Hi there,
If you take the TR-J12, which is a XML T6 ‘cool white’, do you think because of the type of light (cool white) that you might not be able to see / light up certain color objects at night??
I’ll try to explain my question better if you don’t understand….
Regards
Hugo
My take is that cool white makes a starker contrast with some colors, so it "appears" to be brighter. Also, cool white will give a few more lumens than neutral or warm white, but it shouldn't be enough to be noticeable. As far as not seeing certain colors, I don't know for sure. I would believe that some colors will be rendered differently by cool white.
It's all more perceived by the eye/mind than anything else.
Just what I see, not scientific fact.
You can see colours just fine with a typical CW emitter. It’s just that NW emitters tend to render some of them a little more vividly.
Comparing CW to NW, most colours look quite pale (except blue), so NW gives a much better colour contrast. NW CW is available in higher bins though (U3 vs. T6).
Edit: oops, of course CW is available in higher bins.
Cool whites light up blues and grays ...they do that better than any other emitter . they don't bring out pinks,greens reds or browns like a neutral does ..The real difference in tints is exactly this ..it just lights up less colors and therefore I don't like them as well ...seems to me all cw does right ...is blue
If you were to take a walk in a forested area, one thing you’ll notice is that the NW tints have an advantage over the CW’s.
The leaves of the trees (fine detail) are much better defined when lit by a NW emitter (or a WW emitter, for that matter).
I guess it’s due to the better contrast.
One thing I don't get, is why people prefer their throwers CW. Maybe it's different air or environment?
Because where I am, pretty much all the whites are immediately blocked/reflected off by water vapour in the air. Pretty much only blur remaining on the receiving end. NW or warm lights just gets through a whole LOT more.
If you compare the spectrums of cool, neutral, and warm white LEDs, you see that the cool white LEDs has less yellows and more blues then the warmer tinted ones. This difference is probably what makes the cool white seem less natural then warmer LEDs.
But if you compare the LED spectrum with a black body radiation source (say the sun), you’ll see that the LED is still not as strong in some colors, so things still appear a bit wonky with neutral white LEDs.
At least that’s my understanding of it.
CW is brighter. 7% difference can be a lot if your aim is maximum throw.
But your second point is valid, too. A friend of mine likes to walk in the forest and he prefers WW lights because when its very humid or raining those wont light him up more than what hes aiming at.
It is probably the high humidity in Malaysia that is causing the light scattering and glare with your throwers. It looks like 90% humidity is fairly common there.
CW is available in higher output bins than N/WW. However, the lumen unit itself already accounts for the eye’s sensitivity to certain wavelengths, so it mostly comes down to individual preference.
I don’t share the CW tint preference for throwers. Blue-ish light is more susceptible to Rayleigh scattering because of its shorter wavelengths, if anything lol. But like I said, it boils down to preference.
I would disagree a bit with this statement for two reasons.
1) Brightness perception is logarithmic, not linear.
2) The inverse square proportionality of throw distance to brightness.
At 200 meters, a 7% increase wouldn't even net you 5 meters more throw.
I think lux perception is MUCH more linear than overall brightness perception.
BTW is there a table somewhere that shows what K the tint bins are?
Thanks again for all the replies, I think I can get an answer to my question………