The Problem with LED Lighting: A Study of Color Quality

One of the main problems with LED lighting is its color quality, which can be really bad. For example, this super bright flashlight I made a few videos back utilizes one of those cheap cob LEDs you can buy from eBay. While it is very bright, the light quality is pretty bad. In fact, if we compare the same scene shot under normal daylight due to a window off to my left with the flashlight bouncing it off a wall, we can see that it has a horrible green cast.

This effect affects skin tones in particular, making people look a bit ill essentially. This poses a real problem for DIYs, as what LEDs can we use for our projects? Thankfully, there is one manufacturer called UG LED that does make a version of this style of LED with high-quality phosphor. The light given off is of extremely high quality and almost indistinguishable from real daylight.

To demonstrate this, I set up a test scene in a cardboard box and covered it with a diffuser. This is outside under direct sunlight, and the colors are accurate and vibrant. If we try it indoors with the UG-LED, we can see that the colors are pretty much the same, with only some slight variations that wouldn't be noticed outside of a direct comparison.

When I first saw this LED, I was blown away by its quality. To the eye, it really does resemble genuine sunlight, even though it's not. I had to show everyone how good this led is because I've never seen such high-quality light output from anything other than the sun itself. In fact, after seeing these results, I decided then and there that I was going to have to make a video light with this LED.

The quality of this LED does come at a bit of a price, as they are about 10 times more expensive than the cheap ones you can get from eBay. However, for me, it's well worth it because if I'm going to spend time making something like this, I want to use something that's going to give me good quality light output. This LED does that in spades.

It's also worth noting that the UG LEDs are surprisingly hard to find on the general market. However, the manufacturer sells them individually online, which is brilliant. They're robust and reliable, making them a great choice for anyone looking for high-quality LEDs. I highly recommend checking out their website if you're interested in purchasing one.

