critical industrial build quality the dt stellar has been extensively tested by an accredited lab to conform to relevant ce and fcc standards operator ergonomics the dt stellar is designed to keep the operator comfortable and focused on handling perhaps the greatest (and often least discussed) attribute of lighting, as regards the safety of fragile materials, is the impact it has on the operator some lighting products are unpleasant or complicated to use an operator distracted by fatigue or complexity is far more likely to make a mistake in handling fragile material for example photographic strobe produces a jarring, pseudo instant flash that is quite unnatural and hard on the eyes and some continuous light sources are so bright they dazzle the operator, leading to a "desert sun" effect – squinted and watery eyes the dt stellar maintains operator’s concentration in three ways soft the prodiffuser panel provides a smooth light source free of specular reflections or point light sources that would grate on the user dimming the light can be optionally dimmed between captures honeycomb grid a forthcoming accessory that blocks off target light, including light toward the operator integration all controls are visible from the capture software and triggering is integrated into the capture system this means the operator doesn’t have to think about the lighting capture quality dt systems produce the best quality today, serving the most users and decreasing the need for future digitization the safest way to handle fragile material is not to handle it at all ensuring that all digitization is done at the highest practical quality will reduce future handling of the object the spectral quality (98 cri, 98 cqs, minimal spikes or valleys); consistency and precision (0 01 stops); optional dt fusion mode; and integration into the broader dt set of digitization solutions means the dt stellar is the highest quality light source available today especially when paired with a broader dt solution, this produces the highest quality digital surrogate currently possible this means the digital image can serve as a surrogate for in person access (and associated handling) for more use cases and also decreases the likelihood that digitization will need to be repeated in the future track record and references dt has been producing digitization systems for more than twenty years and has produced dt lighting products since 2010 in that time, we have sold lighting to more than 80% of the largest museums, libraires, and archives in the us, with an impeccable safety and reliability record and in the last few years, we have placed our lighting in a quickly growing number of institutions in europe and oceania as well conservators, conservationists, color scientists, program managers, and myriad operators and technicians have evaluated our lighting and found it suitable for use in the digitization of rare, fragile, and valuable materials the incredible range of material held in heritage collections (in a wide range of conditions) necessitates individual risk assessment it is safe to say that no single brand of lighting is as widely accepted and used for heritage digitization as dt lighting while the dt stellar is a relatively new product (first units accepted mid 2023 by library of congress for use with their rare photographic prints and film), the white panel at its core is shared with the dt photon, which was first sold in 2015 so, the impact of the dt stellar white illumination is well studied and broadly accepted dt stellar panel spectral irradiance