Home Resources glossary & information Color temperature (CCT)

Color temperature (CCT)

Date:2017-12-20 09:12:28 View PDF

Colortemperature(CCT)

The color temperature of a light source is the temperature of an ideal black-body radiator that radiates light of comparable hue to that of the light source. Color temperature is a characteristic of visible light that has important applications in lighting, photography, video graphy, publishing, manufacturing, astrophysics, horticulture, and other fields. In practice, color temperature is only meaningful for light sources that do in fact correspond somewhat closely to the radiation of some black body, i.e., those on a line from reddish/orange via yellow and more or less white to blueish white; it does not make sense to speak of the color temperature of, e.g., a green or a purple light. Color temperature is conventionally stated in the unit of absolute temperature, the kelvin, having the unit symbol K.

Color temperatures over 5,000K are called cool colors (bluish white), while lower color temperatures (2,700–3,000 K) are called warm colors (yellowish white through red).This relation, however, is a psychological one in contrast to the physical relation implied by Wien's displacement law, according to which the spectral peak is shifted towards shorter wavelengths (resulting in a more blueish white) for higher temperatures.

Temperature

Source

1,700K

Matchflame,lowpressuresodiumlamps (LPS/SOX)

1,850K

Candleflame,sunset/sunrise

2,700–3,300K

Incandescentlamps

3,000K

Soft(orWarm)Whitecompactfluorescentlamps

3,200K

Studiolamps,photofloods,etc.

3,350K

Studio"CP"light

4,100–4,150K

Moonlight

5,000K

Horizondaylight

5,000K

Tubularfluorescentlampsor

coolwhite/daylightcompactfluorescentlamps(CFL)

5,500–6,000K

Verticaldaylight,electronicflash

6,200K

Xenonshort-arclamp

6,500K

Daylight,overcast

6,500–10,500K

LCDorCRTscreen

15,000–27,000K

Clearbluepolewardsky

These temperatures are considerable variation merely may be characteristic; present.

 

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