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Scuba Forum / General / March 2007Equipment colors -- is brighter safer?
My common sense tells me that buying equipment and suits in bright colors would be a safety thing. Is there any reason to get muted or darker colors? Are fish afraid of bright colors? Do sharks like bright colors? Thanks again. Sheldon > My common sense tells me that buying equipment and suits in bright colors > would be a safety thing. Is there any reason to get muted or darker colors? [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Sheldon Brighter colors, esp white and yellow, make it easier for your buddy to keep track of you in poor viz. fish and sharks are color blind. esg >> My common sense tells me that buying equipment and suits in bright >> colors would be a safety thing. Is there any reason to get muted or [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > fish and sharks are color blind. Than why are the tropic fish so stylish and tastefully coloured? To please us? Or as a depth adaptive pattern code? Matthias >> fish and sharks are color blind. > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Or as a depth adaptive pattern code? > Matthias Not to please us. The ichthyologists argue about it, depth adaptive codes, camo, whatever. If and when human intelligence develops to the level that allows us to communicate with other life forms, I'll ask. esg >>> fish and sharks are color blind. >> [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > Not to please us. The ichthyologists argue about it, depth adaptive > codes, camo, whatever. Fish mother to fish son: I saw your orange stripes go grey. Don't deny that you wanted to go to deep again! Matthias > My common sense tells me that buying equipment and suits in bright colors > would be a safety thing. Is there any reason to get muted or darker > colors? Are fish afraid of bright colors? Do sharks like bright colors? Everything I own is black, except my olive drab backplate. Whatever colors sharks do or don't see, they pay no attention to you. I can't stand brightly colored dive gear, myself (nanny problems), but, it may help distinguish your stuff from others. >> My common sense tells me that buying equipment and suits in bright colors >> would be a safety thing. Is there any reason to get muted or darker [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > I can't stand brightly colored dive gear, myself (nanny problems), but, > it may help distinguish your stuff from others. Thanks for the replies. IMHO I believe that being seen is important -- a safety issue. As long as sharks don't see me as a tasty morsel I tend to go with brighter colors. Heck, my swim trunks are dayglow orange. If I sink to the bottom I'll be easy to find. lol > Thanks for the replies. IMHO I believe that being seen is important -- a > safety issue. As long as sharks don't see me as a tasty morsel I tend to go > with brighter colors. Heck, my swim trunks are dayglow orange. If I sink > to the bottom I'll be easy to find. lol No, your dayglow orange will be grey at the bottom. Also, even in warm water, you might want to cover your legs to protect against scrapes and stingers. Some of the divers on the this group wear Speedos on the boat, but we'd never let them dive that way. They'd scare all the fish. On Feb 16, 8:34 pm, "Douglas W \"Popeye\" Frederick" <Pop...@finalprotectivefire.com> wrote: > Whatever colors sharks do or don't see, they pay no attention to you. Well, having dived in the Bahamas a lot I'd beg to differ. And I can tell you that dolphins seem to like yellow fins. On people that is. > On Feb 16, 8:34 pm, "Douglas W \"Popeye\" Frederick" > <Pop...@finalprotectivefire.com> wrote: [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > And I can tell you that dolphins seem to like yellow fins. On people > that is. Then I stand corrected on that point. :-) "Douglas W \"Popeye\" Frederick" <Pop...@finalprotectivefire.com> wrote: > Everything I own is black, except my olive drab backplate. Even if one goes with "all dark" gear, black scuba tanks aren't all that commonly found, especially for rental AL80's. > Whatever colors sharks do or don't see, they pay no attention to you. > > I can't stand brightly colored dive gear, myself (nanny problems), but, it > may help distinguish your stuff from others. I wouldn't mind having a pair of fins that had reflectors built into them...not for use in-water, but in the even of wanting to wave a fin if I'm not carrying a tube. Of course, the most effective compact & cheap ship's radar reflector known today is a CD disk. Just attach one of those to the top of your tube. -hh > My common sense tells me that buying equipment and suits in bright colors > would be a safety thing. A bright colored fin makes a dandy signalling device should you ever find yourself downcurrent from the boat, being swept rapidly toward continents unknown. >> My common sense tells me that buying equipment and suits in bright colors >> would be a safety thing. > >A bright colored fin makes a dandy signalling device should you ever >find yourself downcurrent from the boat, being swept rapidly toward >continents unknown. I think you need your gear to be that color orange that they used to use on life vests, what did they