Good Tool: Lux Meter to measure light levels.
 

Proper lighting is very important for too many reasons to list...

Getting the light level right light is difficult unless you have some kind of instrument to measure it.

Studies are available that have determined appropriate levels for a wide variety of situations. Lighting levels that are too low can make detailed tasks very difficult, and lightling levels that are too high for other activities, just waste money.

Here is one study for various environments and the recommended light levels:



I did a fair amount of searching and found people using various ways to determine light levels, and I tried some of them.

One that seemed very appealing was to get a Lux Meter app (there are many) and run this app on your smart phone. I tried several different apps on two different phones, and found the results to vary from 'underwhelming' to 'worthless'. The apps rely very much on the hardware in your phone, so your mileage may vary.

I also saw approaches that used photo light meters, and even cameras. This ought to be a good approach, but I wasted a couple of hours trying to get the results I was looking for, and bailed.

Finally I did some searching on ebay and found a great Lux Meter from China for around $20, free shipping.

It works great. Here is an excellent YouTube video of a tear-down and review. His experience matches mine in every detail.

Great Lux Meter: FLOUREON (AKA: "MASTECH") MS6612

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2790fXid3dw

In short, a very good tool, at a very reasonable price.

Best,

-AC_HAcker