I saw tonight that just one 1-watt Luxeon with Fraen 30-degree
beamwidth collimator provides plenty of light for viewing at all
magnifications of my Meiji EMZ zoom microscope. I would not want more
brightness. I will still use four lights to eliminate shadows
and soften specular reflections, but I'll definitely want brightness
control. It might be interesting to be able to vary the brightness
of each light. Maybe not having all lights the same brightness
could be useful at times. Photographers often use several lights,
often not all the same brightness or distance from the subject. .

Best convenience would be had by having the lights as close to the
objective as possible, but I got better lighting with less specular
confusion when I moved the light out radially 1" to 1.5" from the
objective. An advantage I anticipate from a 4-light arrangement
over a ringlight is having regions on both sides where nothing
interferes with access. I've found that a ringlight that extends
radially 2" from the objective sometimes gets in the way.