Light booths provide a controlled environment for judging color under different lighting conditions. They can help visually evaluate how different types of light will affect the perception of color, evaluate the color of raw materials before and after production, and ensure different components will remain uniform once they’re assembled.
But not all light booths are the same.
With NIST traceability and ISO 17025 accreditation, X-Rite offers worldwide competence in calibration, certification, service, and support to ensure you and your supply chain achieve the highest level of color accuracy and consistency.
Today we’ll look at the evolution of lighting solutions and explain why X-Rite light booths, based on Gretag Macbeth technology, are recognized as the industry standard for visual color evaluation.
GretagMacbeth: A Rich History in Controlled Lighting
Gretag + Macbeth + X-Rite have a long, established reputation for color technology expertise. Through a series of strategic mergers and acquisitions, they have become the leaders in color science and technology.
- The Macbeth Artificial Daylighting Company was founded in 1915 to provide daylight fixtures to retailers in New York City. They also developed the first lighting system to simulate daylight.
- Gretag AG was established in 1946 in Switzerland and initially specialized in electromechanical technology and lighting products. In 1997 Gretag AG merged with Macbeth.
- X-Rite was founded in 1957 by a group of engineers and business entrepreneurs who had a desire to start a business based on innovation. After inventing X-Ray tape, they moved into densitometry and introduced their first spectrophotometer and colorimeter in the late 1980’s. in 2006, X-Rite acquired GretagMacbeth. Learn more about the history of X-Rite in this blog.
Gretag Macbeth still lives on through X-Rite with the same expertise, products, and even some of the same personnel. Today, X-Rite offers a variety of lighting solutions, all manufactured to rigorous quality standards, including:
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Pantone 3: Compact light booth with stylish design and 3 light sources for entry level visual assessment
- Judge QC: Light booth with 5 light sources for entry level visual assessment
- SpectraLight QC: Light booth with 7 light sources for the most critical visual assessment
- X-Rite Harmony Room: Customizable fit and finish room with SpectraLight QC luminaires for visual evaluation of assembled and oversized items
Benefits of X-Rite Lighting Solutions
A light booth can simulate many different types of light, including:
- Blue sky daylight (D50, D65)
- Horizon (SpectraLight exclusive)
- Fluorescent (TL83/TL84/U30/U35)
- CWF
- CIE A Incandescent (a typical light bulb)
- UV Ultraviolet (for detecting optical brightening and fluorescent whitening agents)
- LED
Formerly branded Gretag, Macbeth, or GretagMacbeth, here’s how X-Rite light booths can help you ensure color harmony throughout your supply chain.
- Eliminate False Readings – X-Rite’s daylight-based technology delivers an incredibly accurate simulation of natural daylight. Since Daylight lighting is evenly balanced across the color spectrum, X-Rite light booths provide the most constant, accurate rendering of color.
- Avoid Metamerism – Metamerism is a phenomenon in which samples match under one light source but not another. Macbeth lighting solutions offer multiple light sources that allow for viewing under different conditions to remove the risk of metamerism.
- Make Targeted Choices – By trusting the color you see, you can make educated decisions based on product type, color requirements, and industry demands.
- Conform to International Standards – X-Rite lighting products conform to or exceed all major international standards for visual evaluation of color.
- User Friendly – Products and components are readily available and designed for easy access for servicing and lamp replacement
- Certification & Calibration – X-Rite offers a variety of services to ensure your light booth continues to perform to original specifications. Our extensive support options include repair, calibration and certification, warranty, and service contracts. You can choose the options that best fit your needs and budget.
X-Rite Light Booth Field Service Certification
We also offer a field service certification program to ensure your light booth continues to perform to original specifications. Upon enrollment, a qualified X-Rite service engineer will come to your location to perform preventive maintenance and certify your device on the schedule you choose. The technician will measure and document color temperature and brightness and compare them against device specifications to ensure compliance, offer usability suggestions and answer any questions you have about your light booth.
Learn More and Upgrade
Lighting has everything to do with how color looks and is important to evaluate before shipment. If you’d like to learn more about the benefits of controlled lighting, consider the following:
- Available both in person and online, our Fundamentals of Color and Appearance course is a one-day seminar for quality control & assurance professionals, lab technicians, parts suppliers, manufacturing specifiers, or anyone who evaluates or approves color.
- Our Color Perception Blog Series offers a non-technical introduction to the way light affects our perception of color.
- 10 Tips for Visually Evaluating Color blog offers best practices to ensure your quality control program is the best it can be.
If you’re still using an older GretagMacbeth light booth, now may be the time to upgrade. Find your upgrade path, or get in touch for custom help from an X-Rite Color Expert.
