Energy Learning Center 
| Color temperature explained. |
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Color Temperature and why it is just an approximation for compact fluorescent bulbs. For you non-techincal people, please file this under "Who Cares". Sorry guys, this is a bit technical at first, but I have to define what color temperature is and that's not so easy to explain. "The color temperature of a light source is determined by comparing its hue with a theoretical, heated black body radiator. The Kelvin temperature at which the heated black-body radiator matches the hue of the light source is that source's color temperature, and it is directly related to Planck's Law". (Wikepedia). The easy explanation of color temperature is that when a black body is heated up it changes color and those colors have been charted by a guy who was the 1rst Baron of Kelvin. So the colors that represent the corresponding hues that those heated bodies radiate are measured in degees Kelvin. The simplified explanation: 2000K is quite redish, 2700K is yellow red, 3200K is more toward white but still warm in tone and 5000K is getting kind of blue and 6400K is very blue. (It goes way higher and lower but we're tryng to keep it simple). Fluorescent lights DON'T have color temperature! I'm not messin' with you. They really don't have color temperature because they use a gas that lights up phosphors and those phosphor make the colors. (Color temperature is heating an iradiated body to make color). So why do we use Color Temperature and degrees Kelvin for measuring compact fluorescent bulbs? We do it to give you an approximate color of the overall light that the compact flourescent is putting out. It is actally not putting out a full spectrum of light like a heated body would, it is putting out a combination of colored phosphors that have the characteristics of that color temperature that it is attempting to approximate. So people want to know, "What color lights should I buy?" Well that's a very subjective question and can only be answered by you yourself. For right now all you need to know is that 'Soft White' or 'Warm White' bulbs are yellowish-red and have a color temperature of about 2700K (Degrees Kelvin) and 'Daylight' bulbs can range from 5500K to 6400K and have a distinctive bluish tint to them to resemble the color of daylight. The higher the number the more blue they are. There are many other different color temperatures available, but not many are generally in the mass retail outlets. We make our "PhotoClear" bulbs to the color temperatures that are used in television and professional photography studios. We make the indoor ones to 3200K, which is a more pure white than the yellow-red ones that you find in most of the mass retailer outlets. We make the daylight ones to 5500K, the same color as HMI lights that are also used on TV sets and movies for daylight color balance and fill. Most daylight color film is balanced for 5500K. We think our color temperatures are the best for use indoors and out and there is no doubt that they will perform much better for photographic and video applications. The next thing to consider is how quick your bulbs startup and how long it takes them to reach their peak brightness. Many of the inexpensive bulbs don't come on immediately when you switch them on. There's a delay. It may be a fraction of a second or even a full second or longer. And even when they finally turn on, they take up to a few minutes to get to their full brightness. We don't like that. We make our lights to be quick starting. When you turn on the switch, they come on immediately and they are very close to their full brightness right out of the shoot. We have to give up 2000 hours of bulb life to get them to do that. (Our bulbs last for 6,000 hours instead of 8,000 hours). But, we feel it is worth it, not to have that nagging delay everytime you switch on the light. Here is the bottom line to help you decide. Indoor light from incandescent bulbs is down toward the yellowish-red end of the visible spectrum. Outdoor daylight is much bluer, up toward the 5000 to 6400K end of the spectrum. In fact daylight and shade light can go up to 8-13,000K, but wer're getting off the track. Most people don't like the daylight blue (6400K) lights for their homes. They feel that the light is to cold and blue. But other people actually like these lights. It's just a matter of personal taste. I think the daylight type of lights perform best either in outside lights, garages and sheds, or in places where they are actually turned on in the daytime to support a darkened area that has a good amount of daylight coming in. (like a porch or florida room) |
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