…And what do you mean you by saying you’ve never heard of us?! Well... ok, admittedly while our 15 year expertise in specialty LED lighting is finally starting to get the recognition it deserves... but perhaps what we should do first is to offer you an apology for our abysmal marketing over the last 15 years? You see, as engineers ourselves we were perhaps too busy serving our core customers and growing our business to focus such mundane things as marketing our remarkable capabilities.... and while you may not have heard of Metaphase, many other OEM's and integrators have!

Thanks to those loyal customers, today we have thousands of proven installations world-wide. Another lesser known fact was that we were a pioneer in LED's for machine vision back when TV cameras were first being adapted for machine vision. Speaking of firsts… our first product the LED ring light was the first light to incorporate internal thermal control along with solid one piece machined aluminum housing and potted LED’s. Since then LED technology has changed dramatically but honestly we think that nobody has done a better job keeping up with these changes from both a power per watt lumen standpoint with combined expertise in optics than Metaphase.

Is your lighting less money because you import lighting from Asia?

Nope, (although we’ve heard that many of you have fallen for that line from some of our monetarily motivated detractors) Metaphase has been manufacturing in the USA at our headquarters outside of Philadelphia, PA since our businesses onset. Thanks for giving us the opportunity to clear that up.

How can you guys make your LED lighting more affordable than others?

Hey we’re glad you asked but, honestly if we took the time to explain how our products are designed more simply for manufacturability or how our no-compromise quality & lean manufacturing model, innovative assembly techniques, proprietary processes, custom jigs, fixtures and assembly automation have been refined to eliminate unnecessary labor and unnecessary cost… we’re afraid that we’d bore you to death. Let’s just say that we’ve always endeavored to sell the best possible lights we could build at fair margins. And no, it never bothered us once to hear that our competitors complained we were selling our LED lighting below market prices.

Is your lighting available world-wide? (I’m in the UK)

Metaphase has been selling direct and through various sales channels and distributors worldwide for the last ten years. Much of the equipment sold in one part of the world now resides in other countries. Whenever possible we’ve gone out of our way to service those customers to the best of our abilities. As we expand internationally (this website should help that) we will be evaluating new business models and channel partners that can help us achieve our objectives. If you know of a VAR or integrator interested in selling our lighting we’d be happy to speak with you about the opportunity.

LED lighting isn’t rocket science, why all the hype for machine vision?

Come on… hype? Lighting is our craft so we beg to differ! …although at their core LED’s are simple PN junction semiconductors there’s a lot more to making machine vision lights that just simple DC power up and aiming. Look, lighting may be governed by the rules of physical science but it’s still very much a black art. Do it right and its shear poetry, do it wrong and it’s well… a mess. We like to refer to the tools of our trade which happen to be voltage and current control power supplies, LED intensity, optics, beam alignment, lighting geometry, lighting components and machined parts as our playground but truthfully it’s all about image processing. No, were not talking about camera settings and algorithms but instead the processing of RAW monochrome or color images to highlight your particular specimens feature(s). Most of all lighting is not a one size fits all proposition. Instead each application requires a thorough understanding of your cameras vision needs, performance criteria and the thousand or so nuances of your application. Sure, we’d love to sell you lighting by the handfuls but even if you’ve put LED lighting as good as ours into the wrong application you’re not going to be successful no matter how hard to try. (We’ve learned the hard way that It also doesn’t make for good repeat customers either) That’s why we have a fully equipped optics lab and applications group to help you spec the right light before it’s too late. At the end of the day isn’t it helpful to know there’s a capable partner willing to invest in the success of your outcome as you are?

Our biggest challenge is getting lighting for evaluation, finding often that we need to make changes in the lighting until the process is finalized. Do you offer loaners?

Of course we offer demos... Hollywood may call the familliar: Lights!, Camera! Action! but we recognize that in the vision industry this pyramid is often inverted and lighting is specified dead last. While it’s a shame that we can’t always help our customers sooner we recognize that often the need is to find last minute solution and you can’t afford to wait days or weeks while your valuable investment in machine vision sits unused waiting for the right lighting to arrive… only to find that once you do have everything in hand you needed something else all along. Metaphase has a large assortment of demo units and we can usually accommodate special requests within two weeks. We only ask that you work with our credit department to make sure that we have you set up in our system and with the sales department to coordinate the right lights are actually in stock first.

I need a special light, do you do custom lighting?

First take a look through our website; you might be surprised to find that we’ve already made something that you can use for the selection of more than 1000 lighting modules. If you still can’t find what you’re after or would like to discuss a special application, please give us a call. Chances are good that we already have a similar design or standard components can be modified or combined to meet your exact needs. And if we don’t you’ll be pleased to know that we don’t charge for engineering development if we decide to take on your special request.

Can you give me the name of my nearest distributor? We want someone to come in and evaluate our application.

We try to accommodate this request when ever we can but more often than not we just can’t. You see, we don’t rely exclusively on distributors as we have very few. We do have value added resellers in some territories (and we are always looking for more) but we’re pretty picky about who we want selling for us. You remember the part about customer service? If we can’t involve ourselves directly in your application keep in mind that we will make available loaner lighting to certain customers for in-house evaluation. Also keep in mind that the tools of the internet have made it pretty easy to exchange lighting ideas, sample images and approaches in a virtual setting once we you’re your samples for processing.

We have a proprietary process and require a vendor who will keep those secrets safe. What is your privacy policy?

We fully understand this as Metaphase also has proprietary patented and patent pending technology. As such we have always endeavored never to share customer trade secrets. We’ll gladly sign you’re your NDA and as a valued partner protect your confidential disclosures as if they were our own.

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