Light bulbs in the Print Room

[Robert Lambie]

increasing/changing the lighting is fine to help working conditions with regards to printing/colours etc. but colour accurate room temp?
ok, im guessing there is actually some temp thats perfect for this line of work… but do you actually have customers that are so fussy on slight colour differences? if so… charge them hard mate. 😕

sorry, im probably ignorant to what your getting at mate… just seems extreme to me.

[David Rowland]

well, from the past we have printed say a purple, in the night it look dark purple, the lighting colour just changes things… i just seeing if anyone else has considered it or has got it right.

to be honest it effects monitors and calibration, if you bought a very accruate monitor and have tuned it then you should use good lighting around you.

[Phill Fenton]

Lighting conditions do make a big difference to how colours are seen. Fluorescent light is very different to natural light when viewing colours. However, I never knew that temperature could affect colour perception.

When colour matching I always try to view in natural daylight as this includes the full spectrum of visible light. Fluorescent and other artificial lighting only cover a limited amount of the full spectrum of visible light which is why colours can appear darker or lighter depending on the lighting conditions in which you view them. – An extreme example of this is sodium lighting (i.e street lights in Britain). Blues and reds cannot be differentiated in sodium lights – (one very good reason for not putting blue lettering on a red van without outlining the lettering in a different colour) – the blue and red merge together under these conditions (exactly the same effect as experienced by a person who is red/blue colour blind).

I’m not making this up – I used to work as a research chemist for a brewing company where the control of the colour of beer was considered very seriously.

Sorry Dave – what was the question again (?)

[David Rowland]

exactly, it does effect outdoor signage as the street light makes it appear differently… so really what do you flood-lit your sign with?

Colour Tempreture is a term to do with Kelvin’s.. your montitors have it and you select it based on your lighting conditions.

I just looking for someone who may have gone down this route but interesting comments about the vans and blues etc.

[Phill Fenton]

Thje answer is to use a room where there is a good natural light source (such as a big window). Be wary of colour matching in a room with only flourescent strip lights for lighting. Even conventional light bulbs give out a more natural light source then flourescent strip lights.

It depends on the colours being viewed, of which reds and blues (opposite ends of the visble light spectrum) are the most likely to be effected.

[Mark Shipley]

We use full spectrum/daylight fluorescent lighting in the office and prep/work room. I can’t remember where we got the tubes from but here’s a link I just found on t’internet…

http://www.lightbulbs-direct.com/search_results.asp?svalue=full+spectrum&btnSearch=Search

I’ve never used this company but you should get some idea about the products available

Mark

[Chris Wool]

quote :

Colour Tempreture is a term to do with Kelvin’s..

.

well get Kelvin to sort it out then.

we use day light tubes

chris

[Glenn Sharp]

I couldn’t tell you where you would get them from but you can buy colour matching boxes (small booths)

It’s years since I’ve used one but essentially they are boxes with various different bulbs in them (daylight, UV etc) so you can pick your light source & match accordingly.

[David Rowland]

yeah, i know those boxes, have seen them about and they are nice.. I am also thinking on photography reasons too as we do a lot of that.

[Chris Wool]

quote :

I am also thinking on photography reasons too

.
is that for viewing or taking photos

chris

[David Rowland]

taking pictures of objects… all i am trying to do is get a feeling of what other people are doing..

currently there is a load of Edison Cool Light mini strip lights for suspended ceilings going up, they give out good light and pretty white but just interested in finding out what others use. The bulbs maybe fine for our application.

[Chris Wool]

i have started using several security lights 300 and 500 watt with a defuser.
with digital its easy to get a white ballance. and cheep compared with the real things. a white umbrella is handy too.

chris

[Adrian Howard]

We use Northlight tubes specially made for the printing industry to give
near perfect colour matching conditions

http://www.bltdirect.co.uk/cat75_1.htm

[David Rowland]

thanks adrian… just what i am looking for

[Chris Wool]

yep thanks adrian

chris