Ideal Lighting Conditions?

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Dark_Legacy

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 7, 2006
Messages
251
What are the most ideal lighting conditions for the viewing of a monitor during the night time, what will cause the least eye strain?

Shutting off all lamps?

Placing a lamp directly overhead?

A lamp from behind?

A lamp from the front (so light is going into your eyes, actually on second thought that isn't very smart in the first place)

What would be the ideal lighting conditions for a corner desk?

Thanks in advance.
 
My preference is a small halogen lamp behind the monitor...it provides enough light to see your keyboard/mouse without causing reflections. It also has the added effect of making the black levels appear to be better..similar to Philips "ambilight" plasma/lcd tv's.
 
A lamp behind the monitor is great because it reduces eyestrain compared to having no ambient light (monitor as primary light source is the worst for your eyes, unless it encompasses most or all of your field of view), and compared to having the light behind you (possible glare on the screen). If this isn't an option, your best bet is try to balance the ambient light level with the monitor light output level, and make sure no point light sources (lightbulbs) are directly in your line of vision or reflected on your screen.
 
My preference is my Saitek Eclipse II. Just need to see the keys. Usually I keep it on red.
I have the brightness turned down a few notches on my 20.1" Benq LCD... It's just too bright!
 
I'm using twin CFLs 26W of ceiling light all day since my room is so dark for 22 hours of the day. There's a window directly behind the monitor (I know it's bad, but no other place to put desk), but it faces an alley. Just bought a $10 incandescent/CFL desk lamp, but there's too much glare where I've put it (front-left) so I'm probably going to ditch it or move it. ~Mainly got it to save power, oh well...
 
I use a 60W lamp behind and to the side of the screen, and I think a light in front of you is better than behind.
 
There are other things you can do to relieve eyestrain at night. Lower your monitor's brightness. Use 6500K "warm colors", as opposed to 9300K. Use a lamp behind the monitor. If your monitor is dim enough, sitting closer to the monitor is a good way to reduce eye strain as text will appear larger.
 
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