WebHobbit
Enlightened
This is a cross-post from a thread I started in the Flashlight Sub Reddit:
Like a lot of you here I started out long ago preferring what I perceived as "true white"....Cool White Flashlights that were probably between 5700 & 6500+. Then slowly over the years as I experienced more and more different lights I started preferring Neutral and Warm stuff from 5000k and below. And then a little later still I discovered the joy of High CRI. And now I prefer high CRI and a temp between 2,500 & 5,000k.
But then VERY recently I started reading about computer & TV monitor Bias Lighting. This is where you apply some peel and stick LED strips to the backside of your monitor. This improves how we view color and contrast. Anyway when I went down THAT rabbit hole I quickly discovered that the darling of that particular subject is a bias lighting kit by a company called MediaLight. Their whole deal is their LED strips are a certified 6500k and 98 CRI. I was VERY skeptical at first to ON PURPOSE install ANYTHING that is the dreaded COLD 6500k in my house! But the more I read the more I kept seeing professional colorist and photo/video editors praising this product as the ONLY one that get the D65 spec right. Apparently the movie/TV/video industry decided a long time ago that 6500K "D65 Video White" would be the standard white balance point that all monitors would be calibrated to.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around this. It seems to me that "true white" would be more like 5200k. But anyway I did buy a kit for my monitor and it is surprisingly pleasant (when set down to 10 percent - the lowest setting). It doesn't look blue at all but the wall behind my screen is a pale sea green so that could be a big factor. So my mind is blown. I am left with many questions though. The biggest two are:
Why did they decide on 6500k? And why do we not have ANY flashlight LEDs showing up anywhere that are 90-98 CRI and 6500k....or really high CRI with ANY temp colder than 4500k?
Like a lot of you here I started out long ago preferring what I perceived as "true white"....Cool White Flashlights that were probably between 5700 & 6500+. Then slowly over the years as I experienced more and more different lights I started preferring Neutral and Warm stuff from 5000k and below. And then a little later still I discovered the joy of High CRI. And now I prefer high CRI and a temp between 2,500 & 5,000k.
But then VERY recently I started reading about computer & TV monitor Bias Lighting. This is where you apply some peel and stick LED strips to the backside of your monitor. This improves how we view color and contrast. Anyway when I went down THAT rabbit hole I quickly discovered that the darling of that particular subject is a bias lighting kit by a company called MediaLight. Their whole deal is their LED strips are a certified 6500k and 98 CRI. I was VERY skeptical at first to ON PURPOSE install ANYTHING that is the dreaded COLD 6500k in my house! But the more I read the more I kept seeing professional colorist and photo/video editors praising this product as the ONLY one that get the D65 spec right. Apparently the movie/TV/video industry decided a long time ago that 6500K "D65 Video White" would be the standard white balance point that all monitors would be calibrated to.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around this. It seems to me that "true white" would be more like 5200k. But anyway I did buy a kit for my monitor and it is surprisingly pleasant (when set down to 10 percent - the lowest setting). It doesn't look blue at all but the wall behind my screen is a pale sea green so that could be a big factor. So my mind is blown. I am left with many questions though. The biggest two are:
Why did they decide on 6500k? And why do we not have ANY flashlight LEDs showing up anywhere that are 90-98 CRI and 6500k....or really high CRI with ANY temp colder than 4500k?