call it ? Oh yea yum yum orange > My common sense tells me that buying equipment and suits in bright colors would be > a safety thing. Is there any reason to get muted or darker colors? Are fish afraid [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Sheldon Color is a personal taste, but there is some value to having a unique bright color to help identify your buddy. That's why I use yellow fins. You can always find me by my yellow Force Fins. However diving is a mostly male macho sport, and the macho color in diving is black. There is no other logic to it. Adam > Color is a personal taste, but there is some value to having a unique bright color to > help identify your buddy. That's why I use yellow fins. You can always find me by my > yellow Force Fins. > > However diving is a mostly male macho sport, and the macho color in diving is black. > There is no other logic to it. Where do you get this sh.t? >> Color is a personal taste, but there is some value to having a unique > bright color to [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Where do you get this sh.t? Hell's Angels? > > Where do you get this sh.t? > Hell's Angels? They have colors all over them and their bikes. "Adam Helberg" <sendspamhere@yahee.com> pounded away at his keyboard resulting in: :However diving is a mostly male macho sport, and the macho color in diving is black. :There is no other logic to it. The lack of availability of coloured equipment is also a factor. Dan Bracuk If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure. > The lack of availability of coloured equipment is also a factor. Perhaps it's like with regular clothes -- black is always in style? <grin> Remember the circa 1976 ScubaPro jet fins in red, white, and blue? >>The lack of availability of coloured equipment is also a factor. > > Perhaps it's like with regular clothes -- black is always in style? > <grin> > > Remember the circa 1976 ScubaPro jet fins in red, white, and blue? That's courteous. My state's flag. Matthias >> The lack of availability of coloured equipment is also a factor. > > Perhaps it's like with regular clothes -- black is always in style? > <grin> > > Remember the circa 1976 ScubaPro jet fins in red, white, and blue? Yes, unfortunately, I do. I stayed with the black ones though. Still have them, though they are retired due to mandatory retirement age. >> My common sense tells me that buying equipment and suits in bright colors >> would be a safety thing. Is there any reason to get muted or darker [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > bright color to help identify your buddy. That's why I use yellow fins. > You can always find me by my yellow Force Fins. You mean, "we seen ya coming" because of the Force fince. > However diving is a mostly male macho sport, and the macho color in diving > is black. There is no other logic to it. Other than the vast majority of divegear is black. > Adam Which is why I wear hot pink :-) >> My common sense tells me that buying equipment and suits in bright colors would be >> a safety thing. Is there any reason to get muted or darker colors? Are fish afraid [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Adam Which is why I wear hot pink :-) I bought my dive knife very cheaply years ago because it had a pink handle. I guess pink knives do not sell well. Adam > Which is why I wear hot pink :-) Actually, hot pink, or any color with a lot of red in it, does not show up all that well under water. The best colors I've seen are yellow and blue. If visibility is the issue, the yellow is better than the blue. It's much more visible on the surface. More than one diver has had to wave his fins to get the attention of someone on a boat. > I bought my dive knife very cheaply years ago because it had a pink > handle. I guess pink knives do not sell well. It's not DIR. > My common sense tells me that buying equipment and suits in bright colors > would be a safety thing. When you're walking home after dark in your wetsuit, headlights reflect on the bright colors so drivers see you better. Definitely a safety thing. >> My common sense tells me that buying equipment and suits in bright colors >> would be a safety thing. > > When you're walking home after dark in your wetsuit, headlights reflect on > the bright colors so drivers see you better. Definitely a safety thing. Damn, Ken, that was actually funny for once. > When you're walking home after dark in your wetsuit, headlights reflect on > the bright colors so drivers see you better. Definitely a safety thing. Of course, you should wear a "hunter orange" wetsuit and BCD when you're spearfishing... <snicker> "Sheldon" <sheldon@XXXXXXXXsopris.net> pounded away at his keyboard resulting in: :My common sense tells me that buying equipment and suits in bright colors :would be a safety thing. Is there any reason to get muted or darker colors? :Are fish afraid of bright colors? Do sharks like bright colors? Bright colours look better and make the atmosphere more cheerful. However, for the most part, suits and BCs are offered in black only. I never understood that. However, you can get bright suits if you go for custom made. Mine is purple and lime green. For fins, the colours that are most visible underwater are white, yellow, or lime green. They are