RE: Ion blue lights - a test report

[Brett Dikeman <quattro@arthur.malebolge.com>]

>Well, surprise - surprise! They really work! In use they do not appear to be
>blue to the driver. They appear to be a hotter, whiter-white than are standard
>halogen bulbs. Everything regardless of color appears to be much more

This is because the human eye and brain adjust to maintain the same "white
point" so to speak.  CCD cameras and such do not, which is why they must be
recalibrated for a different lighting setup when, to the human eye, the
lighting looks the same.  The driver's eyes are constantly exposed to this
different color temperature light, and so his/her eyes adjust, while others
do not.

To illustrate this, borrow a lighting technician's gel sample book,
preferably one with "correction filters."  These are used to make
flourescent and other high-color-temperature lights look more "natural",
and the other way around(try and make a tungsten lamp look like a
halogen+so on.)

Take one of the light-blue correction filters(raises color temp) and hold
it in front of your eye for about 30-60 seconds, keeping other eye closed.
Remove gel.  Notice how the room seems a lot "warmer"?  Goes the other way
too...find the color "Bastard Amber"(significantly lowers color temp) and
hold that up....presto-amazo, after you remove it, the room will be a lot
"cooler" or will seem very blue(or blue-green if you have flourescent
lighting.)

My lighting design teacher illustrated this by turning on only blue-gelled
instruments during our class in the theater.  When he turned on the house
lights, we all remarked how lively the theater(painted almost entirely
black) looked.  A dreary winter day seemed a little better too :)


>randrews@post.cis.smu.edu (Robert Paul Andrews) wrote:
>> Well guys, a company has Ion blue lighting bulbs for our Audis.  They
>> are $35 for the pair for my 90.  These are similar to those found in
>> Benz and the new Mark VIII.  I'm thinking about cuz they do look so
No, they're NOT.
Ion blue is a cheap ripoff aimed at people who don't know the difference.

I personally never believed any of the marketing gimmicks about the "ion"
crap...just another "gel" to me...and as anyone can tell you, a gel has an
index that indicates how much light it takes _out_.  Any coating, of any
kind, can only limit the amount of light passing through.

Brett

PS:Blue-gelled instruments are used all the time in theater for things like
scene changes.  Why?  Because when it "spills"(ie, goes where it's not
supposed to) it doesn't show very well against things.  Red, for example,
would be very, very obvious if it spilled out onto stage.  Blue isn't.  It
also is used with flashlights and so on because it maintains night vision.

------
Brett Dikeman
brett@pdikeman.ne.mediaone.net
~)-|
Hostes alienigeni me abduxerunt.  Qui annus est?
Te audire non possum.  Musa sapientum fixa est in aure.
Ita, scio hunc 'sig file' veterem fieri.
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