Light bulbs and CRI

[ShaneB]

Looking over different types of light bulbs I came across the color rendering index, or CRI. Now I know when it comes to inspection lighting for paint correction, the go to bulbs are spot lights with a color temp of 5000k (daylight). How important or possibly beneficial would a high CRI bulb be over the standard of what we all defer to? I found some LED bulbs with a CRI of 90-95%. Now wouldn't that work better in terms of seeing things how they are than worrying about color temperature?

Just wondering if anyone has tested the idea of deferring to a higher CRI rather than worrying about color temp. this may spark some experimentation on my part if I don't get much info here.

i guess the more i think about it, my question really is would a higher CRI rated bulb be better and worth shopping around for or does it matter that much?

 

[The Driver]

Looking over different types of light bulbs I came across the color rendering index, or CRI. Now I know when it comes to inspection lighting for paint correction, the go to bulbs are spot lights with a color temp of 5000k (daylight). How important or possibly beneficial would a high CRI bulb be over the standard of what we all defer to? I found some LED bulbs with a CRI of 90-95%. Now wouldn't that work better in terms of seeing things how they are than worrying about color temperature?

Just wondering if anyone has tested the idea of deferring to a higher CRI rather than worrying about color temp. this may spark some experimentation on my part if I don't get much info here.

i guess the more i think about it, my question really is would a higher CRI rated bulb be better and worth shopping around for or does it matter that much?

Yes and no, in lamens terms is how many colors can you see. The sun means you can see 100% of colors, anything else is in relation to that by percentage. I would say it's more for color matching but I can say for sure it helps with metallic paints. I wouldn't worry about CRI unless it's under 80, why because any led under that is most likely garbage. Most average led's are 85 or above, many achieve 90 an above no problem. Having 90 or above is really just a bonus but it will definitely help in spotting high spots (Darker spots) in coatings an all the other little fine color differences you encounter in detailing.

One could argue that a low CRI could be beneficial, why? Swirls and defects may actually be easier to spot when being overloaded with vibrant metallic paint jobs. It's easier to read black and white rather than a multi-color array of letters.

 

[PPLd]

I have various light sources at my garage at different color temperature :
Fluorescent, tungsten, spot lights (quartz), LED etc.
This is because i realized that some defects only show up under certain light source(s), and it is not at all related to CRI.

But of course, high CRI is beneficial when comparing color and taking photos.
So I value high CRI, but i still install various light sources with various color temperature.

 

[Accumulator]

I have various light sources at my garage at different color temperature :
Fluorescent, tungsten, spot lights (quartz), LED etc.
This is because i realized that some defects only show up under certain light source(s), and it is not at all related to CRI..

That's what I was thinking; IME it's the *type* of light, not the color. I generally prefer point-source lighting for spotting swirls/etc. and I've never noticed the color making a diff with regard to that specific task.