Artificial Lighting

[Ross]

T5 is a "standard" now used for grow lights and other high-output solutions such as hydroponics. As for "off the shelf" solutions it goes from T12 shop lights ( fat tubes) to t8 skinny tubes for kitchens, etc. to t5 (even skinnyer tubes) for growing situations. The 48" tubes are always 40 watt and marked as such. There is a weird hybrid called compact florescent (or CF) that is (in effect) a short version of the t5 wrapped up in a small package (ie twisted around so it fits approximately a light bulb space or, sometimes a longer space and mounted sideways). 10,000K is incredible! I've never heard of this (not that I claim to have heard of everything, mind you.) As I said earlier, natural sunlight at noon at the equator is approx 5500K. I know this because, as a photographer, I have to be able to set correct white balance on my cameras. As I get into shade, everything records blue due to the lack of direct sunlight. It records higher. Not sure where this is going, other than I still am in doubt of the specs. I don't mean you got something you don't want, just that the manufacturer seems to have their own way of doing things. Tell you what... take a picture of a gray card (a card that is neutral gray) and see what it looks like on your monitor. Or use a white piece of paper.

[Ross]

By the way, this is a pretty good reference site on color temperature Timothy Edberg Photo Tip: Fluorescent Lighting, Color Temperature, and CRI

[Becca]

Thanks Ross. I took a photography class so I am somewhat familiar with what grey cards are and how to use them, but if you don't use it, you lose it! So to make sure I do this correctly, I put the grey card under the light while it is on and take a picture with my digital camera. I have not used a grey card with my digital camera since it does not have any manual settings available. I also need to get a grey card, the one I had for my photography class was basically a photo copy of one which my instructor gave to the class to save us money...lol. I never used it since I didn't really see much of a difference in the pictures when I did and didn't use it for the class when using my manual camera. Sorry I know my terminology is probably off!

[Ross]

Nope, you are spot-on

You have it. Just place the card under the lights you have and take your picture. Try to get only the card. Doesn't need to be in focus. Now upload to computer and see what it looks like. You can hold the card against the monitor if you want. This is really crude, because you probably haven't color-balanced your monitor, have you? But it will give you an idea. Let's see if I have this correct, if the color on your monitor is "warmer" than the card, then camera saw the card as too blue based on the "daylight" setting of your camera. Oh, set the camera to full sunlight setting. I think we'll figure this out eventually. Check the web sites I gave you and see if that helps.