Designed as a backlight with diffuser, as an incident light or, equipped with a Fresnel lens as a focused incident light, the iiM Area Lights are available in many different sizes and colors. All area lights contain integrated light and/or flash controllers where it's brightness can be set either by integrated potentiometer or via an external analog input. A robust aluminium casing and an operating temperature of 0 to 45 degrees Celsius make them ideally suitable for use in many industrial applications.

Coaxial light provides uniform and shadow-free on-axis illumination for inspection of shiny and specular surfaces. Light rays reflect off the integrated beam splitter and illuminate the target. Light reflected from the specular surfaces of the target form a bright image. Light reflected from the non specular (diffuse) surfaces, or surfaces at an angle, form a darker image. Coaxial illumination enhances scratches and indented or embossed features and creates contrast between specular and diffuse surfaces. It is used for reading printing on shiny metal surfaces like cans or pharmaceutical products or on parts packed in transparent foil or containers. It is also used for inspecting metal leads on ICs and other electronic components or solder patterns on printed circuit boards.

De advantage of dark field illumination is that normal almost invisible features in an object (scratches of embossing) will due to interruptions in reflection appear very bright in the image.