Color Rendition Comparative Photos

[Zeroignite]

Heya. Decided I'd take a few photos comparing the color rendition of the relatively few lights I own.

All of these photos were taken with my Nikon S550 point-and-shoot camera. These aren't beamshots, but are intended to gauge the relative ability of the lights to reveal accurate colors. The camera was set to ISO 800. Sadly, this PnS lacks the ability to manually select a shutter speed-- the photos below were taken with exposures of everything from 1 to 1/30 seconds. However, the displayed color is pretty true-to-life overall. White balance was set on Daylight.

Most of the lights were identical in terms of color across brightness modes. Where that was the case, I only chose one mode to display.

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First off: the fixed halogen lights in my room

Overall tint is very, very yellow. Relative to each other, the colors look decent, but there is a certain flatness imparted upon the tones.

Next up is a Maglight Solitaire

The colors are actually pretty well rendered, even though the tint is almost an orange-brown. Blackbody color temperature is very low. Also, this is the light on maximum throw focus, and it still is just enough to show up on camera. Pitiful.

Preon

There is a noticeable green hue, but it's not overpowering. Reds look flatter, greens and blues more saturated. However, in terms of overall tint, it is much closer to daylight than the incan lights.

Princeton Tec Aurora

This headlamp, which uses several 5mm LEDs, is purple. Purple purple purple. Color rendition is really pretty terrible. I don't know what else to say.

Princeton Tec Apex [v. 2] (4x5mm mode)

The four 5mm LEDs of the flood mode for this headlamp are moderately cool tinted. The LEDs have a purplish cast to them, and the ocean looks bluer. However, the individual colors are much better balanced than the Aurora.

Princeton Tec Apex [v. 2] (Luxeon spot mode)

Of all the lights I own, subjectively this one has the best color rendition. The tint is slightly on the cool side, but individual colors are distinct and relatively accurate.

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That's all for now. I wish I had more lights to photograph, but sadly that is not the case. If you wanted, you could send me some more for comparative purposes :naughty: . Hope you enjoy.

 

[zven]

Wow, fantastic review! These are the sort of comparison shots that really ought to be included in the otherwise thorough flashlight reviews that are posted around here. Now I kind of feel like doing this same sort of comparison with my own lights, perhaps quantifying (well, ish) my subjective opinions of them.

Also, my compliments on your use of a map to do this comparison. Somehow I found it much easier to compare the tints/color renditions/etc. with your map than with the various standardized color palettes that are often used. Very clear, helpful, and real-worldy. (Plus, I really like maps...)

 

[EV_007]

Nicely done.

 

[LEDAdd1ct]

I enjoyed this. Thank you.

 

[malow]

i think you should do a white balance with each light, cause temperature variation will not allow to see true CRI variation...

 

[Zeroignite]

i think you should do a white balance with each light, cause temperature variation will not allow to see true CRI variation...

Hmm, that's a good idea. Unfortunately, I don't own a neutral grey card to assure uniform color matching.

 

[Magic Matt]

White balance should never be done from a grey card. Grey cards are for setting exposure, not colour temperature. There is also a good argument for saying digital exposure should be set from a white card not a grey card due to clipping at the bright point. When setting the white balance you should certainly be using a white card - the camera firmware will be looking for white, not grey, to achieve a correct balance. Using a grey card instead can give an unexpected colour shift or bad exposure.

Setting the white balance is done to eliminate colour shifting, not to show it. You should not do a colour balance with each light, because that would remove any colour casting. I have shot perfectly balanced video footage under halogen lights by simply adjusting the white balance (in fact they make fantastic cheap video lights if you're shooting digital).

True colour balance/shift will only be visible with the camera set on a fixed reference colour temperature. Set the camera to 5500K if you can (this is almost always as near to the daylight setting on cameras that don't have a manual K setting).

CRI variations are a whole different ball game, and admittedly one I only know a little about. As far as I know you can't white balance to show realistic CRI variations because you need a calibrated response curve for the camera (which will have it's own CRI depending on not just the camera make and model, but variations in the CCD/CMOS chip and also for each ISO and shutter speed setting), as well as a calibrated colour chart, in order to be able to correctly ascertain the CRI for the light source.