Lighting Color Rendering Index is 'Color Accuracy'

16 Oct 2017

Posted in General by Net Zero USA

Developed in the 1960s, Color Rendering Index or CRI is a common metric for characterizing the color quality of lighting (not to be confused with color temperature or Kelvin).

For simplicity you can think of CRI as a measurement of ‘Color Accuracy’
example-of-cri
This image above is a good depiction of differing CRIs, with each image having the same warm color temperature (2700K).

Determining a light’s Color Rendering Index is a calculation procedure comparing the chromaticities of eight standard color chips illuminated by a reference source with their chromaticities when illuminated by a practical light source.

In other words, CRI is a quantitative measure of the ability of a light source to reveal the color spectrum of a given object in comparison with an ideal or natural light source.

lighting-label-for-color-rendering-index-cri

The greater the chromaticity shift, the lower the CRI, which is to say that more shift in color means the light is of lower quality.

Table: Color Rendering Index Of Common Lighting Technologies

chart-of-cri-rating-by-various-lighting-types

Takeaway: Light sources with a high CRI are of higher color quality. This is more important in color-critical applications such as an art gallery or a furniture showroom when an exact color match is needed.

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