What colors are your eyes most sensitive too?

B

bsjoelbs

Joined
Jan 2, 2005
Messages
61
I'm thining of getting a micro photon for self defensive purposes, I'm wondering which color of light would make you lose your night vision the fastest, and which color are your eyes most sensitive to when your eyes are adjusted to the dark?
 
im not sure about in the dark but our eyes are most sensative to green light, cant remember the exact wavelength though and Im not sure if this would make you loose your nightvision faster than white light
 
Deep red is best for when you don't want to loose your night vision. Regular lights (white, green, blue etc) will cause your pupils to contract and then you have to go through that 10-20 minute dark adaptation thing again. And, I've also heard that green is the color the eye is most sensitive to.
 
Lots of discussion on this topic. short answer is that right around turquoise will seem brightest to the eyes. i.e. if you had 1 lumen of light coming out of several different leds the turquoise would seem the brightest. regarding night vision any light above a certain level will cause you to lose your night vision, but try a search in this forum or candlepower forums and you'll probably find more discussion than you know what to do with. for a very clear breakdown take a look here: http://flashlightreviews.com/qa.htm#nightvision Great site by the way, and you might be interested in the rest of the led info.

Pete

edit: found it. from that site: The rods only detect light, (no color - you see in black and white with them) and are most sensitive to light at about 500 nm (turquoise). If you want to preserve your night vision, red greater than or equal 620 nm will do it.
 
Blue light will degrade your night vision more than other colors. our eyes are most sensitive to green, so it only takes a little bit of green light to light our way. Red and amber/yellow are also good for preserving night vision, but blue is NOT.

D@mn blue-white headlights glare me out worse than anything.

Check out this page -- http://www.lightshipenterprises.net/colors.html
 
I don't know that I'd want to try using a Photon as a SD solution, though. .in fact, any single LED light that's not a Luxeon would probably be a bad idea IMO, just on the off chance that they'd decide to blink when you lit the light. There are plenty of more powerful lights in a fairly easy to carry size that would be much brighter.
 
If you want to blind someone with a flashlight, you need to bring something more substantial than a keychain light. A Surefire G2 for example is still pretty easy to carry daily and it doubles as a kubotan.

If you just want it to light your way, you'll need a red LED in order to preserve your night vision.

yuzuha said:
Regular lights (white, green, blue etc) will cause your pupils to contract and then you have to go through that 10-20 minute dark adaptation thing again.
Click to expand...

Full adaptation can actually take up to several hours.
 
Yeah, I know, but 20 min is usually good enough for random star-gazing and such. Besides, I've never found a place that is really dark anyway (except in the mountains and I didn't bring my scope on that trip :( ) And, even when you do manage to find a good patch of gloom, odds are it won't stay that way for more than an hour before some idiot flicks on a yard light or a passing car manages to zap your eyeballs (even happened to me out in the middle of a corn field in Iowa) Astronomy and city dwelling just don't mix all that well :rolleyes:
 
yuzuha said:
Yeah, I know, but 20 min is usually good enough for random star-gazing and such.
Click to expand...

Sure, that's why I underlined the word full. ;)

By the way, I currently read Andy Stansford's book Fight At Night.

Very interesting book on dark adaptation, night vision equipment etc so far.
 
Did you read this thread before you posted?

pjenkins000 said:
The rods only detect light, (no color - you see in black and white with them) and are most sensitive to light at about 500 nm (turquoise).
Click to expand...


yuzuha said:
Regular lights (white, green, blue etc) will cause your pupils to contract and then you have to go through that 10-20 minute dark adaptation thing again. And, I've also heard that green is the color the eye is most sensitive to.
Click to expand...

Esav Benyamin said:
Blue light will degrade your night vision more than other colors. our eyes are most sensitive to green, so it only takes a little bit of green light to light our way.
Click to expand...
 
bsjoelbs said:
what color would be the best to blind someone with?
Click to expand...

Why? You planning on turning a flashlight into a weapon? Doesn't seem at all practical since using it would destroy your own dark adaptation. That said, the most efficient thing would be ordinary flash bulbs or a camera strobe. The intensity is high enough to bleach the lumirhodopsin and at least you can close your eyes while firing it.
 
A lot of companies push using light as a weapon. There are factory produced lights that are strengthened to use as a "whoopin' stick", as well as aftermarket accessories to turn a lot of different lights into the same. And if I shine my brightest light in your face, it won't blind me nearly as much as it will you. (Actually, if it were MY brightest light, you'd need to worry about burns as well as brightness. .)

Long story short, lots of people look upon their lights as a possible SD asset. Some are so confident they ONLY carry a light, and nothing else. Me, I'd be just as happy to shoot as spot. .
 
I see, so you're talking more about making someone cringe and cover their eyes so you have a momentary advantage rather than actually blinding them for a short while. Still think a flashbulb would be more effective at stunning and partially blinding someone until you could dig out the pepper spray or whatever. If an assailant has a gun, a flashlight may make them cringe and cover their eyes, but they might just decide to shoot towards the light and get you before you can do anything. Might scare off punks though.
 
green light at aproximately 550 nm wavelength is the most visible colored light to the human eye, and the deviation from that wavelength and visibility is a steep curve, at 800 nm the light is infra red, and below 350nm the light is ultra violet (both invisible to the human eye, though in the transitional areas we can see a little bit of them.) ever seen a green laser pointer with the same power compared side by side with a red one? one is 532 nm one is 650 nm, the difference is so vast that at night the green lasers beam is visible at 5 mw!

Tony
 
yuzuha said:
Why? You planning on turning a flashlight into a weapon? Doesn't seem at all practical since using it would destroy your own dark adaptation. That said, the most efficient thing would be ordinary flash bulbs or a camera strobe. The intensity is high enough to bleach the lumirhodopsin and at least you can close your eyes while firing it.
Click to expand...

Close one eye completely, hit your assailant fully in the face with a burst of light from a Surefire A2 or E2e, then use your other eye to guide you as you hightail it out of the situation.

Of course if you are being assaulted with a ranged weapon like a firearm then you need a different strategy. But light has a place in a non-lethal defense arsenal, IMHO.
 
I think that a small led is very useful to allow you to be aware of your surroundings. paying attention to where you are and making sure that you don't get in a bad situation is very valuable. people like to hide in shadows. i agree that an surefire e2e or brighter would be ideal to temporarily blind someone. they say you should close the strong eye. it's the one where if you close and open the other eye your field of view doesn't move. take a look at don rearic's site, he has some interesting articles on nighttime awareness.

Pete
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top