Gamma Ray / Gunnar glasses
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Guys, I am really confused about blue blocker glasses. They all claim to block blue light, but its seems that not all "blocking" is equal. I couldnt find any reasonable test so I just decided based on reviews and design to buy Gamma Ray Glasses.
They fit pretty well, dont look stupid & I can see the difference with and without them, so the blocking seems to "work"..
However, now I was playing with f.luxometer and tried to apply some filters including Gamma Ray or Gunners and I was shocked.
When fully exposed to LED bulbs, phones or screens at 6500K, the glasses seem to have minimal effect !!
For instance with iPhone 6+, the phase shift is 1h:18min and when the glasses are applied the shift is 1h:10min !!, What !?Is there a bug in the system or is the blocking effect of these glasses so low !
In comparison "melatonin shades" seem to block almost everything and bring the phase shift down to 2mins ! This is a huge difference.
Can anyone shade some light on this ? Are there any reasonable tests of the blue blocking glasses ?
Thanks ! Rob
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here are the links to above
Gamma Ray:
https://fluxometer.com/rainbow/#!id=iPhone 6+/6500K-iPhone6+&filter=filter/Gamma Ray GlassesMelatonin Shades
https://fluxometer.com/rainbow/#!id=iPhone 6+/6500K-iPhone6+&filter=filter/Melatonin Shades -
Yes, this is a real, accurate measurement, and we think the model is reasonably "right" for circadian and alertness applications. It's possible that eyestrain may be helped by less intense tints, but we don't have a model to explain that.
The eye's visual system (the "three cone" system) is very good at distinguishing small changes in color, so there are a lot of colors between white and "no blue light". If you've painted your walls you'll know that one drop of pigment can make you see an "off-white" color, but this doesn't mean there is a lot of pigment there. This is because the three types of cones are doing very careful comparisons to understand small changes in color. And then, the same thing happens with filters -- we are very sensitive to colors that are "nearly clear".
On the other hand, your non-visual system (the blue-green-sensitive melanopsin cells in your retina, with input from the rods and cones) seems to care more about the absolute intensity of light, and it isn't relying so much on these tiny comparisons to decide what "color" a light is. This system is more sensitive to blue-green light, which is why we are talking about "colors" at all, but it's not making tiny color comparisons like your 3-cone system is.
The trouble comes when people try to reason that what they see visually must be the same as what their non-visual system is seeing, and they are just not the same. Small changes in whitepoint are probably not as important as people think.
For now we have to say that pretty noticeable changes are needed to make a difference.
Because these systems are different, as people get better at spectral engineering, some of these non-visual changes may be made so you can't even see them. Two recent examples include BIOS lighting and Soraa Sky:
http://bioslighting.com/bios-skyblue-lighting-technology/
http://www.soraahome.com/BIOS is engineering lights that stimulate your body to think it's day without being "blue" and Soraa is making lights that are "darker" to your non-visual system while appearing more like a normal lightbulb.