available. Colours that are least visible are black and blue. But there are more important considerations than colour when it comes to fins. Your'll cover this in your class. Dan Bracuk If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure. > Bright colours look better and make the atmosphere more cheerful. > However, for the most part, suits and BCs are offered in black only. > I never understood that. Maybe that's important on a lake dive. On a tropical dive, I'd rather see the colors of the fish and coral. Colorful divers are a distraction. For the same reason, museum walls are usually painted in drab pastel to better highlight and show off the paintings. A meadow of colorful wildflowers would lose its beauty if, instead of a green grass background, all the grass were different colors as well. And then there's: "black is beautiful". (Or even "once you go black you never go back") Did you know that Dan Bracuk is merely an anagram of Drab Canuk? >> Bright colours look better and make the atmosphere more cheerful. >> However, for the most part, suits and BCs are offered in black only. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > of colorful wildflowers would lose its beauty if, instead of a green > grass background, all the grass were different colors as well. I like this reasoning. There is an esthetic aspect to this and wearing lots of various bright colors does not look good. A simple color scheme that's not too distracting and is unique enough does make sense to help identify the diver, otherwise everyone looks alike. I recall in Cozumel, Alberto, the divemaster, had fins with the phrase "Born to Thrill" written in large bold letters on his fins and I could always tell him apart by his fins. Adam "Adam Helberg" <sendspamhere@yahee.com> pounded away at his keyboard resulting in: :I like this reasoning. There is an esthetic aspect to this and wearing lots of :various bright colors does not look good. Maybe not when you wear them. Dan Bracuk If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure. > Bright colours look better and make the atmosphere more cheerful. > However, for the most part, suits and BCs are offered in black only. > I never understood that. For reasons I don't remember, it's easier to make black pigments that are more stable under UV radiation (like on a beach or dive boat, especially at the lower latitudes where we like to dive). Sharks could care less about bright colors. In fact, the only 'odd' thing i have ever heard is that at shark feedings, your white hand looks like a fish to a shark, so they sometimes accidently bite a person. I was terrified of sharks until I started diving, now, I do as many shark dives and seek them out if possible. We are not on their food chain. Bright colors only help your buddy find you a little easier in a big group. The particular design, regardless of color is te biggest help to locate a buddy if you are diving in an area with a lot of other divers. > My common sense tells me that buying equipment and suits in bright colors > would be a safety thing. Is there any reason to get muted or darker [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Sheldon > My common sense tells me that buying equipment and suits in bright colors > would be a safety thing. Is there any reason to get muted or darker colors? > Are fish afraid of bright colors? Do sharks like bright colors? Hi Sheldon, A good review can be found in: Adolfson, John. Perception and performance under water / John Adolfson, Thomas Berghage. New York : Wiley, c1974. The section on color discrimination under water is pages 82 to 88. Adolfson and Berghage quoted Kinney, Luria, and Weitzmen (1969) on page 85: <quote> A. For murky, turbid water of low visibility (rivers, harbors, etc.) 1. With natural illumination: a. Flourescent yellow, orange, and red. b. Regular yellow, orange, and white. 2. With incandescent illumination: a. Flourescent and regular yellow, orange, red and white. 3. With a mercury light source: a. Flourescent yellow-green and yellow-orange. b. Regular yellow and white. B. For moderately turbid water (sounds, bays, coastal water). 1. With natural illumination or incandescent light source: a. Any flourescent in the yellows, oranges, and reds. b. Regular yellow, orange, and white. 2. With a mercury light source: a. Flourescent yellow-green and yellow-orange. b. Regular yellow and white. C. For clear water (southern water, deep water off shore, etc.). 1. With any type of illumination flourescent paints are superior. a. With long viewing distances, flourescent green and yellow- green. b. With short viewing distances, flourescent orange is excellent. 2. With natural illumination: a. Flourescent paints. b. Regular yellow, orange, and white. 3. With incandescent light source: a. Flourescent paints. b. Regular yellow, orange, and white. 4. With a mercury light source: a. Flourescent paints. b. Regular yellow, white. The most difficult colors at the limits of visibility with a water background are dark colors such as gray or black. </quote> Hope this helps, Gene ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ http://rubicon-foundation.org/ Home of the Rubicon Research Repository <http://archive.rubicon- foundation.org/>. |
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