Re: [MBZ] lights (was: Re: Funny boo boo among MB owners)
i don't find it difficult to look at the road instead of oncoming lights,... why would it be difficult? it's not like my eyes are drawn to overly bright lights. Glare isn't just from things that you're looking directly at. I pass plenty of cars that are no problem whatsoever, and plenty more where I have to practically close my eyes to avoid losing my night vision. interesting is that most of the ads i see for them have those lamps completely disabled. apparently the advertising agency doesn't like the way they look on camera?!) Maybe there's too much contrast-reducing glare for the camera lens? -- Jim
Re: [MBZ] lights (was: Re: Funny boo boo among MB owners)
More likely the UV output does really strange things to the film or CCD sensors. I don't suppose a bright halo around the headlamps and multiple images of the diaphram would enhance the quality of the picture! I wish I could just look away from the xenons and be fine. Problem is, I have to close my eyes... Peter
Re: [MBZ] lights (was: Re: Funny boo boo among MB owners)
Jim Cathey wrote: i don't find it difficult to look at the road instead of oncoming lights,... why would it be difficult? it's not like my eyes are drawn to overly bright lights. Glare isn't just from things that you're looking directly at. I pass plenty of cars that are no problem whatsoever, and plenty more where I have to practically close my eyes to avoid losing my night vision. i gotta' say, even with all the crappy lights i encounter on the highways around here, i honestly don't see the problems you're talking about to the severity you describe. i also don't expect or count on night vision when driving at night; that's what *my* headlights are for. interesting is that most of the ads i see for them have those lamps completely disabled. apparently the advertising agency doesn't like the way they look on camera?!) Maybe there's too much contrast-reducing glare for the camera lens? it's possible they don't like the way they 'flare' on camera, but more likely, they just don't *look* stylish. there's ways to deal with the photography problems they might run into if they *wanted* to. cheers! e
Re: [MBZ] lights (was: Re: Funny boo boo among MB owners)
The other day I was sitting in traffic and noticed the difference in beam patterns. My 124 Euro lights make a very nice sharp cutoff but the DOT lights are this horrible smear of light. Very big difference. It's enlightening when you can do a side by side comparison like thatno pun intended Also, ast night driving back in to town it was foggy.people had their fogs on but now 90% of their lights weren't bothering me. The fog was dulling their lights enough to make them bearable. Unfortunately, big ugly Ford and Chrysler trucks still were aimed too high. Jeff Zedic Toronto
[MBZ] lights (was: Re: Funny boo boo among MB owners)
Jim Cathey wrote: of course, more simply, just don't look at the silly things! That is difficult to do, and half of the definition of 'glare' is the reduction in contrast of the _entire_ visual field due to scatter in the optics. (That would be your eye, and the windshield.) i don't find it difficult to look at the road instead of oncoming lights,... why would it be difficult? it's not like my eyes are drawn to overly bright lights. you touch on an interesting point, though; the windshield. i notice while most people will clean the bugs off of the outside, many people don't bother to keep both the outside and the *inside* as clean as it should be, and even non-smokers will find a build-up of glare-producing haze on the inside in surprisingly short order. obviously, it's worse for smokers... (maybe this is another reason i don't have the problems with this that some others seem to have; i keep both the screens i'm looking through and the lamps pretty clean.) Dodge trucks and Subarus have the worst always-on fog lights IMHO. They're like baby high beams. the Chevy and GMC trucks seem pretty awful as well, on 2 counts; their lamps seem to be more of a driving lamp pattern so i notice far too much glare off of them for what Fog Lights are supposed to do... also it seems they have a real problem keeping them working; a surprisingly high percentage of them on the road that have only one lamp lit. (more interesting is that most of the ads i see for them have those lamps completely disabled. apparently the advertising agency doesn't like the way they look on camera?!) I hate having anybody have headlights on until you can actually see the road better with them than without. That would be much later than most turn them on. Once there are headlights on in the area, things like pedestrians, deer, and dogs become almost invisible, yet I can barely see the effect of my lights on the ground. agreed; i'll use the running(/parking) lights in the cars until i can see the effect of headlights on the ground. (motorcycling is a different story.) cheers! e
