Monitor settings
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I was not able to post to the windows forum, so if is the wrong place I apologize.
I am configuring f.lux for my computer and I would like to know the best way to set it up. I noticed it didn't seem to effect brightness settings on the monitor, so what would be the best way to configure that. Currently I am turning it down at night and turning it up in the morning.
As a side note, what is the black room effect used for typically? Are it's benefits that much greater?
Thanks
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F.lux is for adjusting the color temperature, not the brightness of your monitor's backlight. Yes, f.lux does have a brightness control (Page Up and Page Down), but that's a software brightness and it's just adding more black; the backlight's brightness is NOT affected by that.
To simplify everything, you want to avoid three things during the last couple of hours of your day:
- Bright light
- Cool light
- Loud sounds
So, you are doing the right thing by lowering your monitor's brightness using its onboard controls. You also want to lower your indoor lighting's brightness as much as possible (using dimmers and/or just less light sources). You also want to avoid ceiling lights if you can. The higher the location of the light source, the more alerting it is. Finally, you also want to set f.lux to the warmest color temperature that you can tolerate. I use 1200K with an extremely dim monitor brightness (0-10%).
Darkroom Mode simulates the look and feel of being in a photographer's darkroom (that is, when they are working with photo paper that doesn't react to red light). So, you get a very pure 800K with Darkroom, except everything is inverted. Why inverted? Because it simulates the photo negatives that you'd be working with! :)
So, how can I tolerate 1200K? To explain that, I first need to explain this: I have 4 different light sources in my room:
- Two 3-way floor lamps that have the SWITCH brand 3-Way lights in them:
1- One right next to me at my computer (it's close enough that if I extend my arm out toward it, the lamp's pole lines up with my wrist)
2- One right next to my bed - 3 extremely bright light bulbs in my ceiling fan's light fixture (they're 60W incandescent bulbs, but they're a special type of super-bright incandescent bulb)
- A little 3-way touch lamp (it's a desk lamp) right next to my bed that has a 60W candelabra bulb in it.
I rarely use my ceiling fan's light or my touch lamp. So really, the only lights I "have" are my floor lamps.
Ok, so here's why I had to explain all of that:
When I'm ready to let my body begin getting ready to go to sleep, I do this:
- Change f.lux to 1200K
- Reduce my monitor's brightness to 10%.
- Unscrew the SWITCH 3-WAY light from the floor lamp that's right next to me.
- Screw in my red FEIT LED light.
- Unscrew the SWITCH 3-WAY light from the floor lamp that's next to my bed.
- Screw in my other red FEIT LED light.
Now, this is still fairly alerting because it's a ton of light. I have done some testing and found that the brightness of these lights is almost identical to my SWITCH 3-WAYs at their highest setting (the 75W equivalent setting). Still, it's SIGNIFICANTLY less alerting than my SWITCH 3-WAYs set to their lowest setting, which is a 30W equivalent setting.
Now, when I have maybe ~30 minutes left before I will be going to sleep, I turn off the red FEIT LED in the floor lamp right next to me and then I lower my monitor's brightness to 0%. Sometimes I'll just turn my computer off and just sit and relax instead. It just depends on what I'm doing. Either way, when I turn off the lamp next to me, I feel it instantly. It's amazing that I can feel it because it's still pure red light.
So yeah, I would say that if you can do something similar to this, then you'll be golden.
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@Waffl3x you're doing a great job using a higher brightness in the daytime! Yes use a lower brightness at night.
I prefer 5800K as a daytime setting instead of the default 6500K but as always I've adjusted my monitor toa warmer tone and 6500K looks a bit warmer now.
