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A
major concern just a few years ago (and with some less
sophisticated competitors today) was the nature of LED
light. The best way to describe it was harsh. It
was very intense, blueish/white and stark for lack of a
better word. It was hard to get the color of the light
right until recently and now we've gone to the point where
we can color tune to any Kelvin color. Not to get too
scientific but Kelvin is a measure of color's heat
temperature. It's what architects think in terms of
when they're picking lighting colors. We just
received a video of the ability to switch LED light to the
256 primary colors and it's not just a mask but the light
color itself that is quickly switching between colors.
This is an impressive ability we now have. So how do
we evaluate the color of LED light?
There are three main colors of light that are common on the
market for different lighting uses. There's
first bright light which is more towards the stark side of
things. Think of street lights, hospital lights, or
outdoor floods where a certain perceived brightness either
conveys cleanliness, safety, or just light. The next
logical jumping off point is daylight. This light
feels more wide spectrum based. Keep in mind that the
nature of light is a function of it's wavelength. The
problem with old LED's is that they had a very limited
range of spectrum that the light operated at. If you
show light in only a narrow band of light, it will appear
thin or stark. That was the issue originally.
Daylight is very different. Light from the sun crosses
the entire spectrum (and even on either side of the visual
spectrum hence UV and Infra-Red). This large band of
spectrum makes sunlight or in the parlance of lighting,
daylight very warm even it doesn't appear to have color.
It feels good because it's very familiar to us. This
works well in many settings such as offices, retail,
residence...for that matter...almost any indoor or outdoor
setting. The LED version of it is still a bit "white"
but that suits many needs ideally. For a warmer light,
look at "yellow" light which has a warm feel. This was
the holy grail of LED technology and was the last to get
right. It feels warmer than daylight and works well in
residences, retail, and other situations where the light
should be secondary to the actual space itself. Yellow
or warm light takes a backdoor to the architectural space
and feels "good" to most people.
Our
recommendation is to go "warmer" than the name says.
Light with more of a "yellow" Kelvin reading will probably
address daylight color better when translated by actual
eyes. The best approach is to order a sample light
from us in the exact form factor you're looking to replace.
For example, 2 LED strips may adequately replace 4
fluorescents. It's hard to tell until you see it in
the actual space. Below are different examples of
lights but keep in mind that the monitor settings itself can
affect how these are perceived. You can request
samples from us
here.
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