News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Eye Strain from LED Backlighting in MacBook Pro (2008) by modeless on Saturday January 06, 2018 @06:13PM (#16088030)
... and many car/truck taillights. I think PWM taillights should be illegal. The artifacts are distracting.
Re:Eye Strain from LED Backlighting in MacBook Pro (2008) by ChadMoran on Saturday January 06, 2018 @06:28PM (#16088085)
This, so much this.

I have nystagmus which means my eyes move uncontrollably. Primarily on the horizontal plane. While my brian compensates for this and I don't see a moving image anything that uses PWD flickers very, very badly.

PWM tail lights are THE ABSOLUTE WORST for this condition. Not only do I see it on the source but I see it on anything the light projects onto, it's horrible.

Re:Eye Strain from LED Backlighting in MacBook Pro (2008) by exikyut on Saturday January 06, 2018 @07:05PM (#16088238)
Wait. Contemporary nystagmus == saccades?

I haven't tracked the cause down yet - I know it's a nerve issue of some kind - but sometimes my jaw, arms or eyes (yup) can occasionally jump. My jaw and arms jump when I'm nervous (or have a buildup of too much nervous energy/excitement), while my eyes jump when I'm trying to focus on something too hard, they drift, and I try to course-correct too hard. (I think half my brain is aware of the drifting, but the other half, the part that would make the fine motor movements to keep my eyes locked, is happily whistling away blithely in a corner somewhere.)

When my eyes jump and I overcorrect when I fail to re-point them where they need to be, I usually have a second or two where I'm not technically blind but I need to let my eyes refocus and remember their purpose in life (if you will) :P

I always thought this was nystagmus (read the term online one day and went "!!! that's what it's called!")... but now I wonder, is what I'm dealing with something else?

(An aside: I'm really, really bad at tracking moving objects in space. If someone else is holding onto something and I'm expected to look at it, I have to hold it instead. No other alternative.)

Re:Eye Strain from LED Backlighting in MacBook Pro (2008) by ScottBurson on Saturday January 06, 2018 @06:31PM (#16088096)
If not banned outright, they should at least be required to use a 1MHz minimum frequency.
Re:Eye Strain from LED Backlighting in MacBook Pro (2008) by Zak on Saturday January 06, 2018 @06:38PM (#16088127)
10 or 20 kHz would probably be sufficient, based on talking with the author of some of the most used open-source flashlight driver firmwares, who is quite sensitive to PWM.
Re:Eye Strain from LED Backlighting in MacBook Pro (2008) by walterbell on Saturday January 06, 2018 @07:33PM (#16088338)
Which flashlights use this firmware?
Re:Eye Strain from LED Backlighting in MacBook Pro (2008) by Zak on Saturday January 06, 2018 @09:31PM (#16088765)
These are all enthusiast-oriented, not something you'd find in a retail store. At least one can only be ordered through a group buy on budgetlightforum.com right now, though a retail offering will come in the future.

* BLF A6 (AKA Astrolux S1)

* Astrolux S41/Manker E14

* BLF X5/X6 (AKA Astrolux S2/S3/SS)

* Emisar D4, D1, D1S

* BLF Q8

* BLF GT

* Convoy S2+/C8 (new firmware version)

These don't all use the same firmware, but they all use an open-source firmware with high-frequency PWM, except that I think the BLF GT does not use PWM. A number of expensive custom lights use these too; those often focus on metalworking and exotic materials.

Firmware sources available here: http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~toykeeper/flashlight-firmware/t...

I own an Astrolux S41 (Nichia 219B), Astrolux SS (3A) and a semi-custom light I assembled using the A6 and Biscotti firmwares by ToyKeeper. I plan to pick up the Emisar D4 (Nichia 219C) and D1S (5D).

Re:Eye Strain from LED Backlighting in MacBook Pro (2008) by walterbell on Saturday January 06, 2018 @10:26PM (#16088951)
Thanks! I’ve been looking at [1] low-flicker, daylight simulation LED lights that can output 10K LUX. Great to hear that OSS firmware exists for some PWM lighting.

[1] https://www.aputure.com/products/al528-1

Re:Eye Strain from LED Backlighting in MacBook Pro (2008) by Zak on Sunday January 07, 2018 @12:12AM (#16089331)
> that can output 10K LUX

What does this mean? I would assume the surface brightness of the emitters is a good bit higher than that. Aside from surface brightness, lux does not provide any information about a light source without a distance. The SI unit of luminous flux is the lumen, and luminous intensity, the candela.

I have a Viltrox panel with similar characteristics, but smaller (adjustable color temperature, CRI 95+) and I think it uses 5mm Yujis. Brightness adjustment is non-PWM. It's also meant to take a camera battery, but I converted it to use two loose 18650s. Model VL162T, $30ish on Amazon.

Re:Eye Strain from LED Backlighting in MacBook Pro (2008) by walterbell on Sunday January 07, 2018 @01:03AM (#16089519)
The Aputure 528S is rated at 12700 lux at 50 cm. Will check out the Viltrox, thanks.
Re:Eye Strain from LED Backlighting in MacBook Pro (2008) by Zak on Sunday January 07, 2018 @12:58PM (#16091786)
I see on the specs page it's 4380 lux at 1 meter, or 4380 candela. No information is offered on total output, but it's possible to estimate from the information given.

Lux is lumens per square meter. Candela is lumens per steradian, the SI unit of solid angle. At one meter, these are equal, unless the beam hasn't converged at 1 meter. Aputure provides the beam angle in degrees, for which it was surprisingly hard to find the conversion. Sure, the units aren't technically comparable, but we know they meant the apex plane angle, at least we do now that I looked up the correct term.

So a right circular cone (which the light produced by a rectangular panel isn't, but we'll pretend) with an apex plane angle of 25 degrees has a solid angle of 0.1489365798 sr, approximately. 4380 lm/sr / 0.1489365798 sr = 29408 lm.

And that can't be right because the power consumption is 30 W, and the theoretical limit of luminous efficacy is 683 lm/W. I'd expect an LED panel like this to be on the order of 100 lm/W for about 3000 lm from 30 W.