Article: CR- AYE ? - CRI Explained and why is it important
CR- AYE ? - CRI Explained and why is it important
Not all lighting is created equal, that is why you need to pay attention to the details when purchasing your lighting.
CRI (ColourRendering Index) put simply, is the light sources ability to show the true colour of an object. The reference point of measuring this is from the sun as this has a CRI of 100 which means it perfectly shows the true colour of every object as the CRI rating is out of 100.
Did you know there is only one range of wavelengths the human eye can see ?
Between 380- 700 nano meters, above 700 is infrared and below 380 is ultraviolet. Each wavelength represents a different colour in the spectrum. We only see the colour of an object because that is the wavelength being reflecting as light, it is absorbing the rest. Crazy huh ? But I’m a geek on this stuff and you’re thinking why is this important so I’ll get back on track.
Poor quality lighting is anything with a CRI rating of 80 or below, you do not want to fill your home with these. You really want the rating to be CRI 90 or above, remember that the higher the better.
LED downlight technology has come a long way, so no longer are the high CRI rated LED down lights just for high end homes. We put these in all of our projects from spec homes to architecturally designed homes. I would not recommend buying any downlight with a CRI rating below 90.
See below example of the colour rendering of a apple
LED lamps (aka light bulbs) are still playing catch up to the down lights with their light quality so you need to take this into careful consideration if you are using these in an area you need good light quality e.g Kitchens, bathrooms. But for me this is everywhere because I want good light quality throughout the home. If I want to use the decorative lamps I will make sure there are other light sources e.g down lights or LED strip in the area that can be used in conjunction with the decorative lamps.
Where you could get caught out with this is with the on trend style of two soft white glass globes beside your bathroom mirror ( I personally love this trend ! ) . Most of these wall light fittings have a G9 lamp holder ( which means you can change the lamp inside ) not a built in LED. G9 lamps from your general lighting store have very poor CRI ratings so I would actually go back to using a halogen lamp in this situation. A halogen lamp is like the sun and has a perfect CRI rating which is exactly what you want around your bathroom mirror.
Or an alternative is the Egg wall light with its built in LED and CRI rating of 90 – it was my choice for our current project.
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