What color temperature for layout lighting?

[Specter3]

It seems you can get 4ft LED lights in a range from 4000K to 6500K. What would you pick and why for the direct layout lighting? Personally I think 4000 is a little yellow and 6500 is a little blue but 5000, 5500, 6000? Is it just personal preference at that point?

[Dave V]

I use 5000K and like it.

[C855B]

After considerable debate with myself (I always lose, BTW), I settled on 5000K for easier product selection at the time, 4 or 5 years ago IIRC. The choices in affordable troffers and LED spots then were 3500K or 5000K. What I can't recall exactly from my days in printing plants was whether it was 5000K or 5500K in the "neutral" color proofing rooms. I also adjust the programmable-color stage lighting to match as best I can. When I'm looking to emulate desert sun, I add a little yellow to the mix, probably warming it up to about 4000 or 4500K.

So far 5000K seems to have been a good choice as long as I adjust my perceptions to compensate for the acres of pink landscaping. 

[ednadolski]

I use 5000k for daylight.  You also want a high (90 or more) CRI.

Ed

[NtheBasement]

I use GE 50K 40w flourescents and have been replacing the bulbs with "Daylight" drop-in LED replacement bulbs.  I haven't seen many of these that actually list the color temp but the daylights work well.

[jdcolombo]

I tried both 6500K and 5000K lighting on my layout, but found that it made ground foam and other scenery products too blu-ish and I felt the light itself was "harsh".  I ended up at 3500K, which to my eyes provides more natural coloring for the scenery.  When I take photos, I just adjust the white balance on my Canon 70D to 3500K and they turn out darn near perfect (anything that's not perfectly perfect can be corrected with judicious use of Photoshop).

I think this is one of those "personal preference" things.  Given the ability of today's cameras (even cell-phone cameras) to accommodate widely different white balance, I really think it is up to the layout owner to decide what looks best for them.

John C.

[nickelplate759]

I go  a little warmer.  I use 3500k, 90+ CRI (from Cree) and like that a lot.  Not really "daylight", but noticeably less yellow than the common 2700k.

Again the 90+ CRI is critical - probably more so than the color temp.

[Dave V]

Something to consider...when you're color matching to the prototype, you'll want the lighting you see your model under to be closer to sunlight.  Now, I agree that the 6000K temperature that is the sun is a bit too harsh, but I get good results with 5000K.  Ever since making the switch from the "warm white" (which is actually a cooler color temperature...thank you Wein's Displacement Law) I find my stuff--including scenery material--actually looks more natural to me under 5000K.  Under cooler color temperature lighting everything looks yellowed and washed out to me.

[Chris333]

All my lights are 5000-5500K.

[C855B]

...When I take photos, I just adjust the white balance on my Canon 70D to 3500K... .

That is a good point in what your eyes perceive may differ from what the camera sees. Taking a casual quick snap to illustrate something on the layout, I sometimes curse my smartphone's poor color rendering as the (older) firmware seems to assume portraiture in "normal" indoor lighting or natural landscapes with natural lighting. The painted sky backdrop fools it and shifts everything yellow-ish, forcing me to get the real camera out of the bag. 

[porkypine52]

This is a good question.  It all depends on how you want to see the layout, are you planning on doing a bunch of layout images/pictures[for us luddites{LOL}], what do YOU prefer?  With the kinds and price of LED strips coming DOWN,  I'm in the process of obtaining rolls of clear white LED strips. Sunlight, daylight, dimable and NOT dimable.   It's a little overwhelming, with all the sizes, types, and colors.  I'll see what  I like and don't like.  Plus take a look at the ACCESSORIES available for using LED strips.  Dimmers, power supplies, channels for hanging strips, strip hangers, etc etc.  LED are the way to go, I'm sure, BUT which ones?  It's my layout/railroad to light as I see fit.  Decisions---Decisions---DECISIONS

DIESELS?!?!?!?!?!   We don't need NO stinckin' diesels!
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Mark    The porkypine52

Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.
- Mark Twain,

[BCR 570]

My layout lighting is all LED and the colour temperature is 3500K.  I tried 4500K and found it a little too harsh for warm sunlight.  back in the mid 2000s those were the only two choices.  As discussed, numerous factors are in play including personal preference, viewing angle and distance, photography, etc.


Tim

[w neal]

My benchmark was a yellow CNW hopper. Anything 5000 or above made it look zeto yellow, when it was actually a traditional yellow. I chose 4000k for my layout. But as others have said, I think its a matter of perception. Try out several colors of light and see what looks best to you. In my case, I'm able to get 4000k LED "shoplight" tubes from wally world for kinda cheap and use them to replace my fluorescents as they quit.

[TLOC]

All lighting in the train room is 5000c Daylight LEDS from Cree, via HD.

TomO

[davefoxx]

I used the LED lights that were recommended by @Ed Kapuscinski, and they have worked out great.  I took down all of the hodgepodge fluorescent fixtures and rat's nest of wiring by the previous homeowner(s) and installed sixteen of these 4' fixtures.  I couldn't remember their temperature, but according to the Amazon site they're 6500K.  That surprises me, because I don't feel they are too blue like other LED lights I've seen with temperatures in that range.  I'm happy, and they were super easy to install.

https://www.amazon.com/Barrina-Integrated-Fixture-Utility-Electric/dp/B07DNPL2VC/ref=pd_rhf_ee_s_rp_c_0_6/141-1534706-3014532?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07DNPL2VC&pd_rd_r=b6dce66f-ef34-4836-a1c0-cc876a906401&pd_rd_w=Q9qgL&pd_rd_wg=8yzYI&pf_rd_p=9ef72827-1bad-4c91-aa97-65cf3e340d20&pf_rd_r=WP4ZDA5DJ2BCCVT2K7NT&psc=1&refRID=WP4ZDA5DJ2BCCVT2K7NT

DFF