"bright-white" CFL's

[EricB]

What happened with the 3500K's they were calling "daylight"? I think those were the GE's at K-Mart. I thought that was stretching it, as "daylight" has traditionally been a blueish color. So now they're calling this "bright white"? I liked higher temperature than that, so I never got any, and do not even know what it looks like. I would imagine 3500 would be like the original "warm white" when CFL first came out, and they apparently couldn't get it down to 2700 yet. (Remember the Philips "Earth Lights" that were touted by energy companies?)

And "Reveal" is the latest blue tinted bulb, right? They keep coming out with new ones with new names every few years. The first ones were frosted, and the light appeared to have a reddish tint, and otherwise looked like a regular incandescent. Now, it is those powder blue opaque bulbs, right? Basically, they were all hyped up plant bulbs to me.
I guess looking at the light, it never looked that much different from any other incandescent. I wasn't looking at the light reflected from blue objects and stuff like that.

I Wonder why they don't just use whatever color filter is used on stage light gels to make it look just like a mercury; perhaps 6000K or more. Guess that wouldn't work on normal brighness bulbs?

 

[2xTrinity]

What happened with the 3500K's they were calling "daylight"? I think those were the GE's at K-Mart. I thought that was stretching it, as "daylight" has traditionally been a blueish color.

Sylvania is the one that calls their 3500K bulbs "daylight extra". They also don't have 2700K, their warm bulbs are 3000K, and they have a 5000K but I don't remember the name offhand.

In terms of linear fluorescents 3000K is considered "warm", 4200K is considered "cool", 5000K is called "sunlight" and 6500K is considered "daylight". Of those, 5000K almost always looks the best, and also usually produces the most lumens as well.

And "Reveal" is the latest blue tinted bulb, right? They keep comng out with new ones with new years every few years. The first ones were frosted, and the lght appeared to have a reddish tint, and otherwise looked like a regular incandescent.

Reveal bulbs are incandescent with neodymium doped glass, which filters out some of the yellow and red. Those are 3500K.

I Wonder why they don't just use whatever color filter is used on stage light gels to make it look just like a mercury; perhaps 6000K or more. Guess that wouldn't work on normal brighness bulbs?

Well, filtering an incandescent to 6000K would probably eliminate about half of the lumens. Also, putting those gels directly on the bulb woudl cause them to get extremely hot, since they're essentially absortbing all the excess light and converting it to heat. That's why they actually use doped glass to change the tint.

 

[EricB]

I didn't mean putting the gels themselves on the bulb, but rather using the same color (which is apparently a deep purplish blue) doping on the glass. But I guess it's what both of us said, it would eliminate the lumens, for the color to be deep enough to eliminate enough of the reds and yellows, and be bright enough to look like white and not simply blue.

 

[yuandrew]

Visited my Lowes today and now Sylvania is also selling 3500K CFLS with "Bright White" on the package. They are colored a light blue vs the dark Red of their "normal" CFLs. There are also some "Daylight" ones that are 6500K in a darker blue package.

You can also get a 5000K bulb labled "Mini Craft Light"