Why does eevryone complain about the blue tints found in some lights?

Just curious what's so bad about blue tint.

I don't like the way blue seems to wash-out colors.

I've never gotten a blue tint. It's usually purple or yellow green.

For some folks its distracting, as it can throw off colour rendition a bit in otherwise "white" lights. Admittedly white LEDs don't have the world's greatest colour rendition but it can get irritating with a light that is more blue.

For example, I have an Aurora 1.5w using a Nichia Jupiter LED with a honkin' lens on the front. It makes a really bright, extremely deliniated spot that is a very "blue" white with a bright blue ring around it. It doesn't really annoy me that much, but it definately is there.

In other arenas, it sometimes can be cost. I know that if I droped 300 clams on a Kroma and got a beam that was noticibly a colour other than "white" (and I mean immediately noticible, not something you have to white-wall hunt for) I would be a little annoyed.

I really don't mind a little blue. Maybe it's the way the eye/brain responds to blue light, but my E1 and E0 seem to have some "snap", for lack of a better description, that the LOPSE does not have unless I crank it up to high. I think this is one reason the Arc AAAs, past and present, are so effective.

Geoff

Blue is not very good when it's wet outside either.

'cuz we're a bunch of anal-retentive, wall-hunting perfectionists.

Unless you need your light for accurate color rendition (medical diagnosis, etc.), tint is basically irrelevant, IMO. When you actually use a light in a *real* situation (think: car accident, power outtage), the least of your concerns will be if the tint is WO or X1.

My 0.02 lumens (+ change).

Most people notice a blue tint to LED lights after using incans for so long.

Ex.: When I first got the X5, I showed it off to quite a few people, all were impressesd by it, but they also commented about the color of the light.

As much as I love the Inova X5, I cring every time I use it due to the blue tint. It is definately noticeable during normal use.

For the 1W and 3W's, from my experience, most people don't like the cold color: they prefer the warmer yellowish tone.

Unless it is really blue like the colour of the ano on a blue mini m@g for eg. It doesn't bother me. It lights up and thats all that I need. Mind you most of my lights have great tints so I guess I'm lucky.

Because of the way our eyes respond to blue tint. The more blue light your eyes have to deal with, the harder it is to distinguish features.

This is why blue-blocker sunglasses help you focus and see better, they reduce the wavelength of light that causes lack of clarity.

Now consider you eyes have more difficulty focusing at lower light levels. It's even more critical that the light being used has less blue tint.

*double post edited*

why can't we delet our posts?

Because it's absolutely terrible when you're out in the woods to have that "ghostly glow" illuminating your path (that's the main problem with LEDs). It's perfectly ok indoors and in the city though. But it just plain sucks in the wilderness.

greenLED said:

'cuz we're a bunch of anal-retentive, wall-hunting perfectionists.

Unless you need your light for accurate color rendition (medical diagnosis, etc.), tint is basically irrelevant, IMO. When you actually use a light in a *real* situation (think: car accident, power outtage), the least of your concerns will be if the tint is WO or X1.

My 0.02 lumens (+ change).

Click to expand...

Bingo!

Of course, some are much more tint sensitive than others. I worked with monochromatic blue lights at work for years and years (as well as monochromatic reds for years and years, in a different career) and lately I've spent over six years experimenting with monochromatic greens and blue/greens. Suffice it to say that a little blue tint does not have a negative effect on me...I'm just happy to have light.

Tint sensitivity is all about what you need, what you've got, and what you're used to. Many judge all lights by what they've had years of experience with -- the floody light from the sun. Many of the same who admit that it takes time and practice to learn to fly a jet will often just throw up their arms and declare that any light that doesn't look just like the sun is useless. Some need to just take a few deep breaths and learn to deal...

In a more tolerant tone, I propose a brief moment of silence for those who struggle valiantly with lights that have far from perfect tint in their daily lives.

EngrPaul said:

Because of the way our eyes respond to blue tint. The more blue light your eyes have to deal with, the harder it is to distinguish features.

Click to expand...

One of the reasons for this is as we get closer to the short NUV wavelengths our corneas start to fluoresce. Blue light is at the frings of the portion of the spectrum that causes this.

Sub_Umbra said:

Many of the same who admit that it takes time and practice to learn to fly a jet will often just throw up their arms and declare that any light that doesn't look just like the sun is useless.

Click to expand...

And the funny thing about that is LEDs, at least the ones which fall around 5500K, are much closer to the sun than any other focuseable light source, except HID. Sure, they're lacking a bit in some parts of the spectrum but the light quality feels a lot more natural than incandescent which is horribly deficient on the blue end of the spectrum.

As for disliking blue tint, I'd probably say that once you get over about 7000K the blue starts to become a little distracting but I can still live with it. Go much over 8000K though and I find it obnoxious. I think that the problem is really that most LEDs have a bluish-purple tint rather than a sky blue tint. If the latter was the case, I would personally find the blue tint more tolerable. I think others would as well. As an experiment try mixing a small amount of 490 nm blue (often called "Tokyo blue") with pure white LEDs. The resulting tint is much more pleasant than the blue-purple tint common to white LEDs.

All that being said, I've always found the strong yellowish tint of incandescents to be far more annoying than the mild bluish tint of some LEDs. This goes way back to my child before we even had white LEDs or CPF. I actually preferred even the severely lacking cool white halophosphor fluorescents of the day to incandescent. At least they made white look white even if they distorted some other colors. LEDs, even slightly tinted ones, are way, way better than those crappy old school fluorescents.

I also believe that the years spent under incandescents by many people have conditioned them to this type of light which is another reason some dislike a blue tint. It's only once you start using more natural light, such as 5000K high-CRI fluorescent, and get used to it, that you realize how bad incandescent really is.

jtr1962 said:

...As an experiment try mixing a small amount of 490 nm blue (often called "Tokyo blue") with pure white LEDs...

Click to expand...

Ditto. I also find Tokyo Blue pretty useful all by itself...

Are you baiting me? Just kidding.

All that being said, I've always found the strong yellowish tint of incandescents to be far more annoying than the mild bluish tint of some LEDs. This goes way back to my child before we even had white LEDs or CPF. I actually preferred even the severely lacking cool white halophosphor fluorescents of the day to incandescent. At least they made white look white even if they distorted some other colors.

Click to expand...

Well, when I was a kid, I wanted a mercury vapor bulb. Even tried to describe one to Santa once! Didn't know that they needed ballasts, though.

EricB said:

Well, when I was a kid, I wanted a mercury vapor bulb. Even tried to describe one to Santa once! Didn't know that they needed ballasts, though.

Click to expand...

You should've described a self-ballasted lamp to him! :santa:

Try taking a light with a blue tint for a walk in an area with no lighting (preferably a park)

I did this with an Energizer LED headlamp that I had brought that day - I took it back the next.

It compleatly washed out what I looking at, it was like I was walking around wearing dark sunglasses.

But thats just me, some people may not be bothered by such a tint - each persons eyes are different.

Just my 0.02 Lumens