fairly long post so for those who don't like reading long posts please just skip on by..
Im not sure about weather LED or Halide or halogen is better for photography, I did notice a huge difference when I swapped the Florescent in my shop to LED.
Photos came out dramatically better. I'd just say that is a preference , the user can pick what he wants. It may change the atmosphere and some players may prefer one type.
if you already have fluorescent fixtures, you can simply pop in LED tubes that are designed for the ballast to be there.
for a while Home Depo sold ones a bit different, I bought a case of them and with that type you can eliminate the ballast and just hook 110 between the two porcelain connectors. ( tombstones) I used up the case and threw out all my ballasts, no longer necessary..
I went back and they told me that now all they carry is the replacement LED tubes that use the electronic ballast. I replaced a few of the remaining ones that way. all you need to do then is swap the bulbs out. ( consumer friendly)
I think the 110 V ones may have caused some customers that didn't have much experience to get into working on the wiring of the fixtures and maybe some encountered the higher voltages present in commercial buildings.. that may have been why HD stopped carrying that type that eliminates the ballast. electrical suppliers that supply to commercial electricians still sell them.
some may vary by area as well of course and Europe is different. 50 Hz and 220 more common. the frequency may not matter to the bulbs. It matters to synchronous motors ( like found in old clocks) and some other things.
older style transformers with just an iron core and primary and secondary windings can be either autotransformers ( sharing the windings) or isolation transformers. Its easy to tell them apart as there is no electrical connection between primary and secondary with an isolated transformer.
the transformers contain a certain amount of metal, soft iron with good magnetic properties. now with technology we also have electronic transformers. , less iron is needed to make them.
an example of each.
Known for high quality and reliability, Hatch offers a range of magnetic and electronic transformers in common wattages and output voltages.
www.hatchlighting.com
here's a bunch of others
Buy standard electronic transformers for replacement of failed or burnt out transformers in existing low voltage applications such as lighting.
www.totaltransformers.com
I have on my electronics bench, a 1:1 isolation transformer, this is for my protection. I sometimes work on old radios and some from about the 50's were hot chassis, the only isolation was the knobs!, so they are a bit dangerous. the isolation transformer limits the potential current available , thats for my own safety. mine is 3 amps. most of those old radios also had both spades of the plug the same size, newer stuff will have a polarized cord. one prong is larger. Its common practice when rebuilding old radios to update to a polarized 2 wire cord, for safety. the hot wire is then switched and it can't be plugged in the other way around.
most of the older ones like from the 30's use great big heavy transformers, they are usually isolated. the output can be around 300 V or so. the hot chassis radios were also usually a series filament, each tube's filament is connected in series totalling 110 Volts. It reduced parts and then no transformer was needed. Less metal used. often the risk with those is that any rubber wire has degraded and the insulation falls off . some radios had what they call "curtain burner cords" or " resistance line cords" they used the cord as a resistor so the cord itself was a resistor which dropped the voltage.
some of the really old ones have a thing that looks like a heater element that plugs in. the old electrical supplies had a lot of spikes and I guess it helped eliminate the voltage spikes. They had some weird ideas back in the 30's but the math and the complexity sure does show that they knew a lot about electricity. I like looking into them and seeing how the technology advanced over time.
The more modern power supplies probably also have isolation, one can check the specs. of course you'd need high enough amperage to run what you plan to.
I think if you were setting up a pool hall you could have an electricain install the pots above the pool tables and then when you set the table up maybe you can position each table so it can hang the light directly above , of course the electrician may want to attach the pot to a joist so giving him an exact location could be inconvenient for him.
If the tables are there first or you are working with existing then you may need to suspend them from eye bolts or hooks or similar. the actual wire might be connected into a nearby pot, but if the light is to hang from the pot itself, it's stuff to plan ahead with that in mind.
you might want the table directly under a joist so your eye bolts can hit the joist without need to shift or move the table.
If pot is attached to the joist it may attached on one side or the other of it. otherwise you may need to fool around with blocking etc. of course not all buildings have wood joist either.
as a kid I once realized a light was not making contact with the pip on a bottom of a bulb, so I went and stood on a chair took a kitchen knife and tried prying the little prong in the bottom of a socket,. With inexperience at the time, I checked that the light was off.. WELL ... The neutral was switched and not the hot, I had a little surprise learning experience , YES the contact was hot. that memory was instantly instilled ;-) thats why you should shut the breaker off !
It's common to use the pot as a distribution point, a junction box basically.
then if you run to a switch and back you may use romex cable. now you have a hot wire feeding the switch and a return line. Its also hot. romex of course has only the white and black , plus bonding wire. ( ground)
I believe it is comon practice to the wrap that white wire with colored tape, this signifies it is not a neutral wire, even though it is a white wire.
stuff like this mixes people up and you can end up with the situation I had, the electrician had switched the neutral wire. easy mistake to make. probably a previous homeowner.. a real electrician would probably know better.
3 way switching like you commonly have on a stairway with two switches are different again. Then you need three way switches.
Im not suggesting you do your own wiring if not qualified but one think I'd consider when positioning the tables and calculating the layout is that you coud think about where the pots will be to power the lights. it could mean some slight changes in layout? it might look cleaner and more tidy if the pot is in the right position exactly, and then you can hang from the pot itself. Since its a pool table light I'd make extra sure that electrical pot is well secured,
in most AC wiring all conections need to be made within pots or elecrical boxes. if you are running around a shop with low voltage that is protected by isolation, this may not be the case. one might find a cost savings by not needing to meet the same codes but I'd check with an electrician before you do all that. I am not an electrician by trade.