So far, it’s Harmon who dominates my personal top of recommendations I’ve met. Old Harmy recommends elbow-distance. I haven’t noticed any associations between any screen larger than an iPhone and the elbow-distance, though.
The task I use my screen for is reading but Harmon includes reading to the scope of neat tasks.
eye_lvl.
Earlier displays & monitors
It should be added there is one constant to screen ergonomics that is very often overlooked. Height.
Sitting straight in a good chair with your head held level, when you look straight ahead, you should be looking a third of the way down from the top of the screen. It's far easier and much less stressful on your neck to look down a bit if needed than to crane your head back to look up.
I makes me cringe when I see people who have their monitors on risers and have to essentially look up at the ceiling all day long. And then they wonder why their necks are sore and have constant headaches.
13' is equal to 13 feet. Can we assume you meant 13"?
Okay, I'm going to be blunt here, and will be my last response in this topic.
How close you are becomes relevant at an optometrist’s appointment.
I really, truly don't care what the optometrist says.
As far as I understand your “a third of the way down from the top of the screen”, you find the OSHA's guidelines for workstation distances picture correct, as for the height.
I really, truly don't care what OSHA says. I've seen that recommendation, and I've seen just as many eye care professionals state a third from the top as being correct.
We see the same thing constantly from the FDA. Their recommendations change every five years or so. Coffee is bad for you. Coffee is good for you. Coffee is okay as long as you don't drink more than three cups a day. Wine is bad for you. Wine is good for you (the antioxidants).
Now to your 6 - 8”:
“Reading at a distance closer than 15 inches might cause eye strains, headaches, blurry vision.”
You're really stuck on the idea that only eye care professionals can possibly be right. Did any of these "experts" ever consider the concept of reading glasses? Let's also pretend that image isn't over 10 years old. As in, when was the last time you saw anyone working in front of a CRT monitor?
Like I said, I've been at this for over four decades. I know what works for me and have had lots of time to perfect my work habits. Only rarely do I move in closer than 12" to the screen. If I need to get closer, I switch to stronger reading glasses so I don't have to strain to focus. It really is that simple of a solution. People I've worked with since the beginning of photo retouching all do the same thing. We keep two or three pairs various strength readers next to us.
Our long time mechanic in the area also does that. He keeps four different strengths of readers in his shirt pocket. That way, he can put on the pair appropriate to the distance he's working at so that distance falls into focus without straining.
And by the way, all of these links you toss out are recommendations, not absolutes. Is there a lot of study behind them? Sure, but there's also nothing at all forcing you to follow them to the letter. If you like a monitor higher than your head, then go for it. If you like the brightness at movie project levels, then go for it.
This all comes back to the very first statement I made:
Forget anyone else's guidelines. What ever works for you is the correct distance.
When you get old and especially if you have used inhaled or nasal steroids for allergy or asthma over the years, the lenses in your eyes cloud up in an effect known as Cataracts. When that happens, and you can get cataract surgery and lens implants to remove the cloudiness and restore your vision. You can also get a substantial additional 'Master Class' on how your eyes, and especially focusing, actually works. I had that surgery, and live that master class every day.
There are tiny muscles tugging at the edges of the lens in your eye, stretching it into a slightly different shape and changing the magnification/focus provided. This process of adjusting the focus using muscles is called "accommodation". When you get lens implants, they are generally NOT attached to those muscles, so your ability to accommodate is LOST. You have converted your eyes to FIXED focus.
Standard optometric practice for evaluation of 'close' vision is to use an estimated 15 to 18 inch distance, or to ask the patient to hold material at 'a comfortable reading distance'. Some older adults have lost the natural elasticity in the lens, and have transitioned to glasses at one end of the spectrum, typically "reading" glasses. So this test is used to specify reading glasses strength, or to determine the added bi-focal strength needed.
This presumes you still have your natural accommodation ability, and have NOT had cataract lens implants (which completely eliminates your ability to accommodate.)
