Originally Posted by
01 CAt Man Do
Viewing videos of rear lamps is almost pointless IMO. No video can truly duplicate what the human eye can see. I've seen some good videos but they have been few.
Yep, I've done several test videos of bike lights at night and YouTube compression made 'em all useless. So I did a 2-minute video last night and posted it to both YouTube and Vimeo.
The Vimeo version isn't too bad. Gamma is darker, but the reds are more saturated.
The YouTube version is slightly brighter, but the reds are desaturated and more orange.
Neither looks like the original on my photo/video editing desktop PC. Both were shot using a Nikon V1 and 10-30 kit zoom, ISO 1600, on 720p. I didn't edit this clip at all in order to avoid any pre-upload compression. I haven't found any freebie video software that handles lossless simple edits, including Avidemux. So I just reshot this same demo several times until I got it down to about 2 minutes in one take. I may reshoot using my Fuji X-A1, which has better video quality but fewer options for manually setting exposure -- a problem with nighttime videos.
I wanted to test my theory that pairs of lights with separation help motorists to better perceive distance and speed of bicycles at night. This video demonstrates riding away from and back toward the camera, and seems to confirm that some separation between lights can lend a better sense of approaching/receding speed and distance. So it may be a cost-effective way to improve our visibility without spending more than $100 on a single light, or mounting more than one reasonably visible light on the rear rack. Combining a rear rack and helmet light, each costing about $15-$30, might be a cost effective option for some folks.
- **Front of bike handlebar: Serfas SL-255, steady medium.
- **Front of helmet: Vivo-Bike Illuminati, flashing.
- **Back of helmet: Blackburn 2'Fer, flashing red.
- **Rear rack, large light: Planet Bike Rack Blinky 5.
- **Rear rack, small light: no-name red LED that came with Vivo-Bike Illuminati.
- **Rear rack, low near hub: pair of no-name red LED from Dollartree, $1 each.
"Bicycle lights nighttime comparison of paired lights to evaluate perception of distance and speed."
Vimeo version.
https://vimeo.com/166782753
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YouTube version.