Phantom Lighting System

Specialty lighting manufacturers all around the country are going head to head with each other to get your attention. Choosing the right type of lighting manufacturer requires a little bit of information about, who the company is, and what type of product they are offering.

Phantom Lighting is a pioneer, Houston-based art lighting company and low voltage lighting manufacturer established in 1981 to service the lighting and design community. Phantom Contour Projectors and Phantom strip lights feature lighting technology that is completely unique, 100% proprietary, and found nowhere else in the world of lighting. Phantom’s revolutionary approach to decorative picture lighting and low voltage cabinet lighting and under cabinet lighting has taken it from humble origins to the level of an international leader in lighting manufacturing on two continents.

As a fine art lighting manufacturer we are frequently asked how our Contour Projectors compare to similar optical framing projector products on the market. To help our customers better understand the differences, we have created a projector comparison chart showing a range of equipment.

Here are a few benefits of the Phantom Contour Projector:

• Phantom Contour Projectors are designed by a professional installer and have been engineered so a novice, do it your-selfer or qualified electrician can successfully illuminate art and sculpture.


• The Contour projector produces an even focused light source over your painting so that all of those hidden rich colors are illuminated. This “Lighted from within” look makes the contour projector definitely a one of a kind art lighting device.


• The patented mounting method, simplified optical system and the ability to use both shutters and custom templates make this one of the most versatile and awesome art lighting fixtures on the market today.


• A first in the industry, the Phantom Contour Projector RM Series (remodel housing) is specifically designed for installation between floors without damage to the ceiling and the low profile design will fit in joists as shallow as 10 " deep.


• The Contour Projector uses a 75-watt MR16 halogen based lamp for illumination purposes. This mechanism traps the infrared rays inside the fixture itself, while filtering out most of the ultra-violet rays before they set their sights on your artwork.

How can I learn more about your art lighting products?
We invite you to call toll free 800-863-1184 to request literature online or visit our lighting blog to learn more about Phantom custom low voltage lighting products.

Are your art lighting products made in the USA?
Yes, our lighting manufacturing facility is located in Houston, Texas with professional lighting sales agents located throughout the United States that enable us to service all of Canada, Mexico, Central America, South America and the United States including Washington DC, Nashville Tennessee, Las Vegas Nevada. Portland Oregon, Oklahoma City Oklahoma, Tucson Arizona, Orange County California, Atlanta Georgia, Austin Texas and Palm Springs California.

As pioneers in the art lighting manufacturing industry for over 30 years, the engineering team at Phantom Lighting has developed and patented a number of unique lighting fixtures that are changing the face of specialty lighting. These fixtures allow design professionals, building contractors, commercial interior designers, and homeowners to bring unequaled beauty to their work with maximum flexibility.

At the core of our product offering is the Phantom Contour Projector. This user-friendly, truly multidimensional art projector allows private and commercial art collectors, galleries, and interior designers to create spectacular lighting phenomenon. With a halogen light source and a patented filtration system that strips the light of all harmful radiation, the Contour’s beam remains hidden until it strikes the intended object, illuminating it with our world-renowned “lighted from within” effect. Art lovers consistently turn to Phantom when they realize they need a residential lighting manufacturer that can both showcase their prized possessions and protect the physical well being of their collection.

A second line of products, the Phantom Linear Lighting System, brings a new versatility and aesthetic to the world of decorative accent lighting. This “state of the art” linear strip features wireless conductivity and low profile positioning that makes it all but invisible to the naked eye. Phantom’s proprietary custom manufacturing process allows the linear lighting strip to be mounted on any vertical, horizontal, or curved radius surface. With lamping options ranging from incandescent and xenon to the new, revolutionary 2800K LED festoon, the Phantom Linear Strip continues to evolve and lead the way in low-voltage shelf, display, and cove lighting.

When making the Contour Projector picture lights or any one of the Phantom Strip Lights, the core belief at Phantom is that lighting should bring graceful elegance to a room. We think the focus should be on the room’s beauty, not the lights. All of our products are designed with one goal—we want you to: “See the Light… Not the Fixture.”

How can I learn more about your lighting products?
Call a Phantom Agent for more information on all of these options. We invite you to call toll free 800-863-1184 to request literature online or visit our mobile website or lighting blog to learn more about Phantom custom low voltage lighting products.

Are your lighting strips made in the USA?
Yes, our lighting manufacturing facility is located in Houston, Texas with professional lighting sales agents located throughout the United States that enable us to service all of Canada, Mexico, Central America, South America and the United States including Washington DC, Nashville Tennessee, Las Vegas Nevada. Portland Oregon, Oklahoma City Oklahoma, Tucson Arizona, Orange County California, Atlanta Georgia, Austin Texas and Palm Springs California.

Why are over the picture lights a less than ideal source of art lighting?
Picture lights rely on halogen and incandescent lamps that produce infrared light. This results in very high temperatures that will dry out oils and crack canvases over time. Museums that still use incandescent picture frame lighting must install special motion sensors to turn the lights on when visitors enter the room and switch them off again when they leave. This is too much hassle for the private collector, and it is also more expensive.

