# Neutral White LED, Cool White LED, Incandescent -- color rendition comparison



## 2xTrinity (Jul 15, 2008)

Click the thumbnails to see the images full-size:




Flash 








Cool LED Alone ......... Neutral LED Alone .... Incandescent Alone









Cool vs Neutral ........ Incan vs Neutral ....... Cool vs Incan

Note that all three of these flashlights have different beam patterns, so try to pay mainly attention to the colors. Auto white balance is used in all cases. Both chairs and sets of objects are identical. 

The color rendition in the "comparison" frames is closer to what my eyes see. The auto white balance I have found does a better job at correcting both the incan, and ESPECIALLY better at correcting the cool LED than my own eyes do. The neutral "solo" pic appears pretty similar to the way my eyes see it.

I just finished swapping the LED in my old liteflux LF2 form a P4 WG to a Q2 5A. The LF2x has a Q5 WC. I was quite shocked at the difference between the two side by side, so that's what promted me to make this thread. IMO the neutral tint is worth the 20% efficiency difference.


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## VanIsleDSM (Jul 15, 2008)

Nice work.

Too bad you don't have some WW LEDs to compare as well.

Here are some shots I took a long time ago for a home LED lighting project I'm doing.

I actually prefer the CREE.

Halogen:











3200-3500K 7B CREE:


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## jtr1962 (Jul 15, 2008)

For a more accurate comparison it's best to leave the white balance set to sunlight. That gives a truer idea of which light source can make things look most natural. Also, the results appear closer to how my eye sees them doing it that way. For example, a picture taken under incandescent with auto white balance looks much crisper and whiter than it would in person. The camera can white balance well beyond the limits of most human brains (for me personally my white balance range is 3500K to 6500K-higher or lower and the scene just looks off no matter how long I look at it).

My take on this:

Deficiencies of cool white are lack of deep red and yellow looks slightly green. Deficiencies of incandescant is basically lack of decent rendition of cool colors and exaggerated reds/oranges. Also there is a distinct lack of a white point which I find disconcerting. Neutral seems to suffer from none of these disadvantages.

BTW, where did you get the 5A? All of the neutrals I see for sale are 3A.


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## 2xTrinity (Jul 16, 2008)

Q2 P60 Dropin -- these dropins have Q2 5As. I've been buying them, and extracting both the drivers, and the LEDs to use separately.


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## tsl (Aug 2, 2008)

2xTrinity said:


> Click the thumbnails to see the images full-size:


 
Thumbnails are gone. Any chance of reposting?



2xTrinity said:


> Q2 P60 Dropin -- these dropins have Q2 5As. I've been buying them, and extracting both the drivers, and the LEDs to use separately.


 
Have you tried this in a P60 host? I'd like to check out the tint of this LED in a C2 to see if I want to use the bin to mod a L1.


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## LukeA (Aug 2, 2008)

tsl said:


> Thumbnails are gone. Any chance of reposting?
> 
> 
> 
> Have you tried this in a P60 host? I'd like to check out the tint of this LED in a C2 to see if I want to use the bin to mod a L1.



I'll save you the trouble: you do want to mod an L1 with one. The warm whites are great! :naughty:


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## tsl (Aug 16, 2008)

2xTrinity said:


> Q2 P60 Dropin -- these dropins have Q2 5As. I've been buying them, and extracting both the drivers, and the LEDs to use separately.


 
Can anyone confirm that these will drop in without issue into a SF P60 light?


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## CM (Aug 16, 2008)

Where's the thumbnails?


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## nanotech17 (Aug 17, 2008)

some photos on post#27
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/2594350#post2594350


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## blasterman (Aug 18, 2008)

> I actually prefer the CREE.


 
I don't. I'm looking at various items in the shot, and noting a lot of colors, like the ceramic pot, yellows and greens look really bad when illuminated by the Cree. This is a typical problem with LED, and that's low CRI values when compared to halogen. You simply can't hit all spectra with a LED.

Same problem with CFL.

Had you used higher CRI Halogens like Solux the Cree would really look bad. 










3200-3500K 7B CREE:









[/quote]


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## VanIsleDSM (Aug 19, 2008)

Well I suppose we'll have to agree to disagree.

The pot looks more like real life in the LED photo than the halogen. The green ornament in the window also looks much more vibrant with the LEDs.. the only thing I'd say that looks better under the halogen light would be the yellow sponge by the sink. Overall, I really do much prefer the LEDs.. not to mention the fact that it's 9W instead of 50W.

Something else to consider though.. is that the LEDs are brighter overall, and have a greater spread of light that's quite even.. the halogen, though a wide beam, has a hotspot that's shining right onto the sponge and pot, illuminating them more than the LED photo.


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## jtr1962 (Aug 19, 2008)

Green is one of incandescent's weak points actually. Plants under incandescent look sickly and washed out. Sure, the plant under the Cree doesn't look like it does under incandescent but it does look more like it would look under sunlight. I think things look much better under the Cree also. The blues are much more vibrant, for example.


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