Metamer Mismatch Volumes of Flat Grey

Metamer mismatching refers to the fact that two objects reflecting light causing identical colour signals (i.e., cone response or XYZ) under one illumination may reflect light causing nonidentical colour signals under a second illumination. As a consequence of metamer mismatching, two objects appearing the same under the first illuminant can be expected to appear different under the second illuminant. Metamers of the flat grey reflectance (i.e., 50% across the visible spectrum) are of particular interest since they show the potential seriousness of metamer mismatching. Metamer mismatching of flat grey is very significant for some lights and includes the possibility of 20 objects having the same colour signal as flat grey under red light dispersing into a whole hue circle under a neutral (“white”) light. Flat grey under LED illumination is also shown to have a significant metamer mismatch volume when the light is changed to D65.