• Commercial Photography
• Contact / About Us
• Print Gallery
• Articles, reviews, info
  • Photography articles
  • Reviews (eqpt. and s/w)
  • Digital Black and White
  • Photography Info
  • Tutorials
  • -
  • Rumours section
  • Travel blogs
  • Internet Search
  • Books
  • Viewing Tips
  • -
  • Mac Info
  • Usability and design
• Home
  • What's new on the site

This site, and all its
contents are copyright
©2003-2008 Keith Cooper

Image usage information

GrafiLite - print viewing lighting review

Improving your print matching with proper lighting

One of the major areas of inconsistency when it comes to most people checking their prints, is the light they use. Whilst you can get proper viewing cabinets and print stands, they tend not to be cheap.

The GrafiLite from Colour Confidence is a version of the Ott Lite 'task lamp' that uses a special 13W 'True Color' fluorescent tube to give a very good colour rendition.

What do you get?

The GrafiLite uses a 13W fluorescent tube that has been designed to produce a high quality light.

The 'TrueColor' 13W bulb has the equivalent light output of a 60W tungsten light bulb (move your mouse over the box to see what's inside)

The tubes have an estimated 10,000 hour life and replacements are available for around £15

It's based on the Ott-Lite fluorescent tube that has been widely used in craft work for some time, where this particular lighting unit is known as a 'Task Lamp'.

The box the the right also shows the neutral grey plastic mat that you get with the GrafiLite unit. (note you don't get the colour swatches or prints shown on the box)

My own preference is to view most prints I want to check under daylight viewing condition (I have several places in the house which offer relatively even daylight)

However I sometimes want to see what they will look like under tungsten lighting (particularly if they are going somewhere with just tungsten lighting) - that's no problem, I have some nice even lighting set up in some areas.

What though if it's winter or at night, and I want to do a check - well I could use a proper print viewing cabinet, with adjustable lighting types and brightnesses. Problem is that they are expensive and bulky.

The GrafiLite allows me to quickly set up a consistent light source for evaluation of prints.

The grey plastic mat also provides a neutral background that helps prevent adjacent colours (like a wooden desk) influencing what you see.

Using the GrafiLite

The device requires very little setting up, you open up the lamp holder, insert the tube (a push fit) and plug in the unit.

Just like a fridge - the lamp switches on when you open it up :-)

Move you mouse over the image to the right to see how it opens.

The base unit is heavy enough that there is no danger of it tipping over.

I found the grey sheet a little small and made a larger one from some grey card.

If you do this, then do check that the card is properly grey, since any colour caste will affect your perception of colours. I had some grey backdrop paper that I was able to use.

The simple guide to print evaluation is to make sure that your monitor is brighter than your (fairly dim) working environment and that your print brightness is slightly brighter than your monitor.

If you don't try and look at both screen and print at the same time then your vision will adapt to brightness and whitepoint variations quite well. I have my print viewing area some way from my monitors.

Conclusions

How good quality is the light? Well, using the Eye-One Share software with my i1 spectrophotometer I was able (eventually) get a reading that gave a colour temperature of about 5600K and a Colour Rendition Index of 82.

If you have a GrafiLite then compare how some coloured objects look under the GrafiLite as opposed to normal 'Energy Saving' light bulbs ... You'll quickly realise why I don't care one jot about the energy saving bit when it's a room I'm working/living in - colours look wrong. They are fine for the hallway and bathroom, but until they get a lot better in light quality I'll keep my tungsten lighting round the house (and yes, if they stop selling tungsten bulbs, I -will- stock up on spares! ;-)

I've seen the lamp advertised as having a CRI of 95 (also 90-93), so it could well be better than my Eye One suggests.

The Share software has one of the worst interfaces I've come across in a long while but it does include a spectrum of the light source. [Share software reviewed with the i1 Design]

It's the wavy line in the right hand circular window...

You'll notice that it's not exactly smooth, but for a fluorescent light it's pretty good.

The GrafiLite is not meant for accurate proof evaluation.

One thing you will have to be careful with is reflections from the surface of any prints.

It's quite easy to hold prints such that there is no obvious reflection, and by getting a slight curve, you can provide an even illumination over a larger area (similarly to how I'm holding the Pantone book to the right)

Where I find it really helps is comparing prints of my B/W test print.

I've got quite a variety of printers here and for black and white I like to compare different papers with their different colours and depths of blacks.

The paper/ink choice makes a big difference to how a print looks and some images work better with different papers.

I find that soft proofing doesn't help me too much here - there's no substitute (IMHO) for having a 'feel' for how paper/ink combinations look.

Having a constant viewing environment helps make that 'feel' more consistent...

Summary

An economic solution to improving the consistency and quality of your printed work.

Ideal for those who don't need to go to the expense of buying a full viewing cabinet or stand.

The design of the lamp means you do need to take care over reflections and evenness of illumination. You also need to pay attention to general room lighting and how you've set up your monitor to really get the most from using the GrafiLite.

The GrafiLite is available from a number of retailers (GrafiLite site) in the UK and Europe for around £50.

Note - If you find similar devices advertised, do check that they have genuine TrueColor tubes from Ott Lite in them - it's the mixture of phosphors in the tube that gives the quality of the light.

More Info

Other areas of our site that may be of interest...

NEW -- Create your own customised A3 size wall calendar from a choice of 90 of Keith's images. Choose your own images for your own custom printed calendar - 12 months starting any month of the year - many all new images not yet in our main gallery.

Digital Black and White. Keith was recently interviewed about digital black and white photography for a magazine article. We have an expanded version here covering some of his thoughts, techniques and tips for those thinking of trying black and white.

As well as our Commercial Photography services and Training there is a growing collection of photography Articles and Reviews on the site aimed at helping you get the best out of your own photography. We also have a growing collection of Photography related information and links that we hope you find useful.

New site features and some of Keith Cooper's latest work are always covered in the What's New page.

Visiting Leicester or wondering where it is? We have views from the Leicester traffic cameras.