So, are we summing up that even amongst the “dissenters,” there is agreement that high-CRI is very nice to have in many use cases? And that it’s more of an availability problem? I.e., not just that lights with high-CRI emitters are limited, but that even when they are available, the tint/temp choices are sub-optimal in many cases? Because I’m pretty sure tint and temp aren’t limitations of the tech.
I’m not even sure exactly what flavor of nichia are in my Maratac AA, Lumintop Tool, and Reylight mini, but I’m sure I have no complaints about the tint and temp on them, pretty much perfect for my taste. Also, as indicated earlier: Yes the difference is subtle, at first, but at least for me once I got used to it, it’s hard to go back.
To hear a bunch of flashaholics downplaying and otherwise pooh-poohing the importance of accurate color rendering on the objects their illuminating is bizarre to me. It’s like watching a group of people agrue for standard def over high def, or hamburgers made with filler over 100% beef, or cheap domestic beer over craft beer…
Different strokes, lol.
By the look of this poll so far, it sounds like I’ll need to gird my loins and move into mods to really get what I want. I don’t see much pressure on manufacturers to offer better high-CRI lights coming from this group anytime soon.