We are all working from home now – and anyone who always has to retreat to the darkest corner with their 3D tools because everything else reflects could take a look at this lamp here.
Archive notice: This article was originally published on July 15, 2018. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Yes, we know: DP is a VFX magazine and not an interior-design magazine. But after the latest BenQScreens surprised us so positively (DP 16:07 and DP 18:05), we are simply poaching from the rest of the range. And since we still cannot type very well in the dark, we will simply take a look at the ScreenBar.
What Do You Get?
For 129 euros on Amazon, you get a forearm-length fluorescent tube that is placed on the top edge of the screen with a counterweight. What is special is that, due to the design, hardly any light falls on the screen and therefore nothing reflects back. A control puck can be used to switch it on and off and adjust the brightness and colour temperature (2,700 K to 6,500 K), or to let the built-in sensor control the brightness.
What Are the Killer Features?
After a few attempts, we decided simply to loop the device through the screen’s USBPort – fewer cables in the Gordian knot behind the computer! A normal USB port works too, but it is not needed – especially since the cables for it are already almost a little too short.
The main question, of course, is whether you can still see anything on the screen – and yes, it works for the most part. Not one hundred percent, and with a second monitor positioned at an angle to the first, there is stray light, but it works quite well on the primary screen – and you can finally see the pile of Post-its.
Conclusion
Now, it can rightly be said that every light source distorts the colour effect of a monitor. That is true too, which is why grading suites are dark. But nevertheless, not EVERYTHING takes place on the screen – and between the Post-its sent by the director, the pile of notes (because the reminder function in the pipeline tool is not working at the moment) and the coffee cup containing either coffee or strange remnants, it is advisable to be able to see something. The ScreenBar fulfils this with the advantage that it does not get in the way and is directed at the screen/keyboard combination.
Glare on the screen is absent as far as physics allows. In our everyday test, we touched the colour adjustment only once a day – cool white during the day, warm white when night falls and you relax. And in the home-office setup, we can only recommend the ScreenBar – the dusty old desk lamp was banished to the basement.
