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Best A19 bulbs for digitizing and photographing paintings and artwork?
I am a painter, and am considering using your NorthLux™ A19 bulbs to take photos of my artwork pieces to showcase on my website and other platforms. I am hopeful that these bulbs will reduce the amount of color correction needed post-capture. Are these the best bulbs for my needs?
Our NorthLux™ A19 lamps do indeed sound like a great option for your painting photography. These bulbs feature 95 CRI and daylight calibrated light output, which means they are perfect for image capture without any loss of color accuracy. Because the light source is fundamentally calibrated to full-spectrum daylight, there should not be any need for white balance or color correction adjustments.
The NorthLux™ A19 lamps are offered in 5000K and 6500K. Although both color temperatures can be considered to be daylight calibrated, 6500K will have a slightly blue hue in line with what you would see from a north-facing window, while 5000K will be more neutral, closer to direct sun. Here is an article going over some additional differences between the two color temperatures. Most camera systems will have a color balance calibration setting that allows for the subtle adjustments that may be needed between these two color points.
Alternatively, our FilmGrade™ 5600K A19 lamps may also be of interest. These lamps are calibrated to 5600K (and 95 CRI, of course), which is a mid-point color temperature between 5000K and 6500K. The 5600K color temperature is calibrated for use in photography, film and TV studios, but can be an equally effective and accurate light source for the purposes of digitizing artwork.
The A19 / E26 form factor ensures that these lamps will fit in virtually all standard bulb fixtures, so this will give you lots of flexibility and room to try out different positions and orientations to get the optimal set up!
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LED bulbs (General)A19 Bulbs (60 watt equivalent)A21 Bulbs (100 watt equivalent)D50 (printing, digitizing)