A light source includes features configured to compensate for discontinuous solid state sources. The light source can produce a wide color gamut in display, and improved color rendering of tissue under observation by phosphor gap filling with colored LEDs. The light source can include provisions to depart from a white light spectrum to heighten differences in anatomical features or functions. The light source can include provisions to introduce narrow-band solid-state sources for producing false-color and pseudo-color images, with variable color rendering to change the power spectral distribution and to compensate for fiber optic length and fiber optic diameter tip sensing.
