Bulb Temperature

mitch_04

Learnin'
What bulb temperature does everyone prefer for paint booths and bodywork? I love having ~4000 at home but I'd like to get the temperature at my shop that is most accurate to outdoors and/or helps see dents/dings/scratches the best.
 
5500K is supposed to be the same as the Sun at noon. I would use 5500-6000K for the most accurate color temperature. You also need to be mindful of the CRI rating as well. For searching for dings I use a bulb (vs. a florescent tube) because a point source of light is better at casting shadows, IMO.

Mike
 
Nothing beats mother nature so I say get some bright lighting if your after seeing dents and scratches 6500k is where I would want it.
 
For florescent bulbs I wouldn't give up my Octron 8000k bulbs. They are in the booth and the area where I sand/buff.

I've been replacing my florescents with t8 LED bulbs and like the 6000k 2800?? Lumen bulbs. I ran a row of those in the shop and thought they were too bright. That was until I quit looking up at them. Dummy. I have a row of 5000k 2200 lumens and they are nice also but have a yellow cast compared to the 6000k. These LEDs are coming down and I've been paying 10-20 bucks a piece experimenting. I pay 13.50 for a 2 pack of the 8k florescent bulbs so I don't think they are to far out of line.
 
I find the "Daylight" florecent and LEDs (especially the LEDs) are very harsh and show every imperfection. Much better than the cooler bulbs for sanding and buffing. But they can drive you crazy trying to get something out which you can't even see in the sun.
 
So these would not be practical for you guy's business but I have to post anyway. Check out LIFX LED bulbs, they are Wifi connected bulbs and you can adjust them via your phone. I have the color version in my Den, but they have white only as well. The "whites" range on mine go from 9000k to 2500k they have 6000k listed as "Noon Daylight". The 9000k definitely seems to have a blueish tint. Anyway cool stuff, they even have a strobe feature :)
 
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Try to get a 90 + CRI if you can
 
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