New Tools in Our Lab: i1Pro for LED Bulbs

If you read our LED lamp tests, then you will have noticed we gave special attention to how much of the visual spectrum each bulb covered.  We used an i1Pro sensor from X-Rite to make these measurements.

Strictly speaking, this isn't the first i1Pro to reach our lab.  We first used one in 2005 alongside the Colorfacts software to test the accuracy of colour reproduction, especially with projectors.

And because old friends are the best, we got it out again to test the LED lamps.  We soon realised that we were missing a key accessory: the ambient light head.  X-Rite sorted us out by sending us a whole new sensor.  Here's what it looks like without the ambient light head:


But why a whole new sensor instead of just the missing accessory?  According to X-Rite, the answer is simple: every ambient light head is unique and tied to the sensor it was calibrated for.

What do we use the i1Pro for?

Amongst other things, the colour spectrum of light produced by bulbs.  Here's an example:


The sensor analyses the light coming out of a lamp and identifies all of the component colours it contains.  It divides the information from different frequencies of visible light into different intensities, which allows us to produce the resulting graph.  Based on the raw data and help from the Lighting Research Center, we're also able to get data like the IRC and FSCI, two key indices of the quality of a lamp.

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