The Perkinje Effect
The Purkinje Effect pertains to mesoptic vision.
Low-light hunting involves more than just your scope, it involves your eyes. Our eyes contain rods and cones. We have one rod photopigment and three cone photopigments – all with different sensitivities. During the day, our three cone photopigments are in charge. This is referred to as photopic vision. During the black of night, our rod photopigment gets the nod. This is known as scoptic vision. When the light fades at dusk, our photopic vision shifts to scoptic vision and vice versa at dawn. This transition period is called mesopic vision. Our eyes tend to shift sensitivity toward the blue end of the color spectrum when the light gets low eventually making us color-blind. This effect was discovered by Czech polymath, Jan Purkinje, and bears his name.
Any scope bearing high-quality glass and uniform optical coatings can be used during dawn and dusk with success. A high-quality scope that specifically enhances certain wavelengths may work even better. Why? Imagine you have a red and a blue handkerchief that have the same brightness and are both 10 yards in front of you. As twilight deepens, the red handkerchief begins to appear darker in color faster than the blue one and will actually appear dark violet at one point. A scope that transmits certain wavelengths as much as possible will allow you to take advantage of your mesoptic vision during this time when objects begin to appear increasingly blue to our eyes.
My question to you is: What wavelengths of light do you think should be transmitted as much as possible during mesoptic vision?
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