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3200k vs 4000k vs 5600k

By Frank Schabell > Lead Lighting Design at Pro Church Lights

What Color Temperature Is Best For Church Stage Lights?

You’ve seen it before… a church worship service live stream with people that appear way to yellow or orange, maybe way too blue or even purple. This all comes down to incorrect stage lighting color temperature.

Color temperature is a critical component to achieving a great and accurate looking worship service both in-person and on the live stream. Stage Lighting Color temperature also directly contributes towards creating a comfortable and intimate worship environment.

We’ll discuss some things you can to right away to achieve white crisp light on your stage and in your auditorium. If you’d like to chat with a Pro Church Lights Lighting Expert – Be sure to fill out the form to the left <——-  A church lighting expert can answer your questions and help steer your lighting system in the right direction no matter how large or small your church is.

What Is Color Temperature?

LED lighting products are offered in a variety of color temperatures in varying hues of white. The most common color temperature options when looking at stage lights are 3200k and 5600k. Sometimes referred to as Warm White (3200k) and Cool White (5600k). Correlated color temperature, or ‘CCT’, is a term for how warm (yellow) or cool (blue) the color of light outputted from an LED fixture appears. Color temperature is measured in units of Kelvin (K) – on a scale of 1,000 to 10,000. Lets use the sun as an example…

The sun changes color, measured in degrees Kelvin, over the course of the day. The suns color temperature around noon may be 6000K, or very bright bluish-white. At sunset, temperatures may be below 3000K – a very warm amber / yellow light.

Examples of Color Temperature

The image below displays the color temperature range from 1,000k to 10,000k. As you can see, the lower the number the more yellow/orange or “warm” the color of the light appears. On the opposite side of the spectrum, the higher the number the more blue or “cool” the light appears.

Church stage lighting color temperature

Once again – current LED stage lights are typically available in 3200k and 5600k. The sweet spot though for most church stages is 4000k. Lets look at some real world examples… and then we’ll tell you how to achieve that sweet spot 4000k color temperature…

In this first picture to the left, the color temperature is 2800k. This color temperature produces a yellow/orange tone on the skin making it look un-natural. The color is too “warm” and not ideal.

In the second picture, the color temperature is too “cool”, making the skin appear blue. This is usually caused by using the wrong fixture type to light you stage, such as RGBW fixtures. Do not light your stage with RGBW lights!

In the third picture shown, you can see the skin is a natural color and is not distracting. The color temperature of this light is 4000k. Which is the “sweet spot”. So how do you achieve 4000k?… Read on!

What Color Temperature Is Best For Church Stage Lights?

The stage light color temperature you should try to achieve is 4000k!

So – why is this the magic number? Here are 4 reasons why we advise you to achieve 4000k color temperature in your auditorium.

1. 4000k produces a crisp white light that is not too yellow and not too blue.

2. 4000k works well in auditoriums with or without windows.

3. 4000k will produce the most accurate skin tones.

4. It is comfortable, pleasing to the eye and crisp for both your in-person worship environment and live stream.

Since achieving the correct color temperature varies depending on your existing lighting setup – it would be best to talk to a PCL Church Lighting Expert to determine your best path to 4000k.

All Pro Church Lighting fixtures ship with a filter that gives you that crisp and perfect white light for your stage and live stream.

A great NEXT STEP is to download our Catalog. Use the link below to request yours today!

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