Blue Light Screen Filter

[Fletcher]

I use a program called Flux to automatically change the color of my monitors once the sun goes down. It makes the monitors easier to look at during the night. It works based on geographic location and can be disabled if needed. The blue light coming off your monitor isn't bad for your eyes necessarily but it does trick your brain into thinking it's daytime.

You will just need to install the software and tell it where you are in the world. Once it starts adjusting the monitor you just have to adjust the color output to match the lights of your room. It's very simple and once you're done then it works by itself each day automatically.

https://justgetflux.com/

I would also suggest swapping out your bulbs for LEDs as they burn out. The energy savings is amazing once you have enough! Just make sure you get the right color temperature.

http://www.westinghouselighting.com/color-temperature.aspx

[Vraciu]

I use a program called Flux to automatically change the color of my monitors once the sun goes down. It makes the monitors easier to look at during the night. It works based on geographic location and can be disabled if needed. The blue light coming off your monitor isn't bad for your eyes necessarily but it does trick your brain into thinking it's daytime.

You will just need to install the software and tell it where you are in the world. Once it starts adjusting the monitor you just have to adjust the color output to match the lights of your room. It's very simple and once you're done then it works by itself each day automatically.

https://justgetflux.com/

I would also suggest swapping out your bulbs for LEDs as they burn out. The energy savings is amazing once you have enough! Just make sure you get the right color temperature.

http://www.westinghouselighting.com/color-temperature.aspx

I run that software and love it.   Downside is it is disabled by AH when I start the game.  Boo.

As for LEDs that's precisely what I do NOT want in my house.  I am trying to reduce blue light not increase it.   I have a stockpile of incandescent bulbs I guard with my life.    I am not a fan of LED or fluorescent.    Can't stand them. 

But your reply is appreciated.   

[Bizman]

Adjusting your monitor reduces everything that has an opposite colour. And every colour has one, even those you can't see. So, since there's only three colour sliders in the Windows calibration tool, reducing blue will reduce every shade of it.

As stated in the archlighting link, viewing directly a concentrated directional light (of a diode) can be unpleasant but doesn't pose a risk at a normal brightness level. Plus the light is most often ambient, you aren't supposed to look directly at any kind of light bulb anyway.

Reducing brightness along with the blues isn't a bad idea, it will further reduce the effect of the remaining blue light.

[Vraciu]

Got it.  (I think.)

I still despise anything that isn't natural or incandescent.   I have never liked fluorescent but my aversion has increased with age.   LEDs seem to compound the problem.

Funny though, when I transitioned from a glass cockpit (same airplane make and model) that had CRTs to one that has LEDs I noticed I can't see the screens as well through sunglasses.   Without a side-by-side comparison I don't know if that's a brightness issue or a filtering one. 

 

[Bizman]

Are you saying that you're wearing sunglasses while playing or are you talking about real planes? Sunglasses can have issues with any lights, especially polarized ones.

If you're comparing monitors, there's quite a many variables. LED vs. fluorescent is obvious, within LEDs there's both backlit and side lit models. Plus the various panel types, TN, VA, IPS etc.

Fluorescent has been around for quite some time, LEDs are starting to be up to the task. LEDs are my favourite, they don't flicker like fluorescents and their energy consumption is low. I must admit that I like the warm glow of the traditional bulbs, so when buying new lamps I take the warmest white I can find. The first LEDs I bought were blue as Inuit hell and so dim I couldn't see a thing. The ones I now have cause neither insomnia nor migraine. YMMV.

[Drano]

LED bulbs come in a multitude of colors also. I'm not talking about red or green or blue. I'm taking about the color temp, the rating in degrees Kelvin. I believe the wifi enabled ones you could literally make any actual color you like.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

[Vraciu]

LED bulbs come in a multitude of colors also. I'm not talking about red or green or blue. I'm taking about the color temp, the rating in degrees Kelvin. I believe the wifi enabled ones you could literally make any actual color you like.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

Wifi-enabled?   That's wild.  Hehehe never heard of that.

[Vraciu]

Are you saying that you're wearing sunglasses while playing or are you talking about real planes? Sunglasses can have issues with any lights, especially polarized ones.

If you're comparing monitors, there's quite a many variables. LED vs. fluorescent is obvious, within LEDs there's both backlit and side lit models. Plus the various panel types, TN, VA, IPS etc.

Fluorescent has been around for quite some time, LEDs are starting to be up to the task. LEDs are my favourite, they don't flicker like fluorescents and their energy consumption is low. I must admit that I like the warm glow of the traditional bulbs, so when buying new lamps I take the warmest white I can find. The first LEDs I bought were blue as Inuit hell and so dim I couldn't see a thing. The ones I now have cause neither insomnia nor migraine. YMMV.

Real planes.  Real screens.  Non-polarized (you can't see as well through the windscreen with polarized lenses).

I like my fluorescents.   I will be doing lots of bulb replacing when my new house gets built.  Lol!

