I received my giant lightbulb today and it clocks in at around 9 inches. It’s a mere 200 watt equivalent and emits a wonderful 6500K wash of light.  I tested it in the kitchen socket and found out that it needs to “rev up” coming to full power after about two minutes at which time one can no longer make out the television behind it.  I moved it to my adjustable desk lamp to check its macro lighting capacity and found it didn’t fit.  Six or seven hammer blows later it did but the light reflector wasn’t quite what it needed to be so I lined it with aluminum foil.  I tried taking a few test shots but ran into problems where light leakage around the camera was enough that I was developing those stare-at-the-sun spots in my eyes.  So until I develop a solution, the bulb is happily sitting in my ceiling fan as a my room light… allowing me to see through the drywall.

After yesterday’s expedition into macro photography, I wanted brighter lights.  The brightest I could find were 100 watt equivalent fluorescent bulbs so I hit other sources.  I checked on-line and found bulbs up to 400 watt equivalent (85 watt fluorescent).  I purchased one and only then did I notice the reviews that said it was “awesome, and unlike other bulbs of this type only a foot long!”  Hm… So, my room may now have a lower clearance.  I was curious to see to what extent and found a sub-community that’s interested in high-power daylight bubbles: pot growers.  I think I have a source of a compact high-power 600 watt equivalent bulb, I just need to contact someone by the name of “ScoobieDoobie” to get it.  Maybe his friend Al Toker or Reefer Sutherland can provide an alternative…