Can the actual intensity of light cause paintings to degrade?
Yes it can. The term “Lumens per annum” refers to the cumulative intensity of museum art lighting over long periods of exposure that can have deleterious effects on colors and canvases. Setting precise levels of illumination intensity for recessed picture lights helps safeguard the preservation of pictures, paintings, and rare documents framed in museums. This is difficult to do with picture lighting equipment that offers only two or three settings and little, if any, room for custom adjustment to the piece.

What is the best alternative, then, to standard over the picture lighting?
Both private collectors and gallery curators almost unanimously agree that the vest best and safest sources of picture lighting are commercial grade art projectors. Art projector lights offer the advantages of ultraviolet and infrared filtering and do not mount to the frame. This is crucial to museum aesthetic, where classics look much better when there is nothing over the painting to distract the viewer’s eye. However, typical art projectors can be very bulky, hard to adjust, and cause severe damage to ceilings even when installed by professionals. It is also very hard to adjust lighting levels in some projectors, making it difficult to match lighting intensity precisely to color and form. Some projectors also produce a beam that is visible to people standing to the side of the room. This does not look good in a refined setting and therefore offers serious drawbacks that disqualify such a device as an ideal source of picture lighting.

Does the Phantom Contour Projector Truly Resolve All of These Issues?
As artwork lighting experts, Phantom Lighting took projector technology to a whole new level by introducing the Phantom Contour Projector. Our foremost concern in this new design was developing the highest level of protection for priceless works of art. While most art projectors provide some form of UV shielding, we have developed fixtures and precision optical design that negate its power altogether. We have accomplished this without diminishing the ability to fine tune the projector for optimal picture lighting angles and light intensity levels.

The name Phantom Contour itself refers to one of the most unique attributes of our art projectors—the ability to shape illumination to the exact dimensions of a picture. Phantom lenses offer the highest level of photometric performance currently possible as compared to other framing projectors. They can be fine tuned with such precision as to actually hide the beam of light itself regardless of viewing angles. This creates a “lighting from within” effect when the beam strikes the picture and frame. This light is further filtered through special glare shielding that prevents it from “spilling” over the wall around a painting and thus eliminates resulting shadows behind the frame.

To learn more about Phantom Contour Projectors visit our lighting blog or contact a lighting rep in your area.

Phantom Lighting Systems, a Houston based lighting manufacturer has recently posted updated information on their website for the Contour Projector and Strip Lighting products. Some of the changes include the introduction of a LED lamp option for the Strip Lights and a custom gobo holder for the Contour Projector.

Phantom Contour Projectors are designed by a professional installer and have been engineered so a novice, do it yourselfer or qualified electrician can successfully illuminate art. The patented mounting method, simplified optical system and the ability to use shutters, gobos and custom templates make this one of the most versatile and awesome art lighting fixtures on the market today. By shaping the light to only the canvas, the art takes on a "Lighted from within" look that can only be seen to appreciate.

Please visit any of the following links to learn more about our fine art lighting projectors:

Phantom Contour Projector RM Series

Phantom Contour Projector FF Series

Phantom Contour Projector TA Series

Phantom Contour Projector NC Series

Phantom Contour Projector SM Series

Phantom Light Strips provide the ultimate in performance and flexibility as a seamless, concealed low voltage linear lighting source. The new energy efficient 1.7 watt 12VAC LED lamps are ideal for commercial applications where energy code compliance is an issue or a major consideration. All lamp options are fully dimmable for achieving the perfect light level or to extend lamp life. Our low voltage lighting strips are available in eight popular painted colors as well as premium metals such as polished brass, satin brass, polished stainless steel, satin stainless steel and natural copper. Phantom Lighting is all about seeing the light, not the fixture!

Please visit any of the following links to learn more about our low voltage lighting products:

Phantom AC Series Light Strips

Phantom AE Series Lighting Strips

Phantom CM Series Light Strips

Phantom HM Series Lighting Strips

Phantom TL Series Light Strips

Phantom VM Series Lighting Strips

If you would like additional information on Phantom Lighting products or to speak with a lighting representative in your area to schedule a product demonstration, please call 800-863-1184 X 125. Thank You!

Since 1963 Putterman, Scharck & Associates, Inc. has been dedicated to serving the Lighting and Electrical Industries. As the Cooper Industries representative for Southeast Texas, Putterman, Sharck & Associates is one of the major players in the Houston Lighting Market.

Putterman, Sharck & Associates is a specialty lighting agency that services the industry through the concentration of human and financial resources, applying them to the electrical and lighting sector in a manner in which they provide the answers to the special needs of their clients they call on and provide service to. Putterman, Scharck & Associates is a progressive agency that recently moved into a "state of the art" office complex with over 18,000 square feet of warehouse spaced designed for quick ship items.

Currently Putterman, Sharck & Associates has 14 full time outside sales people and many more dedicated staff working with architects, lighting designers, engineers, electrical distributors, contractors, and end users. They also have four full-time quotations people along with five full time customer service people, both complimented by an on-site factory warehouse. Putterman, Sharck & Associates is diversified and breaks the industry down by discipline for better service. This allows Putterman, Scharck & Associates to specialize in the residential, commercial, and industrial markets with staff that is knowledgeable and trained in that area of expertise.

