couple questions

[stevek1972]

how important is the tempeture of the light? ex:6500k 6000k etc....


i know i have asked about garage lighting for detailing cars before and i got alot of great advice. but i would like to know would using sodium vapour bulbs be a better source of light than the t8 tubes? i only ask cause someone on one of the detail sites says he uses sodium lights and what he sees under those is the same as he sees in natural sun light. i figured i would come ask the lighting experts for their opinion.

what is difference between the high pressure and low pressure sodium lights? which is better?

would i need special sockets for these or could i just use regular light socket?

 

[Oznog]

You're not just looking at the color temp, but the Color Rendering Index (CRI).

Technically just 3 colors- a red, green, and blue wavelength- can be mixed to make what is perceived as white. However sunlight is a spread of wavelengths all over the visible spectum and beyond. The invisible UV causes fluorescence in some materials thus even this can affect the appearance of things.

But now while a white made of 3 wavelengths and a white made of of a smooth spectral spread will at first be perceived as the same, it interacts differently with things in subtle ways. For example, going through a prism, or well anything that sparkles with diffraction, will show the difference. Some colored surfaces reflect a really specific range of color wavelengths and the "red" for example in the 3-wavelength white may not be in the middle of the range of what your red paint reflects- so it looks different in this light than daylight even though the color temp is the same.

CRI is what you need to look into.

 

[Ken_McE]

i would like to know would using sodium vapour bulbs be a better source of light than the t8 tubes?
i My concern is that they would give you an orangey light that showed colors badly. i only ask cause someone on one of the detail sites says he uses sodium lights and what he sees under those is the same as he sees in natural sun light.
i Maybe his color vision is real bad. Is his work any good? iwould i need special sockets for these
i A whole special fixture actually. icould i just use regular light socket?
i Nope. Won't fit, won't light.