Some photographs of lightbulbs

Recently, one of my high-beams burned out. It had been a bit, so I replaced both high-beams and both headlights. And then I took a few pictures.

This was my kitchen table setup of Leica StereoZoom5 and Canon 7D with a passive(no optics) lens adapter.

This high-beam bulb had been in service a bit long. What does it look like inside?

I had trouble aligning everything in focus so this is a composite. I like the little clamps holding the filement to the support wires. It's pretty wild how the filament is scarred from years of heating and cooling cycles. Also note how metal seems to have jumped from the filament all the way to the left support.

Here's a different old filament.

This is the one that burned out. The filament isn't connected, and there are two patches of metal sprayed onto the glass. Lets take a closer look...

This is where the metal failed. Strange how one side looks like a solder ball, but the other follows to a point. They must be made from different materials.

This is the other end of the filament. It's coated in little metal fragments too.

This is a fun shot I found while trying to zoom and focus the camera on the bottom of the filament. I liked how the light flows around through the glass. Because I have a cheap mechanical-only camera adapter, changing the zoom wildly changes the focus so I have to adjust both together. I don't often take photographs through my microscope though, and optical adapters are much more expensive.

Finally, this is what a new bulb looks like. I didn't get a good photo, but the supporting wires appear to be pressed flat, then folded around the ends of the filament, rather than the little clamps of the other bulbs.