Measuring colour temperature at DVinfo.net

Adrian Tan · February 26th, 2015, 05:56 PM

Question: is there any straightforward way to measure the colour temperature of a light? Do light meters help with this, for instance?

Dave Baker · February 27th, 2015, 02:59 AM

How accurate this is I don't know https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...a.camera&hl=en

Dave

Paul Mailath · February 27th, 2015, 05:33 AM

there are light meters that measure colour and specific colour meters - I guess it depends what you want ot measure the light for.

I have an android app the does the same but no idea how accurate it is - I'll test it against my colour meter and let you know

Bruce Watson · February 27th, 2015, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adrian Tan

Question: is there any straightforward way to measure the colour temperature of a light? Do light meters help with this, for instance?

You need a color meter, like the http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1110663-REG/sekonic_401_701_c_700r_spectomaster_meter.html. Cool toy that will tell you a lot about your light source(s).

But once you know that, what are you going to do about it? And this is why nearly all cameras give you manual white balance capabilities. And why nearly all modern cameras do more with a manual white balance than pick a color temperature (which is only the orange-blue axis). That is, most modern camera manual white balances also work on the green-magenta axis, and do a creditable job with the massive green spikes you get from most building fluorescents. A good manual white balance off a gray card can just about eliminate the color correction step in post. You may well still want to color grade (a different process) but a nicely color corrected image is an excellent foundation for grading.

Adrian Tan · February 27th, 2015, 11:10 AM

Thanks very much for the response everyone.

Bruce, I don't know if I'm misthinking something, but I mainly have in mind the LED lights that let you choose a colour. If it's possible to know, for instance, that the practicals in a room give you 3000K, I think that that information might take the guesswork out of trying to set a fill light to match (assuming you have an LED where you can manually dial temperature in, or are even playing with plus or minus green gels).

February 26th, 2015, 05:56 PM	#1
Adrian Tan Trustee Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 1,149	Measuring colour temperature Question: is there any straightforward way to measure the colour temperature of a light? Do light meters help with this, for instance?

February 27th, 2015, 02:59 AM	#2
Dave Baker Major Player Join Date: May 2014 Location: Brandon, England Posts: 459	Re: Measuring colour temperature How accurate this is I don't know https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...a.camera&hl=en Dave

February 27th, 2015, 05:33 AM	#3
Paul Mailath Trustee Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Central Coast - NSW, Australia Posts: 1,606	Re: Measuring colour temperature there are light meters that measure colour and specific colour meters - I guess it depends what you want ot measure the light for. I have an android app the does the same but no idea how accurate it is - I'll test it against my colour meter and let you know __________________ Cheers - Paul M. www.perbenyik.com

February 27th, 2015, 11:10 AM	#5
Adrian Tan Trustee Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 1,149	Re: Measuring colour temperature Thanks very much for the response everyone. Bruce, I don't know if I'm misthinking something, but I mainly have in mind the LED lights that let you choose a colour. If it's possible to know, for instance, that the practicals in a room give you 3000K, I think that that information might take the guesswork out of trying to set a fill light to match (assuming you have an LED where you can manually dial temperature in, or are even playing with plus or minus green gels).