Which color do you prefer apart from white

I think about changing an LED light in another color. I am thinking about red to walk in the woods without ruining my light vision, Will orange also work? Which colors do you prefer besides white?

Thanks

edit: witch should be which

Re: Witch color do you prefer apart from white

According to my reading on CPF - red/orange seems to be the brighter led colour to go for in any given emitter, though I stand to be corrected by someone who knows what they're talking about. My own personal favorite for night time walks ( and my EDC) is green or cyan.

I did a test by eye last time I was in the woods and my green INOVA X1 seemed to be the best thing for clarity even tough it was up against much more powerful leds in various colours including white. I don't know why, but green seemed more 'comfortable' to my vision. I guess it could have been because I was surrounded by green stuff - never going to show up much with red led's anyway.

Try a few and see what you think. I'm sure you'll find that it will vary alot by what environment you're in.

By the way, My Cyan ARC LS first run was great for finding my way about a small cave system we visited recently - good definition and no glare that was demonstrated by my other two lights, a White KL3 and a White Orb Raw 3W.



Be lucky...

Re: Witch color do you prefer apart from white

Nyctophiliac said:

According to my reading on CPF - red/orange seems to be the brighter led colour to go for in any given emitter, though I stand to be corrected by someone who knows what they're talking about.

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I don't necessarily know what I'm talking about, but a 190 lumen red light won't seem as bright compared to a significantly dimmer green light because of how our eyes detect light. The human eye's peak sensitivity is around 555nm wavelength, which is green light. Red, on the other hand, is way on the far end of our sensitivity. That's why green laser pointers are the ones to have. Not because they're particularily powerful, but because we see them very well, which means they can be run at lower powers than a red would have to be to have comparable visibility. It's not really a direct relationship (as far as I know, which admitedly isn't much), but even if it's not as effecient lumen-wise, a green light could be more effecient to run human-eye wise.

Re: Witch color do you prefer apart from white

but remember, the R/O lux III will ruiin night vision, instead of preserving them.

Re: Witch color do you prefer apart from white

chesterqw said:

but remember, the R/O lux III will ruiin night vision, instead of preserving them.

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Yep, preserving your night vision is only possible with dim lights of any colour. My red led Gerber infinity ultra is good at it but only for medium ranges, any closer and it zaps your night vision. The Cyan ARC also ruins your night vision, not as much as white leds, but it still does. What I meant was it's very good at clarifying what you're looking at, at night, not that it doesn't dazzle.

Best light of all for night vision is my INOVA X1 red led mod. It's good at a distance because of the optics (it's an old style spotlight beam) but doesn't stir up the old Rhodopsin enough to notice with night adapted eyes - unless you catch it on the rebound from a mirror or window! It is also an EDC - a recommended mod.

I still say that since most of what you'll be looking at in the woods will be green, not red - a green led will be better in those conditions. Red led's make green things look black - green leds make green things look white, or at least will make green things brighter than anything else you're looking at - i.e. leaves, foliage, grass etc. Also I have read it somewhere that wildlife cannot see green as well as other colours, and I have seen a flashlight with green or cyan leds that is specifically manufactured for tracking/hunting with this in mind. Although my cat will chase a green beam as readily as any other colour. Predators tend to have good vision! (And sharp teeth and claws!!)


Be lucky...

Re: Witch color do you prefer apart from white

My prefered Witch color is White, those Black Witches can be NASTY!!!!!

However, the red/orange Witches do tend to be quite a bit brighter than most of the others. The Green Witches, though, tend to be VERY easy on the eyes if you are are in a high green environment.

The Cyan witch I have is very interesting in mixed surroundings, and I suspect that in a cave system it would be really cool. My Blue witch, while not quite as bright as all the others, really is useful in some applications, finding my way in a theater, etc.

But still, the White Witch is my favorite, especially when it comes in a 2D form factor and produces 2000 lumens or so through the lens, like a USL.:nana:

Bill

Re: Witch color do you prefer apart from white

Green and Yellow/Green.

Re: Witch color do you prefer apart from white

Planterz said:

I don't necessarily know what I'm talking about, but a 190 lumen red light won't seem as bright compared to a significantly dimmer green light because of how our eyes detect light. The human eye's peak sensitivity is around 555nm wavelength, which is green light. Red, on the other hand, is way on the far end of our sensitivity. That's why green laser pointers are the ones to have. Not because they're particularily powerful, but because we see them very well, which means they can be run at lower powers than a red would have to be to have comparable visibility. It's not really a direct relationship (as far as I know, which admitedly isn't much), but even if it's not as effecient lumen-wise, a green light could be more effecient to run human-eye wise.

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You're quite right, but green lasers are generally more powerful than red lasers.

Re: Witch color do you prefer apart from white

Another vote for green - your eyes see it better. Green LED old model CMG Infinity non-ultra light looked like it put out way more light than other colors, even if it was drawing the same current. Don't have green in anything bright.

