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Brilliant_Rock
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2010
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The problem with fluorescent lights is that they generally have a low color rendering index. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_rendering_index
Sunlight, flame light, incandescent and halogen lights all have a color rendering index of 100. Fluorescent lights can have a color rendering index as low as 50. It's a separate issue from color temperature altogether.
Here's a chart from GE showing the differences in color rendering index and color temperature among various light sources.
If you are shopping for new lights, anything other than incandescent and halogen lights, check for a high color rendering index.
If you are curious about the quality of the light sources you are using, you can actually make a simple spectrometer with a box and a CD. Light sources with a higher color rendering index give a smoother spectrum of colors. http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~zhuxj/astro/html/spectrometer.html
Sunlight, flame light, incandescent and halogen lights all have a color rendering index of 100. Fluorescent lights can have a color rendering index as low as 50. It's a separate issue from color temperature altogether.
Here's a chart from GE showing the differences in color rendering index and color temperature among various light sources.
If you are shopping for new lights, anything other than incandescent and halogen lights, check for a high color rendering index.
If you are curious about the quality of the light sources you are using, you can actually make a simple spectrometer with a box and a CD. Light sources with a higher color rendering index give a smoother spectrum of colors. http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~zhuxj/astro/html/spectrometer.html
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