ORpilot Loc: Prineville, Or

Red is the accepted color of choice. Since I am also a Pilot I get my red-white flashlights from places like Sporty's Pilot shop....https://www.sportys.com/shop.html?q=flashlights . you can also check Telescope shops..

Kevin.M Loc: Forked River, NJ

Thank you everyone for all the replies, lots of great, informative information!

Juy Loc: Delaware

I have found using a green head lamp as I walk to my Deer hunt location, gives me a very good view of the immediate surrounding area, and does not shut my pupils down so much. Red works very well also but give a more limited area view to only what is directly in the beam. Both work very well for seeing camera and equipment for set up, and once turned off your night vision comes back very quickly.

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

I prefer the Red light mode. I have a few of these lights.

This is a NEBO…MYCRO.
It is small enough to fit in keys and inside a bag attached to a zipper. It has 3 white light modes plus a green LED and a red LED.

I’m not particularly fond of flashlights that are larger than your palm. But this does charge from a USB port.

(Download)

jcboy3

That is correct. At the same light intensity, red is better because it has least impact on the rods in your eyes. However, if you are trying to see details, then there is the tendency to use higher intensity red, and that impacts night vision. Green is better for details, and that is why green is used in night vision goggles.

So the answer is that red is best as long as the intensity is low, but if you need to see details, then using a higher intensity red versus a lower intensity green is not good.

ssmiller Loc: crescent city, ca

Thanks!

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

I’m not a pilot yet. I still have a brazillion hours before I get my rating if I ever do. But I like Sporty’s. They have a lot of great gear.

Stardust Loc: Central Illinois

Wow, didn't realize they were still around. Lived in Cincy area, bought some stuff from them when I was flying Cessnas in the 1970s

neillaubenthal

Red was the color used for many decades on Navy and commercial ships around the world for decades…but back in the 80s it was switched to blue because that also doesn’t affect night vision and one can see instruments and such better in blue than red. That said…rig for black was the common thing with all lights off except for instruments and most of those were red with the brightness turned down because while changing area lighting o blue was easy instrument lights are internal and not changeable.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

You have received a lot of conflicting answers here. Some have a glimmer of truth. Some are based on limitations of early technology. Most have nothing to do with your question concerning night photography. For instance...night vision scopes had green displays because the early versions used an excited phosphor display. The phosphor used glowed green when excited. Same reason almost every early oscilloscope had a green CRT display.

One reason for concern with night displays is keeping the bad guy from seeing you. Any monochromatic color is helpful with this. Since a surprisingly high percentage of the population is red/green color blind, either of those colors can work at low intensities Green can be pretty good outside in green foliage. Blue is actually a poor choice, because many people cannot see very well in blue light that is close to monochromatic and is really blue. Compensation via increasing the intensity by a lot is frequently required.

A second concern around night vision is not messing up the vision of the other folks on your own team. For night photography, keeping the peace will require you to have a red light. No one is going to care about a discussion of green or blue as an alternative. A red light will avoid banishment to the wilderness.

Finally, you want to preserve your own vision. Biologically, the color you want is red. Red is the only color that will avoid chemically killing your night vision for 15-20 minutes. Ideally, you are going to be working in an environment of total darkness (or as close to it that the difference doesn't matter). And you will find that there is a big difference between this kind of darkness and the more commonly experienced darkness. (As we learned in The Princess Bride, there is a big difference between mostly dark and all dark.)

So...red is the color.

PhotogHobbyist Loc: Bradford, PA

My Pentax K-70 has a night light for the display that is red.

Kevin.M Loc: Forked River, NJ

Kevin.M Loc: Forked River, NJ

Kevin.M Loc: Forked River, NJ

Dalek Loc: Detroit, Miami, Goffstown

I have a good one but it is mounted on my #$%@! (can't say the model as it my be non PC)