NT writes:

On Oct 17, 10:31Â*am, Simon Finnigan wrote:
Hi everyone,
Ive painted a few rooms with a paint that under daylight is a lovely warm
happy yellow colour. Under energy saving bulbs it looks the brightest day
glow yellow you can ever imagine :-)

We like the colour, and I'm not inclined to paint three rooms again, but
was thinking that a bulb that gave a more "natural" light spectrum would
hopefully make the paint look more normal at night.

Anyone got at suggestions for a source of bayonet ended bulbs with a more
natural spectrum? I've had a look online but most sources are either in
china, or via eBay, which I'd like to avoid unless I am pointed towards a
particular seller or brand that is good.

Thanks in advance for your help m

You can get CFLs in daylight version, marked as daylight or 6500K.
Daylight tinted lighting is however hideous. Halogens come nowhere
near it at 3000K.


NT

The colour temperature isnt the real issue here. You need to
look at the colour rendering index (CRI), which tells you how
good the bulb is at revealing colours. 100% corresponds to
daylight. A light source can have a high colour temperature
while having a low CRI (because the only light it outputs is a
few sharply defined monochrome wavelengths). Typical CFLs have
CRIs in the low 80s. There are CFLs with colour temperatures
around 5500 but CRI of 93, which would solve the OPs problem.
I dont know where to get them, though.

Unfortunately, manufacturers and suppliers seem reluctant to
provide the CRI.

--
Jón Fairbairn
http://www.chaos.org.uk/~jf/Stuff-I-dont-want.html (updated 2010-09-14)