In conclusion, the importance of high CRI lighting cannot be overstated. The UG LED has shown that it's possible to get extremely high-quality light output from an LED, even if it is more expensive than the alternatives. By using this type of LED, anyone can create projects with accurate and vibrant colors, without having to settle for lower quality options. I will personally be making some more projects using these in the future, so stay tuned for those updates.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enone of the main problems with LED lighting is that its color quality can be really bad for example this is a super bright flashlight I made a few videos back and it utilizes one of those cheap cob LEDs you can buy from eBay now it is very bright but the light quality is pretty bad for example this is a test scene that's shot under normal daylight because of a window off to my left and it looks you know pretty good but if we like the same scene with the flashlight bouncing it off a wall uh you can see that it has a horrible green cast and uh this affects the skin tones in particular now this was without adjusting the white balance settings on the camera but even if we do adjust it to the led the green tint still persists in the skin tones and they look a bit pale and this really exemplifies the effect of low CRI lighting as it really does affect skin tones in particular and it can make people look a bit ill essentially and uh this poses a real problem to us DIYs because what LEDs can we use for our projects well thankfully there is one manufacturer called ug LED that does make a version of this style of LED um but with high quality phosphor so the light given off is of extremely high quality and the result is that they emit light that is almost indistinguishable from real daylight so to show you what I mean I've set up a test scene in a cardboard box and covered it with a diffuser this is outside of course under direct sunlight and it looks pretty good the colors are accurate and vibrant now if we try it indoors with the ug- LED you can see that the colors are pretty much the same now there are some slight variations in the colors but they're so minor that they wouldn't be noticed outside of a direct comparison now this led absolutely blew my socks off when I first saw it because to the ey it really does resemble genuine sunlight even though you know it's not and I had to go around the house showing everyone how good this led is because I've never seen such a high quality light output from anything other than the sun itself and it really is phenomenal now I also tested the light output with a spectr photometer and it reported a CRI value of a whopping 96 which is almost the highest value possible in comparison and the cheap LED only got 69 so it's no wonder it looked so bad in that comparison earlier and speaking of that comparison let's try it again with the cheap LED versus the ug LED uh and yes that's the ug LED on the right not sunlight now after I saw these results I decided there and then that I'm definitely going to have to make a video light with this led because it's so easy to uh mimic daylight with it now this quality light output does come at a bit of a price because they're about 10 times more expensive than the cheap ones you can get from eBay um but for me that's well worth it because if you're going to spend the time to make something like this for anything other than just general illumination then um you want to use something that's going to give you a good quality light output and this does that in Spades now the manufacturer ug LED does sell a uh Warm White Version which could be very useful for home lighting but I personally quite like the um daylight balanced version because it has a warmth to it because of the accurate color which is something I was not expecting at all now um another thing is that the high LEDs are surprisingly quite hard to find on the General market so um it's brilliant to see ug LED supporting us by selling them individually online on their website so if you do want to buy it's okay they're robust if you do want to buy one of these LEDs I do recommend that you check out their website so uh I do hope this video has highlighted the importance of high CRI lighting I will personally be making some more projects using these in the future so stay tuned for those uh and other than that I will see you next time goodbye for nowone of the main problems with LED lighting is that its color quality can be really bad for example this is a super bright flashlight I made a few videos back and it utilizes one of those cheap cob LEDs you can buy from eBay now it is very bright but the light quality is pretty bad for example this is a test scene that's shot under normal daylight because of a window off to my left and it looks you know pretty good but if we like the same scene with the flashlight bouncing it off a wall uh you can see that it has a horrible green cast and uh this affects the skin tones in particular now this was without adjusting the white balance settings on the camera but even if we do adjust it to the led the green tint still persists in the skin tones and they look a bit pale and this really exemplifies the effect of low CRI lighting as it really does affect skin tones in particular and it can make people look a bit ill essentially and uh this poses a real problem to us DIYs because what LEDs can we use for our projects well thankfully there is one manufacturer called ug LED that does make a version of this style of LED um but with high quality phosphor so the light given off is of extremely high quality and the result is that they emit light that is almost indistinguishable from real daylight so to show you what I mean I've set up a test scene in a cardboard box and covered it with a diffuser this is outside of course under direct sunlight and it looks pretty good the colors are accurate and vibrant now if we try it indoors with the ug- LED you can see that the colors are pretty much the same now there are some slight variations in the colors but they're so minor that they wouldn't be noticed outside of a direct comparison now this led absolutely blew my socks off when I first saw it because to the ey it really does resemble genuine sunlight even though you know it's not and I had to go around the house showing everyone how good this led is because I've never seen such a high quality light output from anything other than the sun itself and it really is phenomenal now I also tested the light output with a spectr photometer and it reported a CRI value of a whopping 96 which is almost the highest value possible in comparison and the cheap LED only got 69 so it's no wonder it looked so bad in that comparison earlier and speaking of that comparison let's try it again with the cheap LED versus the ug LED uh and yes that's the ug LED on the right not sunlight now after I saw these results I decided there and then that I'm definitely going to have to make a video light with this led because it's so easy to uh mimic daylight with it now this quality light output does come at a bit of a price because they're about 10 times more expensive than the cheap ones you can get from eBay um but for me that's well worth it because if you're going to spend the time to make something like this for anything other than just general illumination then um you want to use something that's going to give you a good quality light output and this does that in Spades now the manufacturer ug LED does sell a uh Warm White Version which could be very useful for home lighting but I personally quite like the um daylight balanced version because it has a warmth to it because of the accurate color which is something I was not expecting at all now um another thing is that the high LEDs are surprisingly quite hard to find on the General market so um it's brilliant to see ug LED supporting us by selling them individually online on their website so if you do want to buy it's okay they're robust if you do want to buy one of these LEDs I do recommend that you check out their website so uh I do hope this video has highlighted the importance of high CRI lighting I will personally be making some more projects using these in the future so stay tuned for those uh and other than that I will see you next time goodbye for now\n"