Ambient lighting for colour management

[Tom Kershaw]

After buying a GretagMacbeth Eye One Display 2, I'd like to get the ambient room lighting right for viewing the monitor, which I understand is around 5000K. After trudging through Google for a few hours* I became aware of the solux halogen bulbs which are supposed to have a spectral response that closely relates to the D50 standard.

http://www.triwholesale.co.uk/solux.htm

I did look at the OSRAM fluorescent strip lighting but this wouldn't be suitable for the room.

Does anyone have experience of the solux product and / or lighting for 5000K in general (e.g. importance)?

Thanks,

Tom

*Many of the companies selling consumer "daylight" products don't give any information about either colour temperature or spectral response.

[Helen Bach]

Tom,

I've used Solux, Ottlite and Ushio Whitestar. I can't recommend the Ottlite tubes at all. The Solux and the Whitestar are both OK - they are very similar lamps, being tungsten filaments with a coated reflector. I've never done a side-by-side comparison between the Solux and the Whitestar, however.

Best,
Helen

[jd callow]

You can also build a hood for your monitor and or turn off all the manmade lights. I've done both and currently use the window light and keep the lights off except when I need to read or look at an analog object .

Hoods are easy to make with black gator and attach with velcro tape.

[Michael Slade]

I've done the full-on 5000k flourescents before, and aside from being expen$ive, they didn't really help at all with color management.

What you ought to do is figure out some very inderect lighting, turn off as many direct light sources to your monitor that you can, and then calibrate your system.

If you want a 'viewing booth' for your color output prints, then go ahead and create a spot with some 5000K lights. But, just having the 5000K lights as part of your color managment is not necessary. If you have calibrated your system properly, the lights that you view the prints in is really not that big of a problem.

[bob carnie]

Tom
I like to have the over head lights off and a monitor hood when working.
I do view the prints in various lighting conditions, a mixture of 5000k florecents and hot halogen lights.
We use to use a macbeth light box but the reality of our work is it is hung in different lighting conditions therefore our corrections are biased towards the kind of lighting the print will eventually be viewed under.

[Lloyd Chan]

What I learned from video post production people is to have all the lights off and place a fluorescent light behind the monitor, dimmed to 10% of the monitor's peak white, to serve as bias light in what is otherwise complete darkness. I find that this recommendation of SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture Television Engineers) for critical viewing of video works perfectly in a graphics context.

[Keith Taylor]

I became aware of the solux halogen bulbs which are supposed to have a spectral response that closely relates to the D50 standard.

Does anyone have experience of the solux product and / or lighting for 5000K in general (e.g. importance)?

Tom,

Everyone I've spoken to seems to view the Solux lamps as the standard. At an Epson seminar that travels around the US, they're the lamps they use for the displays.

Keith.

[Tom Kershaw]

Thanks everyone for the notes. I might try constructing a hood for the monitor (old style 23inch Apple Cinema Display) and once I've made / got prints made I guess I'll be in a better position to judge what changes in lighting might be needed.

Tom

[neil poulsen]

If you're doing printing, I think it's good to have a 5000K viewing ligt.

With that recommendation, I must confess that I don't have one! But, I WANT ONE! In fact, I want a combined unit with both dimmable reflection and transparency 5000K light sources. But, I need to wait for a windfall, before I can afford the unit I need.

As it is, I find it difficult to print. During the day, I'll view an inkjet print under both daylight and tungston and see huge differences. It's especially difficult at night, where I have only tungston light by which to compare. For example, I spent a considerable time one evening optimizing a "black and white" portrait. The next day, the print had a horrible green cast when viewed under near daylight.

A 5000K viewing light would resolve a lot of these difficulties. 5000K is a nice compromise between daylight and tungston.

People use the Solux lamps to make their own viewing lights. With the right design, and proper reflections, they can be right on. The Solux lamp at about $110 or so is a good compromise between cost and convenience. (See https://www.solux.net/cgi-bin/tlistore/19115.html.) You can make them yourself, but a certain amount of back reflection is needed to get close to the 5000K. The Solux lamp is designed with this in mind.