Has your lighting preference change as you`ve got older???

[AngryHorse]

I sat thinking about this as I had a brew last night, have you noticed this, or does it just affect us over 40!!
When I was a kid, I use to love the streets lit with SOX, indeed, its what I fitted to my house when I moved in at age 23, now I really dislike the colour!!

I also was a big fan of fluorescent light, once having 2 foot twins all over the house, now I find even tri-phosphors a harsh and unforgiving cold colour!
I use to like nice bright rooms until recently, now I appreciate mood lighting better, also looking at photos of my garden lit with 250watt SON, was total overkill to how it is now, with `just enough` light using a 70 and two 50watt SON.

LOL, am I turning into my dad! , or is it something that happens with age?

Your thoughts....

[FrontSideBus]

I can't say it's changed really but I am more interested in old incandescent now instead of just discharge.
I used to really be interested in the latest metal halide technology ect but I suppose what interests me now is the old stuff and seeing how they used to do it and how the tech has evolved.

[AngryHorse]

Have you found yourself re-fitting more tungsten lamps back in the house?, or is this just collection wise?

[Kev]

Some of the light sorces I disliked a few years ago I now actually don't mind or actually quite like, I guess it's because most of the current led technology is so shit it makes them I used to dislike seem OK. Take HF fluorescent for instance. I would now much rather see HF Fluorescent than led panels or cosmo than axias! But in general my preferences have not changed!

[Danny]

I'm probably the same as kev when it comes to this. I used to hate HF and Cosmo but seen as led is now taking I've started to like Cosmo & HF

I certainly don't hate LED but I do dislike it especially in street lighting and fluorescent forms. But it's ok for domestic like those led filament lamps. Those are quite cool. But I don't like any of the other led lamps. Led tubes and led street lights piss me off. I find it an interesting technology but it's just taking over far too fast for me

[AngryHorse]

Its interesting to read this, as when you read through the many posts on UKASTLE on LED street lighting, hardly anyone says they don`t like it, opting for, "well its still in its infancy"?
I wonder if we on the general collection side are just looking for the next boogie man?, like Kev says, the first dislike was HF, then it went to Cosmo, to Induction, and now the new enemy is LED.

Will the tech in the next 20 years, that takes over LED be disliked the same?

[eclipsislamps]

Ill be honest, I never disliked LED and thought it was fascinating. And it is too but its just the sodding Chinese shit that comes along. I have a LED backlit computer screen which behind the lcd panel is just identical to those tiles. Only difference is it has lasted 5 years now with no issues at all, only reason being how LCD screens of course need to be much higher quality than crappy chinese panels. No reason at all why other led sources can't be like that and of course that pisses me off.

So yeh I started off actually liking LED but gradually starting to hate it more and more.

[James]

I agree and also now can't stand some light sources I used to love. Especially SOX and even more if the intensity is low! I have an 18W round the back of my house which seemed fine years ago, but now I really consider to replace it with LED or CMH. But when there is enough light I can still tolerate it. They recently re-lit some big motorways in Belgium with quad-135W SOX lanterns on each column and that is bright enough to still give a really decent effect!

Many of the changes we endure are related to aging of the eyes. Macular Degeneration. The lens gradually turns brownish and filters out short wavelength colours from entering the eyes. This changes our perception of colours. To reset the balance and see things the way we are used to, we need more blue in the light. Hence the gradual dislike for warm colour lights as we age and most people then prefer higher colour temperatures and whiter light.

We also become far more sensitive to glare, especially when it is caused by blueish colours. These wavelengths are preferentially scattered in the ageing cornea, which itself appears to light up with all the scattered rays on its surface. Its like someone shining a torch close to your eyes while you are trying to see in the dark, so the slightest glare which leads to this effect really reduces your visual acuity. And this is my biggest problem with too many LED streetlights - really intolerable glare and lousy optical designs! They may well be putting a decent amount of light on the road, but if they cause more glare on your eyes then visibility is markedly reduced. It becomes so bad now that I hope new regulations will come into force to more tightly control the glare of LED luminaires especially in outdoor lighting.

[Arrowslim]

Not Really, I've always been a fluorescent fan.. due to my 'advanced' years, i have seen plenty of old fluorescent gear in use over the years. I am quite partial to GLS filament lamps now, mainly due to there (imminent) rarity.
I don't really hate LED, I'm not too fond of the glare bomb streetlights that seem to be cropping up, but the LED GLS replacements I've used so far have been fairly good.

[Kev]

Led is not good for business!