01-13-2011, 01:18 PM
Russ Bellinis Wrote:The only reason I would disagree is that your eyes are designed to work with daylight spectrum. If you are going to strictly limit your modeling time to no more than 30 minutes followed by at least 10 to 15 minutes of resting your eyes before another 30 minutes of modeling, you are right. Otherwise you are facing the choice between risking eye damage for the sake of your modeling. It comes down to the question of what trade offs are acceptable and what are not.
I have to disagree with you here a little. FWIW, my prspective comes from running an electronics repair shop in Alaska (no sunlight to speak of in December and January). When bean counters decided we needed to have more efficiency in our lighting, the XO and I did a lot of research on lighting. This is what we found:
- to avoid eyestrain and fatigue, adequate brightness was critical. Spectrum wasn't as critical. Clerical work - reading and writing and typing - should have at least 100ft candles at the work surface. Shop work with tools should be 150 ft candles or better. Let me tell you, very, very few places (except the very best offices and shops) have that bright a work environment. It's expensive, both to install and operate, although the high frequency flourescents are much more efficient. Work spaces that are not adequately lit induce the eyestrain and fatigue you mentioned.
Furthermore, I've never seen modeling workbenches even close to 100ft candles, much less 150 with ambient lighting. Which is why adding a task light or lighted magnifier is such a huge help. The really neat part I discovered is that adequate lighting reduces the need for magnification.
Most layouts are pretty poorly lit, too. Is the light really bright enough to read the car number or other important data without strain during switching moves? Can you see all the details on your prize engine that you paid $100+ for? Of course, if the layout is set for railfanning and not switching, then the lighting is all about setting the mood. Details are not as important as the mood, so lighting levels can be much lower.
Even worse, as human beings age their optical response in low light levels diminishes much faster than the rest of their vision. Which is why as we get older, we need closer to the cited light levels to be comfortable.
Having a spectrum similar to sunlight has a significant positive impact on emotional well being. When we switched from standard flourescents and yellow sodium lights to "happy lights" (full spectrum flourescent lights), we saw a 20+% decrease in behavior incidents that required supervisor involvement. This was with a workforce of 20-40 year old males who were allegedly pre-screened for suitability for Alaska living. The behavior, emotional, and productivity improvements under the happy lights certainly paid for the extra cost of the full spectrum lights.
Bottom line: lighting levels impact eyestrain and fatigue, spectrum influences emotions.
just my experiences
Fred W