A color tunable light source (10) includes multiple light emitting components (32, 34, 36), such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) or laser diodes (LDs) with different emission wavelengths, and multiple phosphors (24) with different excitation and emission wavelengths. The emission wavelengths of the different light emitting components are chosen to match the excitation wavelengths of the different phosphors. The light emitting components are powered by an electrical circuit (42, 44, 46), which allows separate control of the optical power output of the different wavelength LEDs/LDs. The light from the light emitting components is arranged to impinge on the combination of phosphors such that the phosphors are excited and emit light at their characteristic wavelengths. By separately adjusting the power to each LED/LD, the amount of light emitted by each phosphor, and hence, through color mixing, the color of the light emitted, is varied.