Color Temperature Meter Recommendation
Color Temperature Meter Recommendation
(OP)
Hello ladies and gents,
I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this, but I was wondering if anyone could provide a recommendation for a color temperature meter. I need one that will provide the color temperature in Kelvin as well as the lux/fc reading. I am actually going to be using this to measure the color temperature of LED lights, not for flash. If anyone has any recommendations and possibly a source where I can purchase one, it would be greatly appreciated.
From my search so far I've found a range from $70 to over $1000 and have been unable to find a summary of which ones are good or bad. I would like one that is fairly accurate (approx. +/-200K), but I think my price range would be around $200 to $400 if that's possible. I have a multimeter too, I know some lux meters plug into those, but I'm not sure if any output color temperature as well. My Google-fu has been exhausted, so if anyone has any recommendations, they would be greatly appreciated.
Best,
Medeski
I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this, but I was wondering if anyone could provide a recommendation for a color temperature meter. I need one that will provide the color temperature in Kelvin as well as the lux/fc reading. I am actually going to be using this to measure the color temperature of LED lights, not for flash. If anyone has any recommendations and possibly a source where I can purchase one, it would be greatly appreciated.
From my search so far I've found a range from $70 to over $1000 and have been unable to find a summary of which ones are good or bad. I would like one that is fairly accurate (approx. +/-200K), but I think my price range would be around $200 to $400 if that's possible. I have a multimeter too, I know some lux meters plug into those, but I'm not sure if any output color temperature as well. My Google-fu has been exhausted, so if anyone has any recommendations, they would be greatly appreciated.
Best,
Medeski





RE: Color Temperature Meter Recommendation
I would think a spectrometer would be more useful and capable. Some open source work:
http://spectralworkbench.org/sets/show/149
http://store.publiclaboratory.org/products/desktop...
http://store.publiclaboratory.org/collections/spec...
Not sure how good these things are, but, certainly, they're probably tolerable for defining a "color temperature" for a "white" LED.
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RE: Color Temperature Meter Recommendation
RE: Color Temperature Meter Recommendation
No, that's not exactly how it's done.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light-emitting_diode#...
RE: Color Temperature Meter Recommendation
http://www.ebay.com/itm/20PCS-SMD-SMT-5050-500mW-H...
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RE: Color Temperature Meter Recommendation
RE: Color Temperature Meter Recommendation
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RE: Color Temperature Meter Recommendation
Where measuring a black body radiator would be a simple technical challenge (a couple of readings and a chart, done), measuring an LED's colour temperature is not going to be simple nor cheap. You'd need a synthetic eyeball to figure out the human response.
One could probably get within about 500 degrees just by visually comparing the LED under test to photographs of references.
One could use an adjustable incandescent to transfer the colour temperature, and then employ a cheaper meter that is calibrated for black body radiators.
I can't help but agree with IRstuff that LEDs spectrums are non-trivial.
The other option is to look up the PN of the LED in question. The spec sheet should say.
Give this thread some time in case anyone else can help with a pointer to a cheap LED colour temperature meter.
Good luck.
RE: Color Temperature Meter Recommendation
RE: Color Temperature Meter Recommendation
If the LED is intended to be used to illuminate for a camera, say, then what you calculate for eyeballed color temperature may be off.
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RE: Color Temperature Meter Recommendation
RE: Color Temperature Meter Recommendation
I get this newsletter from Saelig which usually has something interesting in it, hence why I haven't unsubscribed, and today there was an article on a spectrometer using Android phones. I thought "that's clever, but really expensive" and promptly deleted it, but you might find it useful:
RE: Color Temperature Meter Recommendation
Link
RE: Color Temperature Meter Recommendation
RE: Color Temperature Meter Recommendation
Probably a whole bunch within your apparent budget, including my previous cites.
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RE: Color Temperature Meter Recommendation
I wouldn't expect them to be super-accurate, but a good free way of exploring your idea. Mine certainly gives sensible readings on daylight, incandescent, and fluoros.
I don't think it makes much sense to try and define the CT of a monochromatic LED. For a white LED, yes, because it emits broad-spectrum light from a phosphor, much like a fluorescent lamp. Color mixes from RGB LEDs will give a reading, which will be an indication of subjective CT.
Incidentally, there are also magnetometer and gravitometer apps. I found the magnetometer useful for exploring an idea in the lab, relating to sensing nearby magnets, and played with the gravitometer on a cruise ship. "Unfortunately" the weather didn't get rough, so the readout was not very dramatic.
David Stonier-Gibson
http://splatco.com
RE: Color Temperature Meter Recommendation
Dan - Owner
http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com
RE: Color Temperature Meter Recommendation