Once you lose the ability to accommodate, you WILL need multiple focal length glasses to be able to see the screen. Simple bi-focals or tri-focals MAY work, but graduated bi-focals can be more convenient. Graduated bi-focals may take a few weeks to month of daily use to adjust.
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Screen work is generally considered 'mid-range' work -- slightly farther away than reading, but not as far as distant. As long as your eyes can accommodate, you can use ANY distance in that category. Use what is comfortable for you. If you find that your choice is not comfortable for you over time, try closer or further away.
How close you are becomes relevant at an optometrist’s appointment. She takes a distance into the lenses calculation. And whenever any optometrist in the world hears “screen”, she thinks “60cms”. I used my brain for thinking and thought to myself, anyone has been taught since school to hold the book within something like 35 cm distance. So why not choose it?
Now to your 6 - 8”:
“Reading at a distance closer than 15 inches might cause eye strains, headaches, blurry vision.”
And if we believe this person, it means BB not only your inches but the elbow-distance too.
It depends on your eyes and if you are nearsighted, farsighted, normal vision, wear glasses and all that.
The correct distance is that with suits you best. For me that maybe 24" or so but that's just a guess.
With a 13' screen, I'd suggest about 30-40 feet.
Much more important than how close you are is how bright the screen is. Anything over 100 lumens is considered too bright. It's like looking into a flashlight when the brightness is cranked up.
I use an EIZO graphics monitor. They plainly state that if you consistently run the monitor at 100 lumens or higher, the warranty is void. Yes, the monitor's hardware tracks your settings so they know if you've been prematurely burning out the colorants.
As someone who's been in professional prepress as a color and retouching expert for over 45 years, I can tell you the proper brightness for a monitor is one that makes white appear the same as, or only a bit brighter than what a plain piece of white paper looks like in a room with average lighting. To achieve that on my monitor, I use 80 lumens.
My “eye_lvl” from the starting post was an unsuccessful attempt to inform my screen height, yet another editing issue instance of mine on this forum.
As far as I understand your “a third of the way down from the top of the screen”, you find the OSHA's guidelines for workstation distances picture correct, as for the height.
Now that I tried the pic level, I find it more comfortable than what the description of this pic prescribes (“Top of monitor at or just below eye level”). Let’s presume the text to the pic was a mistake. But what about the similar Ergonomics - Apple Support level (“the area you’re looking at aligns with your brow or slightly below it”)?
Both texts seem to raise your recommended level. So, why not meet these recommendations? After all, I read somewhere we should force ourselves to the correct distance. And if this force-point is right, it’s got to comprise the level too.
Feel free to assume any if you subscribe to the elbow-distance recommendation
cause there's no exception declared within it (within the elbow-distance theory) for the size of the object you read from.
But I mean inch.
Forget anyone else's guidelines. What ever works for you is the correct distance.
I have a 27" screen and always sit about 18" away from it. You can't back up a whole lot and see what you're doing for fine detail work such as in Photoshop.
to Kurt Lang, ku4hx, babowa and all other users recommending anything like this:
“Forget anyone else's guidelines. What ever works for you is the correct distance.”
Is there scientific evidence proving your advice is right? I’m not expecting concrete works, it’s just a Y/N question.
You are mistaking these forums for something they are not. We are all end users here and volunteer answering technical problems. The only place that can give you a definitive answer is a medical professional after a thorough eye examination - not the internet.
…screen distance is neglected.
How close you are is irrelevant to using the device. At least, as long as you're not so close your nose is touching the screen, or you're breath is misting it.
I will often move in as close as 6 - 8" to see where I'm placing a path point when I'm outlining an image, or doing fine retouching strokes.
Your eyes will let you know what distance is considered "reasonable" or comfortable for you. Everyone's requirements are different.
Proof reading is a loss tart.
How far away is it reasonable to sit from a 13’ screen?