Re: Witch color do you prefer apart from white

Thanks for the replies, I think I'm now thinking more of green or cyan.

bwaites said:

My prefered Witch color is White, those Black Witches can be NASTY!!!!!

However, the red/orange Witches do tend to be quite a bit brighter than most of the others. The Green Witches, though, tend to be VERY easy on the eyes if you are are in a high green environment.

The Cyan witch I have is very interesting in mixed surroundings, and I suspect that in a cave system it would be really cool. My Blue witch, while not quite as bright as all the others, really is useful in some applications, finding my way in a theater, etc.

But still, the White Witch is my favorite, especially when it comes in a 2D form factor and produces 2000 lumens or so through the lens, like a USL.:nana:

Bill

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And I guess my english spelling isn't very good, is it :lolsign: ... I will edit it for the comfort of other readers..

By the way, I found this as a nice reading about the subject:

http://flashlightreviews.com/qa/monochrome.htm

I like yellow-green (as in SureFire A2) best. It is a soft color that is great for reading when you want something subdued. Although other colors are very dim under yellow-green light, you can still tell what is what. Other light colors produce a more "monochrome" scene.

Red is a gread color for preserving dark-adapted vision. It isn't good for much else though.

Amber is also a very soft and subdued color, the best for penetrating fog in my experience, but other colors don't show up as well under amber LEDs as they do with yellow-green.

Green is a nice color, very bright. I rememebr having read where green was the best color for seeing shapes and the like. I don't know how true that is, but my green KL3 is very good for such things. Many things will flouresce under green light, like some cloth and packaging.

I was thrilled to be able to order a SureFire Kroma-Milspec. It has red and yellow-green LEDs in the same light, plus some other colors that I don't remember Yellow-green and red are my two favorite non-white colors, in that order. Green would be 3rd.

Cyan is a fun color too. I use a Cyan Aleph 3 for inspecting clear water tanks (penetrates water the farthest) and also for use with binoculars for checking things in the distance (eyes are most sensitive to that color).

I still have no idea why blue is useful.

Scott

Although green seems brigther, it sucks at color rendition, IMO. If color rendition is not an issue, then you may be OK.

After white, I like amber/yellow for overall use. Red works well too, but some people have trouble with depth perception when they use it. Blue is near the bottom of my list as it gives me headaches if I use it for too long.

That said, the ArcAAA on my keychain has a green LED.

Cyan?

oops!

daypro,

I didn't see your location or I wouldn't have razzed you, but it was just too good to pass up.

I applaud anyone using more than one language.

Bill

Re: Witch color do you prefer apart from white

Outdoors Fanatic said:

You're quite right, but green lasers are generally more powerful than red lasers.

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Not the legal ones. A high-end laser pointer in the US will be 5 mW, green or red. And the green will appear about 20x brighter than the red.

Re: Witch color do you prefer apart from white

Planterz said:

I don't necessarily know what I'm talking about, but a 190 lumen red light won't seem as bright compared to a significantly dimmer green light because of how our eyes detect light. The human eye's peak sensitivity is around 555nm wavelength, which is green light.

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Although you are perfectly right about the 555 nm for daylight vision, the term lumen takes care of this because you need to correlate your light accoding to the official CIE curve before you can give any lumen figure. Therefore, a 190 lumen red light should appear just as bright as a 190 lumen green light. Just a little friendly note!

Most of the red lights sold to 'preserve night vision' are actually r/o (~625-630nm) which is within the range that the rods are sensitive to, so as already mentioned, they don't fully preserve dark adapted vision. The use of r/o LEDs is an attmpt to make them more useful since any light above 640nm will be very difficult to see with. If the user turns up the brightness on a red light with a wavelength above rod sensitivity he risks burning an afterimage into his cones and it won't matter that he has preserved his rod sensitivity as the cone afterimage will overpower the weak rod image. Continuous variable output can't be beat for preserving dark adaptation for this reason.

I'm of the school (as mentioned in an earlier post) that prefers dimmed lights other than red for preserving dark adaptation. I prefer blue/green - cyan (490-510nm) for every task that does not require color rendering. My white ights are in the minority.

I used blue lights in technical theatre for years (and years). Blue is preferred there because it is perhaps the most easy color to hide from an audience.

The utility of monochromatic lights is highly subjective. It is also a learned experience. Practice makes perfect. We grew up and spend our days in 'white' light and it takes time to develop skills with colored lights. There really is such a thing as a trained eye -- even when you're just dealing with white light. When you switch to something as unfamiliar as a single colored light it's going to take some getting used to. I've put a great deal of time and effort into learning to use monochromatic lights in the last +20 years and I'm not only better at it than I was when I started -- I continue to improve.

I want something unusual. Something that won't interfere with my night vision. Something that can project across long distances with great throw and spill.

I want a black LED.

:naughty: