Top 3 Indexes of Lighting
It often happens that people buy a light that is actually unworthy of its price. That’s the trick sellers play on buyers who know nothing about lighting. Here Novostella offers the top 3 things you need to keep in mind when choosing lighting.
1. Lumen (Brightness)
Lumen is the measurement of brightness as perceived to the human eye. Because of incandescent lighting, we are all accustomed to using watts to measure the brightness of light. Today, we use lumen. Lumen is the most important variable when choosing lights. When comparing lumen output of various lights, the questions you should ask are “Lumens per what? Per foot, meter, or reel? How long is the reel?”
Our advice is to always go brighter than needed and add a dimmer. Running your lights below their full power and brightness can also increase lifespan.
2. CCT - Correlated Color Temperature
CCT (Correlated Color Temperature) refers to the color temperature of light, measured in degrees Kelvin (K). The temperature rating directly affects what the white light will look like; it ranges from cool white to warm white. For instance, a light source that has a 2000 – 3000 K rating is seen as warm white light. Warm white light looks very orange or yellow. When increasing the degrees Kelvin, the color will change from yellow to yellowish-white to white and then a bluish-white (the coolest white).
"Will 6000k lights of different manufacturers look completely the same?" The answer is quite possibly no. You may notice that some lights that are "cool white" may not look pure white. They may give off a greenish, purplish, or bluish hue to them? This is because the LEDs have been selected from a presorted pile (bin) that is not truly white.
(The same thing happens to the Novostella Blink Smart Flood Light: The US version of Blink owns true cool white while the Euro version's cool white is actually the mixture.)
3. CRI - Color Rendering Index
Color rendering index (CRI) measures how colors are correctly rendered under a light source in comparison to natural sunlight. The index is measured on a 0-100 scale with 100 being a perfect rating of color accuracy, meaning the colors appear as they naturally would under unadulterated daylight. High CRI lighting is sought out everywhere, but is particularly valuable in.
The key point: the higher the CRI, the higher quality is the light source.
95 - 100 CRI: Phenomenal color rendering. Colors appear as they should, subtle tones pop out and are accented.
90 - 95 CRI: Great color rendering! Almost all colors 'pop' and are easily distinguishable. Noticeably great lighting starts at a CRI of 90.
80 - 90 CR: Good color rendering, where most colors are rendered well. You may not see items as fully saturated as you would like, but most people will not notice.
60 - 75 CRI: Poor color rendering. Items and colors may look desaturated, drab, and at times unidentifiable (cannot see the difference between black and navy-colored socks).
Seek the lights with perfect indexes at:
