"Arny Krueger" wrote in
:

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in
message
In article ,
Albert Manfredi wrote:
Have you never wondered why most prefer the colour
temperature of tungsten
for domestic lighting?

It's not tungsten we prefer, I don't think, but rather a
color temperature that's close to that of a flame.

Err, isn't that what I wrote? It's the colour temperature
that matters rather than the source.

There many kinds of preferences. One is the preference for that which
is traditional and familiar, and another is the preference for that
which is most effective for the purpose at hand.

I've found that if the goal is reading accurately with limited light,
then higher temperatures even 5000 degrees and up, can be preferable.
I've read far into many a dark fall or winter evening in a tent, using
a pretty blue LED headlamp.

I did some tests of people reading Bibles and hymnals which tend to
small print, in a congregational setting with fairly high light
levels, and found that my readers were most comfortable with color
temperatures in the 3200 degree range.

I suspect that preferences for color temperatures below 3200 degrees
are heavily influenced by tradition and past experience.





Yes. Been saying similar stuff here last night. Also, quite apart from
preference and convention and all that, there is a stark fact that we use
shortwave light to resolve fine detail without strain. That's a basic
physical fact. So it makes NO sense at all to suggest that reading is best
done in a low colour temperature. Same goes for any other detailed small
scale activity such as most indoor hobbies involve.

The only reason we need bright incandescent to read by is that it is the
ONLY way we can get enough shortwave light. I've found that so long as you
have a decent continuum such as the newer Cree Xlamps have, and a tint that
favours the long end, such as the WG tint, you can be comfortable with much
lower lumen counts than when using low colour temperatures. This is exactly
what many here said was 'dreary' or similar, but I tried it last night. I
went outside to see the orange light in the clouds over the city, the many
tungsten lamps all around in windows, waited till I was thoroughly
adjusted, then went inside. Far from looking dreary, it was invitingly
bright and easy to see things by, and this was ONE single emitter aimed at
the ceiling. It had the same cosy quality that a pressurised paraffin
(kerosene) lamp has in a country kitchen during a power cut. I remember
that well enough, and this new light was similarly pleasing, if a little
different, sharper perhaps.