The CRI (Colour Rendering Index) is a measure of the colour rendering quality of a light source. It indicates how well a light source reproduces the colours of objects in comparison to a reference light source, e.g. a daylight spectrum.
The colour rendering index is measured on a scale from 0 to 100. A value of 100 means that the light source reproduces the colours of objects perfectly. A value of 0 means that the light source does not reproduce the colours of the objects at all.
LED lamps usually have a CRI of 80 to 95, which means that they reproduce the colours of objects well. However, LED lamps with a colour rendering index of 100 have recently been introduced by manufacturers such as YUJILEDS and are particularly suitable for use in areas where the quality of colour rendering is important, e.g. in photo studios or museums.
In the printing industry, D50 standard light is the common standard light in Europe. Whether you need D50 standardised light depends on your requirements. If the colours of objects and prints need to be reproduced very accurately, D50 standard light is the best choice.
However, if the requirements for colour rendering quality are not so high, an LED with a high CRI can simply be used. LED lamps with a high colour rendering index are generally cheaper than D50 lamps and easier to find.
At Proof GmbH, we have standard light booths from Just with D50 standard light, but we often only use an LED with 500 Kelvin and the highest possible CRI of 90+ on the winders. Nevertheless, significant colour differences and metamerism effects often occur here when proofs are only viewed on the cutting table. We therefore always use the standard light booths for a comprehensive colour assessment.
Unfortunately, no retrofit solutions are currently available for simply replacing ‘old’ D50 standard light neon tubes with LED tubes, for example. As neon tubes will be banned from 2024, completely new LED units must currently be purchased and installed from Just, for example, when replacing old D50 standard light neon tubes. However, at several thousand euros, the replacement is currently still quite expensive.
More articles related to this topic:
Cross-media colour management really works
Peter Jäger is an expert in colour management that reliably works across the boundaries of printers and monitors, web and print – essentially: cross-media.
New iPhone colour measuring devices: xade nano+ in test
A new generation of colour measuring devices is entering the market: in contrast to the classic measuring devices, which are available as a fully encapsulated system either as a colourimeter or as a spectrophotometer, and then supply the data to a computer via an interface or app or display it directly, the new generation of colour measuring devices consist only of lighting and software, with the optics of a modern iPhone from Apple being used as the sensor. Until now, there have been two categories of measuring devices on the … read more
PANTONE surveys users online about product and service direction
Today I received an email in which PANTONE asked how it should orientate its products and services in the future. The users were asked which countries, industries and company sizes they come from, but also what PANTONE products should look like in the future and what customers would be prepared to pay for PANTONE services in the future. Question: How much can PANTONE services cost? PANTONE appears to be orientating itself on the PANTONE Connect prices: All price queries have the lowest price category < $ 7,- / month, i.e. … read more
New PANTONE Formula Guides with incorrect ink formulations
Several errors have crept into the new PANTONE 2023 fan decks. In both the PANTONE Solid Coated and the Solid Uncoated color fans, there are colours for which the new ink formulations are incorrect. In the PANTONE Formula Guide Solid Coated fan 2023, PANTONE 107 C and PANTONE 108 C have absolutely identical ink recipes, as well as PANTONE 113 C and PANTONE 114 C. As the colors differ, this cannot be the correct. Several errors in the PANTONE Solid Uncoated fan 2023 In the PANTONE Solid Uncoated fan 2023 … read more
New certified proof papers at proof.de
In recent years, various problems have arisen with our previous proof paper supplier. On the one hand, we sometimes had to wait more than three months for paper deliveries; on the other hand, we sometimes had significant problems with batch-to-batch discrepancies, surface defects and much more. After lengthy deliberations, we decided in December to replace all the paper. We therefore received pallets of new paper at the turn of the year, which we are now gradually incorporating into our production. There will be no hard cut, but the new papers … read more
Proofs with Digimarc EAN codes and verification
Digimarc is a digital watermark that can be used to embed information in images, videos or other media. Digimarc watermarks are invisible to the human eye, but remain recognisable to special software or devices. Digimarc is becoming increasingly popular in the packaging sector in particular, as this technology allows the digits of the EAN barcode and more to be applied invisibly to all areas of the packaging. Digimarc and EAN barcode at the supermarket checkout When scanning at the checkout, the checkout staff do not have to search for the … read more
Proof GmbH 2025 once again Fogra and Fogra “Spot Cert” certified
This year we once again created proofs for Fogra certification and sent them to Munich-Aschheim for testing. With these proof prints, which we print according to three different proof standards and on three different papers, we point out that we not only deliver excellent proof quality through internal quality controls and checks, but that the quality of our proofs is also measured and confirmed by external experts. We have now had test prints certified by Fogra for the 12th time. We have also been “Spot-cert” certified for the display of … read more
Fogra Colour Management Symposium 2026 in Munich from 24 to 26 February
The most important colour management event takes place every two years in Munich: the Fogra Colour Management Symposium. Once again this year, all professionals are invited to make the pilgrimage to Munich: two days of lectures, discussions and a Bavarian evening await participants. Matthias Betz, owner of proof.de, will also be there again: for many years, he has been taking advantage of the opportunity to exchange ideas with colleagues and friends, learn about new technologies, hardware and software, and talk to colleagues from Fogra, freieFarbe, GMG and many more. In … read more
We passed the first proof certification for the 7C proof under FOGRA55
A few days ago Proof GmbH was the first company to be certified for proofing for the new 7C exchange colour space FOGRA55. Fogra has developed characterisation data for extended multicolour printing with the printing colours CMYKOGV – i.e. cyan, magenta, yellow, black (contrast), orange, green and violet – FOGRA55 as part of a research project over the past few years. The characterisation data and the ICC profile Ref-ECG-CMYKOGV_FOGRA55_TAC300.icc have been published on the Fogra website in recent weeks. We have now carried out the certification via GMG ColorProof, as … read more
“Digital First” often means “Colour Problems Second!”
Whether it’s a large global corporation or a small company, the following often applies to designs or redesigns today: we develop everything for digital first.