Contrast test

[Derek]

I want to see how much contrast people can distinguish on their monitors as a general test. Here are two pictures, one white, one black, with backgrounds maxed (255/255/255, 0/0/0) and squares each progressively one value off maximum. Vote for the lowest value for which you can see a difference between the square and the background. Vote once for black and once for white (don't be an ass and vote for one color twice).

Don't adjust your monitor before the test (feel free to do so afterwards).

White:
http://i8.tinypic.com/6ylv7lu.png

Black
http://i16.tinypic.com/7wu1svt.png


I can see to 4 on white and 2 on black.

[Massacure]

I can comfortably see 6 on white, but I can see down to 3 if I squint. Black I can casually see 10, but I can squint and see down to 6.

[Derek]

I can comfortably see 6 on white, but I can see down to 3 if I squint. Black I can casually see 10, but I can squint and see down to 6.
As long as you can see any contrast without getting really close or looking at an unusual angle (which works on some monitors), then it counts.

[ItalianPenguin]

3 on white, 4 on black.

[YuriRuler90]

4 on white, because the background is a little bit darker.
1 on black EASILY. I have my contrast set up really weird on my monitor however, so that might be why.

[Derek]

4 on white, because the background is a little bit darker.
The background of the picture is solid white (255/255/255), if the background of your browser is not and you think its causing a problem, save it and open it in something that does have a solid white background (like IE, at least IE6). This is supposed to be a completely unbiased test, so backgrounds shouldn't interfere.

Which reminds me to mention, you should prefferably be doing this on your own monitor with whatever lighting you normally use. I don't want to be too picky though, just try to be as close to "normal" as you can.

EDIT: Return of time travel. I posted after Doh.

[Doh004]

I'm the same as you Derek.

[Delta-4]

1 on black, 10 on white. Bright colors are annoying to see...
I have my monitor set with full color and unchanged contrast/brightness levels.

[Massacure]

I went ahead and voted 3 white and 6 black. Its interesting how the contrast on my white is more noticable than the contrast on the black and everyone else seems opposite.

It's also annoying cause i'll see number 6 and then I'll scan my eyes right and I wont see 7 or 8 unless I decide to focus on it.

[Derek]

Its turning out rather as I expected. The number taken singly are quite spread out, but looking more closely you see that the people with the highest white contrast have the lowest black contrast, and vice-versa...

[Gaucho8788]

I got to 3 white and 7 black.

[Deadeye]

Should I be worried that I can very comfortably see white 1? Since I'm the only person to do so just now..... But I can only see black 6.

Is there any scientific/medical point in this test Derek?

[sterio]

I'm using a laptop and it actually depends on how much I slant the monitor in either direction, but I tried to have it rather... normal, and I was surprised with my results (you can see them yourself, I don't need to write them here :p)

[SgtRicko]

I could actually see up to #2 for the white page, but I couldn't see squat past #13 for the black page. Guess it means I really need to re-tune my screen settings...:\

[Lazzars]

easily 1 on white, would normally be something about 12 or 13 on black but i can see 10 if i squint

[Derek]

Is there any scientific/medical point in this test Derek?
No, I'm just curious how well your monitors can distinguish the contrast. My main point here was to see if anyone could really see the extreme squares (1 and 2) without sacrificing the opposite end. (And it depends on your monitor, not your eyes, so don't worry, you're not going blind :p)

If you're number are really skewed then you might want to try adjusting your monitor if you want, but I wouldn't worry if they seem to be about average.

[Statalyzer]

8 white, 10 black. Maybe I need to adjust my contrast settings.

EDIT: Nope, that didn't help.

[SiDeWiNdEr]

I can see down to 2 on white and 6 on black.

[Toxic10x]

2 white, 4 black. I'll call that pretty good considering some of the results we've been getting! As sterio mentioned, this is an LCD monitor, and by tipping it I can see 1 white easily- but oddly enough, not 1 black.

[Fulcrum]

i can see 5 on white easily, but 4 not so much. on black 1 is clearly visible.

[YuriRuler90]

Hehe. I can get 3 white and 3 black on my 68" HDTV.

I had it plugged in to play the Bourne Supremacy, and decided to surf here while on it. :p

[Tomahawk]

2 on white, 9 on black. I'm assuming that ideal is something like both 4 or both 5?

EDIT: I tweaked the settings and now I can see a vauge difference on black 1 and a very very slight difference on white 2, its really hard to notice.

[MaXiMuZZZ]

White 2, Black 6.

[The Enforcer]

hmm white 8 and black 5.

just altered my contrast from 50 to 47 out of 100 and can now see white 2 and black 4

[EliteGi]

Four for both on my crappy lappy.