Soul Searching, Why Caster?

Some product-related information about SUNNYXIAO's Caster series of new LED color panel lights has been disclosed above. But why is it called Caster?

The synonym for Caster is a magician. What is magic? It is the illusion and incredible sight, signifying that the lamps are endlessly changing like a magician. By highly reproducing colors, users can really feel that everything is natural!

01. High color reproduction

Many people's perception of high color reproduction comes from two data, namely CRI and TLCI.

The former is the color rendering index, with the human eye as the evaluator. It is a measurement method in color identification by comparing with a reference light source (incandescent lamp or daylight), with a value close to 100 and the best color rendering.

The latter, TLCI, is to test 24 standard color blocks to judge the color performance capability of the light source based on the output image of a camera.

In recent years, as LED products have entered a highly mature period, TM-30, the corresponding higher requirements for color reproduction tests, has come into being.

▲99 standard colors adopted by IES TM-30

02. TM-30 , a more mature standard

The color quality evaluation criterion of light source was published by the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES). It was first introduced in 2015 and partially updated in 2018. Therefore, in TM-30-18, the suffix 18 means the new version of 2018.
In contrast to CRI and TLCI, the Fidelity Index Rf and Gamut Index Rg are used to jointly evaluate the color quality in TM-30-18.

The Fidelity Index Rf, which is used to characterize the CRI of a light source, differs only in that the TM-30 uses 99 new color samples (from real objects’ colors rather than standard color plates) and the newly developed calculation methods.

Rf =100 is the maximum value, representing no color difference with the color under a natural light source and realistic color effect

Rf = 0 is the minimum value, representing the maximum color difference with the color under a natural light source and distorted color effect

Gamut Index Rg is used to characterize the Gamut Area Index (GAI) of the light source, that is, the color gamut of each standard color under the test light source compared to the reference light source.

Rg =100, representing the same gamut of the light source as that of natural light, with a moderate color gamut

Rg>100, representing the light source can improve the color gamut, so that the object is more vivid and vibrant

Rg<100, representing the color gamut is reduced under the test light source, the color gamut is insufficient, and the object becomes grey and dull

03. Factory test of Caster

To verify the high color reproduction of Caster and to get the light quality of SUNNYXIAO's Caster portable LED light panels, we conducted a standard test in the darkroom of the factory.

The test product used is C02P cinema LED light, and the test tool is SEKONIC C800 spectrometer.

During the test, we measured four groups of color temperature respectively, namely the frequently-used color temperature of 3200K/5600K and extremely low and extremely high color temperature of 2800K/10000K, which are representative.

Care should be taken to position with a tape measure and place the photometric point corresponding to the center point of product.

As the product was placed on the table for testing, the height from center point of product to ground was 90cm, when testing, the intersection of the standing position and 90cm height should be found to ensure the accuracy of test as far as possible. See table for the final measured data. It can be seen that the Fidelity Index Rf of Caster C02P is above 90 points and relatively stable.

In terms of color gamut, the Rg values of Caster C02P at different color temperatures are not lower than 100 and are close to 100. The perfect match is achieved at 3200K color temperature!

04. Color vector graphic

Fidelity Index Rf and Gamut Index Rg are calculated based on average values. In order to see a particular color gamut of the product more visually, a color vector graphic is provided in the TM-30 system.

As shown in the following figure, the black circle represents the reference light source (sunlight), which is composed of 16 color classifications of reference light source; the red circle represents the measured light source.

The red line inside the black circle indicates that the colors of the measured light source are fainter than the reference light source; the red line outside the black circle indicates that the colors of the measured light source are over-saturated compared to the reference light source.

The following is the Gamut Index of Caster C02P cinematography lights at different color temperatures, which is obvious and convenient. The corresponding Ra values are also marked, all around 95.

“Excellence” needs no further introduction! Are you satisfied with the high color reproduction performance of Caster?