E-readers in low light

[grumpy3b]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

I got this one: http://www.mightybright.com/Utility-...vigation-Light for my husband last christmas. Especially the red light is awesome. Too bad there aren't any single bulb red lights...

that red light is really interesting. Have you used it as your reading light source? The whole lamp looks awkward to mange but the idea of the red light for reading on these eink devices is actually intriguing and should be quite easy on the eyes without the potential drawbacks for those of us with insomnia issues when using full spectrum or daylight bulbs even if there is no concrete data on their effects. Red should not have the stimulating effect of a full spectrum bulb if that does happen for someone.

I should add though that even the light we see at night is the same full spectrum as in sunlight. It is simply there is less light hitting the earth when it's night in whatever location a person might be.

[spaze]

I tried using my iPod Touch as a reading device with iBooks and Stanza. The problem with that is that blacks are never blacks as they are always backlit black pixels. So no matter how you invert the colors, in pitch black you still have backlit LCD display. And if you turn down the intensity of backlight to a point where it doesn't bother me, the contrast is so poor that I rather not read at all.
The backlit black pixels, in my eyes, hurt more in pitch black room than using an external lamp to read my e-ink device.

[rePete]

I do a lot of reading in casinos (it's my wife that gambles) so the light is pretty dim for reading. My PD Novel has a sensor on it that automatically adjusts the brightness of the screen so I don't end up with any eyestrain from hours of reading there. Most of the books I read are black text on white paper.

[grumpy3b]

Originally Posted by spaze

I tried using my iPod Touch as a reading device with iBooks and Stanza. The problem with that is that blacks are never blacks as they are always backlit black pixels. So no matter how you invert the colors, in pitch black you still have backlit LCD display. And if you turn down the intensity of backlight to a point where it doesn't bother me, the contrast is so poor that I rather not read at all.
The backlit black pixels, in my eyes, hurt more in pitch black room than using an external lamp to read my e-ink device.

A buddy of mine has a Touch 4 and I was blown away when I picked it up one day and just read a book he had on it. I actually could use it as an on the go reading device no problem. Now if the made a 5"-7" device using the same sort of high pixel density screens, tagged the Retina Display I understand, I might be won over to the iOS camp, at least for a small multi-purpose reader device.

Even so I did like that Touch a lot.

[SneakySnake]

Check this light out. No worries about weight..

[grumpy3b]

yikes!! is that a marital aid or a light of some sort? Or maybe it goes both ways?

[CazMar]

Originally Posted by grumpy3b

yikes!! is that a marital aid or a light of some sort? Or maybe it goes both ways?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by SneakySnake

Check this light out. No worries about weight..

Hmmm... I see she's lighting up the essentials

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by grumpy3b

that red light is really interesting. Have you used it as your reading light source? The whole lamp looks awkward to mange but the idea of the red light for reading on these eink devices is actually intriguing and should be quite easy on the eyes without the potential drawbacks for those of us with insomnia issues when using full spectrum or daylight bulbs even if there is no concrete data on their effects. Red should not have the stimulating effect of a full spectrum bulb if that does happen for someone.

My husband only uses the red one for reading, and the white one when he needs colour view. If I use it, I only use the red one. And yes, the one drawback is that it is rather large. Which is why I'd love to see a smaller clip-on with a red led.

[patrickt]

I read books on my Kindle the same way I read paper books. That involved external light. I never found a paper book that glowed in the dark and I don't remember people sitting around and whining about it. You turned on a light. Big deal. Of course, we did have incandescent bulbs that worked but that's a separate issue.

So, I had a book light that has two LEDs and it works great when the Kindle is sitting on a table in a dim restaurant or on my nightstand. It will clip on to my Kindle cover but that's awkward. I also have a two-LED headlamp that I use at time.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by patrickt

I read books on my Kindle the same way I read paper books. That involved external light. I never found a paper book that glowed in the dark and I don't remember people sitting around and whining about it.

You should have heard me when I was younger and still lived at home... The annoyance of reading under the covers with a flashlight!

As a matter of fact, as soon as I came aware of backlit devices to read books, I've been using them.

[spaze]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

You should have heard me when I was younger and still lived at home... The annoyance of reading under the covers with a flashlight!

When I was a kid, I never read porn under the blanket with a flashlight. Way too obvious!

[dixieknits]

I found trying to read with a glarey clip on light of any type, so bad, that I bought a Nook Color for evening reading..

[DixieGal]

I have very limited vision, so e-ink is invisible to me. With my iPad, I can use white on black background in the dark, the reverse during the day. I can even turn the brightness very low at night and still see the (extremely) large text. Have you tried the black background with your iPod?

EDIT: Also sans serif fonts are easier for me because there is less clutter and more background contrast showing.

[SeaBookGuy]

Recently, I took my ereader with my dinner, not realizing that the bar area had somewhat dim lighting (I was alone, and the place was busy). However, the e-ink came through fairly well, even in that environment.