Ask the Expert Question-and-Answer Archive

by Ron Joseph

January, 2005

Converting Fed. Std. 595 Color to Pantone and RAL

Q. Could you please inform us if there is a table or something to compare Federal Standard Colors with the European RAL or PMS Colors? We are looking for the Federal Standard Color " 24373 / FS595A " Thanks already for your support, from The Netherlands

A. There is no table betwen these standards but they are ways to get the answers using a spectrophotometer and color conversion software.

The nearest PMS equivalent of FED-STD-595A #24373 is:
Pantone 7494 C with a color difference of 5.6 (DeltaE*ab), mostly due to lightness (the FED-STD chip is darker). This is a very noticeable difference.

The nearest RAL equivalent of FED-STD-595A #24373 is:
HLC: 130 70 20 with a color difference of about 6, due to both lightness and chroma (the FED-STD chip is darker and less saturated). This is also a very noticeable difference.

The exact RAL equivalent of FED-STD-595A #24373 is: HLC: 126 65.1 16.0
Note that RAL is based on a 10 degrees Observer and D65 Illuminant.

Other equivalents of FED-STD-595A #24373 are:
L*a*b* (D65, 10 degrees Observer):65.1/-9.5/12.9
L*a*b* (D65, 2 degrees Observer):65.5/-12.1/12.5
L*a*b* (D50, 2 degrees Observer):65.4/-11.4/12.0
Munsell: 8.2GY 6.4/2.5

If you have a RAL patch set, the FED-STD patch is about mid-way between the 130 70 20 and 120 60 10 patches.

Get back to us if you have more questions.

Best regards, from Canada

Danny Pascale