Ideal cut diamond and lighting conditions

[jramy278]

Disclaimer: please excuse me if this is a terribly dumb q! I'm just trying to learn based on my observations.

We all have seen that diamonds behave completely different in various lighting conditions, going from bright white to dark and sparkly to glassy. I was wondering - when diamonds are cut to "ideal" proportions (for eg. The parameters in the cheat sheet often circulated), what lighting conditions are they being cut for? Ie if diamonds are technically supposed to be cut for superior light performance, what light conditions are their specs meant to be optimized for?

Thanks for entertaining my noob questions!

 

[MissGotRocks]

I don't think they are cut for lighting conditions. They are cut for light performance which means they return optimal light. How much light they return depends on the lighting condition - daylight, low light. LED light, etc. All of those lighting conditions produce different strength of light which will of course affect how much light the stone is able to return to the viewer's eye. Hope this makes sense - I'm sure someone else could explain it more eloquently than this.

I was once told that daylight is the optimal light to view a diamond in BUT not direct sunlight as most stones will go dark in direct sunlight.

 

[jramy278]

I don't think they are cut for lighting conditions. They are cut for light performance which means they return optimal light. How much light they return depends on the lighting condition - daylight, low light. LED light, etc. All of those lighting conditions produce different strength of light which will of course affect how much light the stone is able to return to the viewer's eye. Hope this makes sense - I'm sure someone else could explain it more eloquently than this.

I was once told that daylight is the optimal light to view a diamond in BUT not direct sunlight as most stones will go dark in direct sunlight.

Ah yes light performance, thank you! So if diamonds are cut for optimal light performance, but light performance is dependent on the lighting conditions, then essentially, what light conditions are they optimizing the cut for? Or am I missing something here?

 

[braga123]

I hope someone answers this question because I would love to know the answer!

 

[MissGotRocks]

I really don't think they are optimizing the cut for any particular lighting. Diamonds look different in all types of lighting and environments. They reflect light back to you depending on lighting conditions - they are reflectors - like mirrors. It would be like asking if a mirror is designed to pick up more pink colors than blue. They will reflect back more light in a well lit environment as opposed to a dimly lit environment. It's the lighting - not the cut of the diamond.

 

[MarionC]

The best thing for you to do is go to some of the comparison videos made by Good Old Gold on youTube. I think it will answer all your questions.
He compares several stones lined up together in various lighting conditions. He shows the same stones in daylight and under spotlights. It's interesting to see which lighting turns on which properties. All the best sparkle can come from a diamond that doesn't always have the top "fire", and vise versa.
He also has a rating system with his diamonds - don't know much about it, but shows three properties of performance in diamonds. Each diamond has a varying degree of performance under the 3 conditions that is unique to that particular stone.

 

[Tourmaline]

If you are wanting to know in which lighting conditions diamonds look best, my personal favorite is overcast natural light.

 

[Missy]

Good question. For my diamond (OEC) optimal lighting conditions is low light. It looks am zing in low light. I don't know the technical details of why it does but just that it does. I also love it's chameleon like nature with different lighting environments and my least favorite lighting condition is as MissGotRocks noted-direct sunlight where it is at its darkest.

 

[MissGotRocks]

I don't think the poster is asking what lighting conditions show your diamond off best - they are asking what lighting conditions an ideal cut stone is cut for - and I don't think there really is an answer for this question. Diamonds are cut for light performance - not cut for a particular lighting environment. Huge difference. Hopefully someone else can chime in to explain this better than I have!

 

[jramy278]

Thanks everyone for your replies! I have seen the GOG videos and played around with my own diamond in various lighting conditions.

I don't think the poster is asking what lighting conditions show your diamond off best - they are asking what lighting conditions an ideal cut stone is cut for - and I don't think there really is an answer for this question. Diamonds are cut for light performance - not cut for a particular lighting environment. Huge difference. Hopefully someone else can chime in to explain this better than I have!

Yes this is what I'm asking. I do understand there is a huge difference between light performance and light environment; I just thought in the case of a diamond, the light performance is dependent on the amount of light that's entering the diamond (ie lighting environment) - maybe that's where I'm confusing things/going wrong? I think the parameters the stones are cut to for "ideal light performance" are solely based on the physics behind the light ray angles and total internal reflection? And the different lighting conditions simply change the volume of light entering at various angles, and hence not the diamond performance, simply how much light is perceived by our eye?

 

[baby monster]

If I recall correctly, in the thread on color, one of the vendors wrote that modern diamonds are cut for overhead lighting while the antique ones for seating level light.

 

[c-k]

I would think...an Ideal cut diamond will reflect light/light performance better in all light conditions than a poor cut stone.

 

[MissGotRocks]

Thanks everyone for your replies! I have seen the GOG videos and played around with my own diamond in various lighting conditions.

I don't think the poster is asking what lighting conditions show your diamond off best - they are asking what lighting conditions an ideal cut stone is cut for - and I don't think there really is an answer for this question. Diamonds are cut for light performance - not cut for a particular lighting environment. Huge difference. Hopefully someone else can chime in to explain this better than I have!

Yes this is what I'm asking. I do understand there is a huge difference between light performance and light environment; I just thought in the case of a diamond, the light performance is dependent on the amount of light that's entering the diamond (ie lighting environment) - maybe that's where I'm confusing things/going wrong? I think the parameters the stones are cut to for "ideal light performance" are solely based on the physics behind the light ray angles and total internal reflection? And the different lighting conditions simply change the volume of light entering at various angles, and hence not the diamond performance, simply how much light is perceived by our eye?

Yes, I think you've probably summed it up well.