For more information on products and services offered by this fine agency, please contact one of the following individuals:

Michael Scharck
mmscharck@psalighting.com
President , Operations Manager, Distributor Sales

bhanka@psalighting.com
Vice President Specification Sales Manager

bbammel@psalighting.com
Vice President Of Distributor Sales & National Accounts

jleggett@psalighting.com
Residential Sales Manager, Specification & Distributor Sales

Please join me in welcoming Putterman, Sharck & Associates to the growing family of Phantom Lighting agents in the United States, Canada and Latin America. Phantom Lighting is a Houston based manufacturer that was established in 1981 to service the lighting and design community. Over the years we have enjoyed and earned a loyal following of satisfied customers and now our products are available nationally through traditional distribution channels and lighting representatives such as Putterman, Sharck & Associates.

We specialize in high performance lighting products designed for low voltage adjustable display lighting and precision optical framing projectors for the illumination of art. The unique design and unparalleled performance of our products, makes it a favorite choice of architects, builders, interior designers and homeowners who expect only the very best money can buy.

Imagine the ability to shape light itself at will and utilize its power to enhance and magnify key elements of the world's finest artwork. With such a power you could illuminate the world's masterpieces and bring to the forefront all of the major themes that make art supremely unique and timeless. Phantom Contour art projectors will give you this power, allowing you to be an artist in your own right as you showcase your collection's finest elements with the most sophisticated effects found anywhere in the lighting industry. Art projectors by Phantom Lighting utilize technology found in no other art projector to create an experience where light and art become one.

All Art projectors work by shining a tightly focused beam directly onto a painting or sculpture. This enables collectors to spotlight individual works and create their own lighting themes. Many art projectors pose a problem in this respect, however, that often proves very frustrating both to professionals and patrons alike. Mainstream art projector equipment can spotlight a work too intensely; casting illumination past the piece itself onto the surrounding walls and floors. This side effect is known as "spill light" and creates a distracting nuisance to the overall aesthetic of the showing. Phantom art projectors eliminate spill light and unsightly shadows with proprietary technology developed in our Houston factory. Our projector technology allows collectors to have greater control of their lighting theme and a more refined presentation of the artwork itself.

Phantom art projectors offer the most precise placement of light that any lighting device in today's market can deliver. Because they actually shape the light around the form of an object, we call them Contour projectors. They offer even more precise beam placement than adjustable accent lights that pool light around an object. Because Phantom art projectors match the field of illumination exactly to the surface of the piece, they makes it appear as though the light radiates from within the piece itself. Patrons call this optical effect "lighting from within," and have come to prefer its precision and finesse above other, less sophisticated lighting methods.

Phantom Contour art projectors also offer a greater measure of photometric precision and fine-tuned beam spread that matches luminosity to the exact proportions and layout of a specific piece. Phantom art projectors combine precise adjustment with an exceptionally high color-rendering index. Galleries and museums prefer Phantom art projectors above competing models because this level of precision enables them to highlight details within artwork that create themes for public openings and special collections. Phantom art projectors adjust quickly to both sharp and soft focuses and fully complement any genre of art. This versatility enables the collector to set a mood equivalent to perceived artistic intention and to maximize the subjective impact of the showing.

Commercial interior designers have also recently joined the entourage of Phantom Contour Projector loyalists. A rapidly growing percentage of interior design professionals are using Phantom art projectors in conjunction with theatrical gobos to create image patterns that provide mood and ambiance in restaurants and clubs as well as showcase company logos in corporate offices and buildings on walls and floors.

The Phantom Contour experience unites technology with the abstract and creates an experience which utilizes the Universal elements of light to communicate the Universals aspects of artwork that make creativity the essence of human collective consciousness. Phantom representatives provide custom installation and consulting services throughout the United States, and they service both private and public arenas. Contact us or a lighting specialist in your area today for your next opening, event, or addition to your collection.

As a curator of a fine art gallery, I am always worried about protecting the art from infrared and ultraviolet light. We have very few windows in the gallery but, I am concerned about the halogen light fixtures we use causing damage over time. Does your Contour Projector produce the same kind of light?

The Contour projector has several glass lenses, including a special ultraviolet filter, that eliminate these harmful light rays. That is why you see the Contour framing projector used to light some of the most precious art objects and pictures in the world.

Infrared rays cause the temperature of the paintings surface to rise when the bulb is on, and then drop back to normal after the light has been turned off. If this on/off cycle goes on long enough problems such as fading, cracking, and deterioration of the picture itself can take place. Your artwork can be permanently destroyed because of this.

To learn more about infrared light and ultraviolet light, and how it is created, visit www.phantomlighting.com. Our fine art lighting information section is loaded with helpful information for serious art collectors.

Phantom Lighting Systems specializes in high performance lighting products designed for low voltage adjustable display lighting and precision optical framing projectors for the illumination of art. The unique design and unparalleled performance of our products, makes it a favorite choice of architects, builders, interior designers and homeowners who expect only the very best money can buy.