Understanding Colour
Understanding light sources
To establish the correct light source for a given application, you need to consider two factors. Fortunately, VeriVide has already considered them for you, so to find the right lamp(s) for your particular needs, just ask us. But for the record, the two factors are:
- Colour temperature
This is expressed in Kelvin (K) and has nothing to do with heat. Colour temperature describes the colour appearance of the lamp itself and the light it emits and can vary along with its spectral power distribution."Correlated" colour temperature applies to fluorescent lamps and approximates the colour temperature. Lamps with lower colour temperatures appear warmer i.e.red/orange and typical examples would be illuminant A and 830. By comparison, lamps with a higher colour temperature look bluer, and examples would include the VeriVide D65 and D75. - Colour rendering index (CRI)
A numerical system that measures how well colours are rendered by a lamp in comparison to a reference light source. The CRI is measured on an index from 0-100, with 100 representing an exact match, whilst low values indicate poor colour rendering. Hence a lamp rated with a CRI of 98 such as the VeriVide D65 will show colours more accurately than a lamp with a CRI rating of 62 such as the CWF. This rating method is recognised by the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) and the Commission International de L'Eclairage (CIE).
