HID Tint

[ElectronGuru]

I played with HID in person for the first time a few hours ago, and grabbed some color samples with my camera for the Tint/Color thread.

To the HID guru's, does this look right - nearly white with a slight blue or green tint?:

 

[Nos]

the 5000k has a slightly blue/green

 

[Mjolnir]

I would think that 5000K wouldn't have so much green in it. I have a car with 4300K headlights, and the light they output seems to be more yellow/blue than green/blue. Of course, I really don't have any idea what I am talking about, so I could be wrong.

 

[ElectronGuru]

I would think that 5000K wouldn't have so much green in it. I have a car with 4300K headlights, and the light they output seems to be more yellow/blue than green/blue. Of course, I really don't have any idea what I am talking about, so I could be wrong.

You have headlights reported to be 4300K? I would be interested in a mini study. Point your car at something white (even a piece of paper), then point a blue LED and yellow incan at the same target. In this context, does the 4300K light look neutral or slightly one way or the other?

 

[Mjolnir]

From what I have been able to find on the internet, the headlights on my car are 4300K. The side of my house is white, so I could try shining them at it and comparing it with my stanley spotlight, which is 8000K, as well as the halogen headlights that I have on my other cars. However, from what I have seen so far, the beam seems a little bit yellow on the edges, but the headlights it use some sort of aspheric optic that slightly changes the tint right where the beam cuts off.

 

[MichaelW]

Were those replacement HID capsules?
because new HID bulbs are supposed to be 4200K or so.

 

[Mjolnir]

No, they are stock, and they are 4300K. I have looked on forums and confirmed this. Strangely enough though, some people were complaining that the 4300K is not as good as 600K bulbs. However, 6000K is technically dimmer, and probably not as good at color rendition of things like trees and other foliage. I think they are perfectly fine, and don't really like overly blue headlights.

 

[MichaelW]

I was referring to the Mini.
Some people take out the stock ones and use a higher white point.
I personally find stock HIDs to be too blue, especially after about three hours or so of driving at night.

 

[Mjolnir]

Yeah I'm not sure why people think that higher temperature bulbs are "cooler looking," even though they output less light and reflect less of of objects that don't contain a lot of blue (like trees). I have noticed that all of the acuras now have very cool HID lights, possibly even 8000K. I don't really understand why anyone would want lights that blue.

 

[Patriot]

From what I have been able to find on the internet, the headlights on my car are 4300K. The side of my house is white, so I could try shining them at it and comparing it with my stanley spotlight, which is 8000K, as well as the halogen headlights that I have on my other cars. However, from what I have seen so far, the beam seems a little bit yellow on the edges, but the headlights it use some sort of aspheric optic that slightly changes the tint right where the beam cuts off.

I believe the Stanley is actually around 6000K but listed at 8000K for marketing purposes. Yeah...the cheese ball import dorks still love those high numbers and some manufacturers loose sales to the masses if they list the true color temp. I'm not positive but I believe that 8000K requires the glass to be tinted in order to emit that range.

Honestly, I don't personally have any problem with HID as long as it's not cooler than 6000K or warmer than 4000K. 5000K is my ideal favorite though.

 

[XeRay]

Yeah I'm not sure why people think that higher temperature bulbs are "cooler looking," even though they output less light and reflect less of of objects that don't contain a lot of blue (like trees). I have noticed that all of the acuras now have very cool HID lights, possibly even 8000K. I don't really understand why anyone would want lights that blue.

Only 2 color temp bulbs have EVER come from the car factories (European, USA and Japanese made cars) 1st, 4100-4300 (variation of specs from manufacturer to manufacturer) this is 1 color type "4200K".

The only other color, some BMW's came from the factory with a special bulb 85123 is the Philips part number, no longer offered. The color on that bulb was 4700-5000K approx. All of the other colors you see are due to the cutoff shield and the prismatic affect of the projector lens. Blues, purples etc around the edge of the beam and along the cutoff line.

Then again the retrofit kits from China 6000K to 13000K and higher is what you might be talking about regarding "Acura's".

 

[Mjolnir]

The Acuras that I have seen have all had noticeably cooler tinted lights than mine, from all angles, not just at the beam cutoff. I think they must use some sort of dye as a filter if manufacturers truly only make 4100K-4300K bulbs. The tint of the acura headlights is definitely different than the tint on my car's headlights.

 

[XeRay]

The Acuras that I have seen have all had noticeably cooler tinted lights than mine, from all angles, not just at the beam cutoff. I think they must use some sort of dye as a filter if manufacturers truly only make 4100K-4300K bulbs. The tint of the acura headlights is definitely different than the tint on my car's headlights.

It could be blue tinted glass projector lenses. They are using a + 4200K bulb. The newest Japanese cars, some may be using Hg free bulbs which are still the same color temp.