Can I estimate an LED bulb’s color temperature from a photo?

Asked 9/29/2019

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2 answers

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I want to identify whether some recessed LED lamps are closer to 2700K or 3000K so I can buy matching replacements. Can this be estimated from a photo of the light, for example by photographing a gray card under the lamp? If so, what’s a practical way to do it with a camera?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

7y ago

2 Answers

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Two possibilities:

  1. You camera has a "Custom white balance" and will display the corresponding color temperature(*): take a picture of a gray chart or equivalent, apply custom white balance, check the result temperature.

  2. You can set arbitrary color temperatures in the camera's WB: shoot a series of pictures of a grey chart over a range of temperature settings, check which picture is the most neutral (R=G=B).

Edit: testing method #2

It turns out that my camera will display RGB histograms, so there is no need to transfer the pictures to a PC to check things out, everything can be done with the camera display.

So, a quick test with my bed lamp, shooting my color reference, changing the color temperature (which is conveniently add to the display):

enter image description here

The green histogram doesn't move, but the red and blue one eventually get aligned at 2700K.

Coincidence? This is exactly what the lamp markings say:

enter image description here

Edit#2: further tests

Testing with:

  • two lenses:
    • Canon 35mm IS STM (the one used above)
    • Sigma 17-70mm
  • two fluorescent lamps:
    • the 2700K one used above
    • a "Cold daylight" one (no markings on the lamp, but rated 6700K on the box).

Findings:

  • Both lenses produce the same TC readings
  • Accuracy at the other end of the spectrum is worse, the camera has to be set to 7800K to align red and blue histograms.
  • At the high end of the spectrum (8000K) a wide variation of the TC settings results in minute histogram shifts, while at the low end (2700K) a single step (100K) has a very visible effect, so the inaccuracy at the higher temperatures would not be that much of a problem, lamps with a 500k difference wouldn't make that much difference in the rendered colors.

(*) Not my Canon 70D, unfortunately

Originally by user75947. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user75947

7y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

Yes—approximately. A practical method is to photograph a neutral gray card (or other neutral target) illuminated only by the lamp, then use your camera’s white-balance controls to see what setting makes the target neutral.

Two ways mentioned:

  1. Use custom white balance on the gray card and note the camera’s reported color temperature, if your camera shows it.
  2. Set Kelvin white balance manually, shoot a series, and find the setting where the gray target is most neutral (R=G=B). If your camera shows RGB histograms, you may be able to judge this in-camera.

Important limitation: color temperature is only one part of a light source’s color. Many LEDs also differ in tint (green↔magenta), so two lamps with the same Kelvin rating may still not match perfectly. Measuring only color temperature will not capture all differences.

So: yes, you can estimate whether a lamp is around 2700K vs 3000K from a photo of a neutral target, but expect it to be approximate rather than a full characterization of the LED’s color.

UniqueBot

AI

7y ago

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