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Mesopic vision
Mesopic vision, sometimes also called twilight vision, is a combination of photopic and scotopic vision under low-light (but not necessarily dark) conditions. Mesopic levels range approximately from 0.01 to 3.0 cd/m2 in luminance. Most nighttime outdoor and street lighting conditions are in the mesopic range.
Human eyes respond to certain light levels differently. This is because under high light levels typical during daytime (photopic vision), the eye uses cones to process light. Under very low light levels, corresponding to moonless nights without artificial lighting (scotopic vision), the eye uses rods to process light. At many nighttime levels, a combination of both cones and rods supports vision. Photopic vision facilitates excellent color perception, whereas colors are barely perceptible under scotopic vision. Mesopic vision falls between these two extremes. In most nighttime environments, enough ambient light prevents true scotopic vision.
In the words of Duco Schreuder:
There is not one single luminescence value where photopic vision and scotopic vision meet. [Rather,] there is a wide zone of transition between them. Because it is between photopic and scotopic vision, it is usually called the zone of mesopic vision. The reason that the zone of mesopic vision exists is because the activities of neither cones nor rods is simply switched 'on' or 'off'. There are reasons to believe that the cones and the rods both operate in all luminescence conditions.
As a result of gradually switching from cones to rods in processing light, a number of visual effects occur:
Cinematographers intentionally emulate mesopic effects to make scenes look darker than a display can actually achieve.
The traditional method of measuring light assumes photopic vision and is often a poor predictor of how a person sees at night. Typically research in this area has focused on improving street and outdoor lighting as well as aviation lighting.
Prior to 1951, there was no standard for scotopic photometry (light measurement); all measurements were based on the photopic spectral sensitivity function V(λ) which was defined in 1924. In 1951, the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) established the scotopic luminous efficiency function, V'(λ). However, there was still no system of mesopic photometry. This lack of a proper measurement system can lead to difficulties in relating light measurements under mesopic luminances to visibility. Due to this deficiency, the CIE established a special technical committee (TC 1-58) for collecting the results of mesopic visual performance research.
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Mesopic vision
Mesopic vision, sometimes also called twilight vision, is a combination of photopic and scotopic vision under low-light (but not necessarily dark) conditions. Mesopic levels range approximately from 0.01 to 3.0 cd/m2 in luminance. Most nighttime outdoor and street lighting conditions are in the mesopic range.
Human eyes respond to certain light levels differently. This is because under high light levels typical during daytime (photopic vision), the eye uses cones to process light. Under very low light levels, corresponding to moonless nights without artificial lighting (scotopic vision), the eye uses rods to process light. At many nighttime levels, a combination of both cones and rods supports vision. Photopic vision facilitates excellent color perception, whereas colors are barely perceptible under scotopic vision. Mesopic vision falls between these two extremes. In most nighttime environments, enough ambient light prevents true scotopic vision.
In the words of Duco Schreuder:
There is not one single luminescence value where photopic vision and scotopic vision meet. [Rather,] there is a wide zone of transition between them. Because it is between photopic and scotopic vision, it is usually called the zone of mesopic vision. The reason that the zone of mesopic vision exists is because the activities of neither cones nor rods is simply switched 'on' or 'off'. There are reasons to believe that the cones and the rods both operate in all luminescence conditions.
As a result of gradually switching from cones to rods in processing light, a number of visual effects occur:
Cinematographers intentionally emulate mesopic effects to make scenes look darker than a display can actually achieve.
The traditional method of measuring light assumes photopic vision and is often a poor predictor of how a person sees at night. Typically research in this area has focused on improving street and outdoor lighting as well as aviation lighting.
Prior to 1951, there was no standard for scotopic photometry (light measurement); all measurements were based on the photopic spectral sensitivity function V(λ) which was defined in 1924. In 1951, the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) established the scotopic luminous efficiency function, V'(λ). However, there was still no system of mesopic photometry. This lack of a proper measurement system can lead to difficulties in relating light measurements under mesopic luminances to visibility. Due to this deficiency, the CIE established a special technical committee (TC 1-58) for collecting the results of mesopic visual performance research.