I'm a true fan of LED's. I've put them in every game I've owned and I think its a fun and creative way to personalize your game. The problem I'm having is no one makes a good GI bulb. If you look at the retailer websites (cointaker, cometpb etc) they recommend the biggest brightest bulbs for GI. Generally smaller bulbs are discouraged for GI use because they create hot spots and don't throw enough light to the sides. The problem is the super bright bulbs end up looking like this.

https://forum-s3.pinside.com/201311/1218577/148515-i.jpg

The bulb is giving out an impressive, perhaps to impressive, amount of light to the sides which is exactly what I want in a GI bulb. Its also giving out the same amount of light directly behind the plastic creating a hot spot. Actually, the whole plastic is a hot spot!

So my question to LED bulb manufacturers, is it possible to make a GI bulb that creates lower intensity diffused light directly above the bulb while throwing out enough light to the sides to illuminate a game placed in low ambient lighting conditions? To me this would be the perfect GI LED bulb since you would not blow out the playfield plastic artwork or your cornea's in the process.

My question to modder's and LED lovers, has anyone taken something as bright as the optix maximus bulbs and sanded or painted the bulb to achieve the same effect described above?

No I haven't and I know exactly what you are talking about. I have the 3-4 year old dull frosted single led cointakers in my Barracora backglass. I took this with a Canon t3i and couldn't get rid of the hot spots no matter what I tried. In person you can't tell there are any hot spots.

https://img-s.pinside.com/archive/d1/original/d14fb4bb67be3f59e2717e9f581fe945015639ab.jpg

This a pic with the same camera also taken in the dark. This is the current GI and they are CT Retro cool whites.

https://forum-s3.pinside.com/201301/586162/64388-i.jpg

You don't really see much of a hotspot at all in the plastics but, you also don't see a lot of light on the playfield. The Op-Max BSD pic has a TON of light on the PF and surrounding areas but, the sling plastics are non existent which makes me think they have to be REALLY bright in every direction.

I'm the UV BSD guy that mailed you earlier. I think I will take you up on your suggestion and get a few Op-Max to experiment with my order if that UV panel isn't to big. I'd be happy to take pics and share the results of both.

I agree and I use frosted now but, I play with at least some ambient light on in my garage. My games look fine but, in the dark there isn't really enough light from the GI. At least not as much light as I would like and not as much as normal incandescent bulbs would give.

That's an amazing pic! Was this just sitting in your game room as is or did you setup photography lights for this pic? Maybe I can use the flex SMD's to solve my lack of PF lighting and still keep my plastics illuminated with frosted bubls.

Like these? http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=2561

I've experimented with those particular 4 SMD in GI and they were way to bright for me. I have one green one in my BSD in the castle lock insert under the right ramp and its perfect because you usually can't see that insert ever.

Looking good! I like playing mine in the dark too and I love how video mode is the practically the only thing you can see in the room when it is running!

Generally I totally agree! All of my games use white for GI. The colors really get washed out on basically any game if you use colored GI. However, blue works wonders in BSD because nearly all of the PF art and plastics are blue. The guy that I think originated the blue mod and called it "Blue Moon" has an excellent BSD with great pics if you check his site/search google.

OK that beyond amazing. I saw the glass was still on but, I figured you had to have used other lights to make it look so friggin good!! You win for the absolute best and most tasteful LED application of all time. It looks to damn good!

I was comparing PBL 1 smd frosted cool white and 4 smd cool whites when I compared. I put an index card between the two slings and I felt like the 4 smd threw out only slightly more light that the frosted but, the quality of light from the frosted had a much better feel.

That's a great idea! Since the bottom of the plastic is where the art is screened on, do you think there could be an issue if you or someone else removed the mylar down the road? Maybe spraying something like triple-thick or some sort of clear before sticking the mylar down would keep paint from pulling off the plastic?

OK I got some LED pics. The camera was adjusted for the OPMAX first then the rest of the pics were taken. I had originally adjusted my camera on the CT retros but, it wasn't a fair comparison since the OPMAX were blown out and the color was way off. So here we go:

Here's my CT retro blues with clear top. These are the GI currently in my BSD
CTretro.JPG

Here are the Comet Twin's with the clear lens. Terrible spots and not much light for the PF. These had a strong purple hue in RL and the camera is making it worse. These were my least favorite.
TwinClear.JPG

Here's the Comet Twin's with frosted lens. An improvement over the clear IMO. Less of the purple hue but still noticeable. Not much light for the PF. These were my second least favorite
TwinFrost-270.JPG

Here's the Comet 1SMD Frosted. This is probably my favorite of the Comet bulbs and I think are a slight improvement over the CT retros. Nice solid blue color with no strange purple tinge. No hot spots on the plastic and slightly more light for the PF. I think these are my overall favorite of this group
1SMD.JPG

Last but not least the Comet OP-MAX. I had to change my white balance to dull the intense purple my camera was picking up. In RL the purple is noticeable but, not terrible like the twin clear. There's a great amount of light produced out the side for the playfield but, terrible spots. I tried sanding the OP-MAX with 400 grit paper to see if I could dull it and it was barely noticeable.
OpMax.JPG

So overall I'm a fan of the 1SMD frosted. Makes me wonder if there's a need for OP-MAX frosted maybe? We also tried some OP-MAX in random locations on my friends Tron. The large plastics at the top of the game that cover the Cora inner loop shot were extremely spotty but, again we were impressed by the amount of light produced to the side and onto the surrounding area.

IMO I think most people would probably not be disappointed by the OP-MAX. The spots are noticeable in RL but, the camera is intensifying them somewhat. The hint of purple is obvious but, not overwhelming. After taking these pics and comparing the results I believe my original assessment is still correct. We are missing a purpose built GI bulb. If someone could combine the diffused light of the 1SMD frosted on top for the plastics and the bright light produced to the side like the OP-MAX, we would have a clear winner for sure!