One suggestion I would like to add is to cover a substantial portion of the wall area with dark grey anechoic foam panels. A room full of computers and perripherals has many small cooling fans (mine has 19 units with fans) all of these emit a substantial ammount of high frequency white noise which over time can lead to hearing loss and in the short-term is stressful. I purchased zig-zag cut anechoic panels from an audio sound studio products catalog and covered my upper walls with 2ft x 4ft panels spaced about 6" apart. Besides substantially reducing the noise it looks way cool and high tech. And, yes, it is neutral gray ...but somewhat darker than your specification. It is a bit pricy..but all the good stuff is.
Submitted by outofgamut on Fri, 03/30/2001 - 08:58.
Your observation about declining eyesight is an issue, but some things, like aging, are unavoidable. I'm a 48-year-old Mac user and my eyesight deteriorated to the point that I needed glasses by the time I was 43, which my doctor said was 'normal' in today's population. While I have some trouble with bright lights or discerning shadow detail these days, the fact remains that lowering the lights in my editing room has dramatically improved my ability to work with images on computers. Do I keep a flashlight handy to find something dropped under a table or occasionally turn up the lights to do routine tasks like filing? Yes -- whatever is necessary to make things work.
I understand the need for the correct lightin conditions coming from a background of photography, but what about my eyes? I have been using a computer for my artwork for over 2 years now and have noticed my eyesight suffer, won't these new measures (if implemented) be bad for us?
anechoic wall covering
One suggestion I would like to add is to cover a substantial portion of the wall area with dark grey anechoic foam panels. A room full of computers and perripherals has many small cooling fans (mine has 19 units with fans) all of these emit a substantial ammount of high frequency white noise which over time can lead to hearing loss and in the short-term is stressful. I purchased zig-zag cut anechoic panels from an audio sound studio products catalog and covered my upper walls with 2ft x 4ft panels spaced about 6" apart. Besides substantially reducing the noise it looks way cool and high tech. And, yes, it is neutral gray ...but somewhat darker than your specification. It is a bit pricy..but all the good stuff is.
Lighting levels and eyesight
Your observation about declining eyesight is an issue, but some things, like aging, are unavoidable. I'm a 48-year-old Mac user and my eyesight deteriorated to the point that I needed glasses by the time I was 43, which my doctor said was 'normal' in today's population. While I have some trouble with bright lights or discerning shadow detail these days, the fact remains that lowering the lights in my editing room has dramatically improved my ability to work with images on computers. Do I keep a flashlight handy to find something dropped under a table or occasionally turn up the lights to do routine tasks like filing? Yes -- whatever is necessary to make things work.
Good article, but one question...
I understand the need for the correct lightin conditions coming from a background of photography, but what about my eyes? I have been using a computer for my artwork for over 2 years now and have noticed my eyesight suffer, won't these new measures (if implemented) be bad for us?
Despite this article being 8
Despite this article being 8 years old, It is still spot on. Thanks for the education.
