Mild Colour Blindness

[Sidney Neyer]

Hi everyone!

I am a student at film school and after an eye exam last week learned that I have what the doctor referred to as "extremely mild colour blindness" along red-green. It was so mild, in fact, that it interfered with some slides on the Ishihara chart - for instance, on one slide, colour normal people were supposed to see a 2, colour blind people were supposed to see a 5, but I saw a light 2 superimposed over a 5!

However mild it is, though, it does represent a colour deficiency and I'm worried that it will interfere with me being able to do any jobs in the lighting/camera department. I really would like to become a gaffer/cinematographer, and while I have never really had any issues on the student films I've worked on in terms of assessing colour or colour temperature, I'm still nervous now.

Is this mild colour blindess something I should be worried about in terms of seriously inhibiting me down the road?

Thank you!
Sidney

Edited December 13, 2013 by Sidney Neyer

[Phil Rhodes]

I was once told that I was colour blind when I was very young. I have been repeatedly tested since, including both self-administered tests and by optometrists, and have been repeatedly told that I actually have unusually good colour vision - the first test was apparently a mistake. I'm regularly screaming at people playing video games where the bad guys are marked with red text against green trees, and I have absolutely no problem with even the most subtle Ishihara dot patterns - you know, these:

 

 

(This particular one is designed to show 29 if all is well, but 70 if you have any degree of red-green deficiency, but obviously you shouldn't rely on internet advice).

 

You might consider getting a best-out-of-three reassessment. But in all honesty, nobody's ever asked me.

 

P

[Sidney Neyer]

Thank you Phil! That particular test looks like a 29 to me, but of course this on a library monitor etc. etc. I will get a second opinion! And in the meantime I'll continue to plug away as it doesn't seem to be affecting my work (I guess I'm just a little anxious.)

Thank you!

[Brett Bailey]

Haskell Wexler, A.S.C. is categorized as red-green blind.

Edited December 14, 2013 by Brett Bailey

[Stephen Williams]

My first boss was an Commercial Artist & Art director, he was colour blind. His first job in the film industry was mixing paint :D he could see shades & the base colour was written on the bottle so was not an issue.

[Freya Black]

I think people are able to do all kinds of things as long as there aren't people telling them that they can't.

 

Freya

[Sidney Neyer]

You all have been a great help, and brought much relief.

What started this off was hearing that American camera unions require a colour blindness test - does anyone know if this is true?