[Bizman]

Rgr, I just wanted to make sure since we've been discussing monitors so far. A passenger pilot once told me about polarized lenses not being suitable for flying for the very reason you said. I've also noticed that polarized lenses and lcd panels don't mix, tilting your head makes the displays go black. For what I've noticed and heard from my car repair man, universal LED panel lights are available but they don't last long possibly because of the large variation in the current. LEDs being very directional is another factor why they don't automatically fit as a replacement for an omni-directional bulb or tube.

By the way, there's a lot of blue light outside and people have lived happily with it since the days of Adam and Eve. So the main issue with it is that viewing a blue-ish screen after dark is actually prolonging daylight and fooling your system to be active instead of preparing for sleep. Actually, for what I've noticed, a clear morning seems to be bluer than the evening, possibly affecting our wake up mood. Reciprocally, an orange sunset calms us down. Sitting at a fire in the dark is very meditative as you probably know... Those are the light conditions the caveman within us is accustomed to and altering their rhythm will cause issues.

[Ramesis]

I had so many x-rays as a kid that the point is moot.  They didn't realize they were bad for you and I wound up landing on my head regularly.  That explains a few things, eh?   

If settings adjustment works I will be glad for that.   Still prefer something to put in front of the screen. 

If f-lux would stay enabled while playing AH that would be a start.

Before the strokes I spent 33 yrs as a field engineer installing, servicing cancer therapy systems, diagnostic X-ray, CT and MRI 
I'm guessing I made it through those years without any appreciable damage 
Oh wait... the strokes 

[bustr]

You could always try amber shooting lenses or blue blockers. Below is from a study about sleep disorders due to blue light and outcomes tested wearing amber lenses. I've worn amber shooting lenses instead of upping the gamma for low light conditions in AH2 which helped seeing the cons in ground clutter.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20030543

[SirNuke]

I use f.lux, helps at night. It automatically takes the blue out at night (or whenever you want it to really).

https://justgetflux.com/

great app! Also works with games

[Vraciu]

great app! Also works with games

Doesn't work with AH3. 

[Vraciu]

Rgr, I just wanted to make sure since we've been discussing monitors so far. A passenger pilot once told me about polarized lenses not being suitable for flying for the very reason you said. I've also noticed that polarized lenses and lcd panels don't mix, tilting your head makes the displays go black. For what I've noticed and heard from my car repair man, universal LED panel lights are available but they don't last long possibly because of the large variation in the current. LEDs being very directional is another factor why they don't automatically fit as a replacement for an omni-directional bulb or tube.

By the way, there's a lot of blue light outside and people have lived happily with it since the days of Adam and Eve. So the main issue with it is that viewing a blue-ish screen after dark is actually prolonging daylight and fooling your system to be active instead of preparing for sleep. Actually, for what I've noticed, a clear morning seems to be bluer than the evening, possibly affecting our wake up mood. Reciprocally, an orange sunset calms us down. Sitting at a fire in the dark is very meditative as you probably know... Those are the light conditions the caveman within us is accustomed to and altering their rhythm will cause issues.

Natural blue light is one thing.   Artificial blue light, especially with the intensity of LEDs is a threat to your vision. 

We don't stare at blue light in nature anywhere close to the amount we do with PEDs, TVs,  computer monitors, etc.    Sleep rhythm is simply not a concern for me.   Macular degeneration is.



'LED (or solid-state) lighting sources are designed to emit all energy within the wavelength range of human vision, making LEDs the most energy-efficient commercially manufactured light. However, many current “white-light” LED designs emit much more blue light than conventional lamps, which has a number of health implications...'
 

[Bizman]

You're right about the "white light" LEDs as well as in your comment about the amount of watching artificial blue light sources. Actually, now that I think about it, reviews praising smart phones, tablets and laptops for their brightness in daylight conditions suddenly got an alarming side tone. People staring at a handheld monitor outside on a sunny day must get more than their share of blue light.

Again, as I've said before, your eyes can measure the amount of blue light pretty well until they get accustomed to the bluer lighting conditions. As long as you have something to compare with like looking out of the window and back into your lit room you can tell differences in the colour temperature.

LED lighting has gone a long way from the very blue dim ones to the current options. A similar progression could be seen in fluorescent tubes several years earlier. Not knowing your age I can't guess if you're familiar with the industrial tubes used in warehouses. They really made your eyes hurt with their bright blue-ish white light! The good old light bulbs with a glowing filament has by nature the warmest colour, similar to candlelight.

Saving energy and resources is undoubtedly a good thing. In my opinion the energy saving fluorescent bulbs were an unnecessary side step from filaments to LEDs, but LED technology wasn't mature enough when they cancelled the production of light bulbs. The only ones that benefited from the energy saving lamps were their manufacturers, they mostly didn't last as long as promised and they have to be disposed in a hazardous waste facility.

There's two ways to change the colour temperature of a lamp. The simple one is to dip the lamp into dye, in the case of reducing blue light the dye should be yellowish. That's a perfectly working option. However, as you can imagine, any layer of colour will reduce efficiency, thus adding to power usage for a desired luminance. So, obviously the better way is to make the light sources produce the desired colour by nature. Fortunately for both our eyes and natural resources the LEDs have started reaching that point.