I'm at Barnsdale Gardens, British viewers will know this as the once home of Gardeners World.
For people outside the UK, it's a long-running TV show about gardening tips.
Doesn't quite have the international reach of Top Gear, but it is more colourful...
The internet is full of people trying on a Enchroma glasses and losing their minds.
"This is really red?"
OSV: "Yeah like a reddy orange."
"This is blue?"
OSV: "Yeah"
*ridiculous screaming*
"It's so bright"
OSV: "It is bright?"
*sobbing*
"Is this purple?"
OSV: "Yes"
"What the f-"
*very ridiculous screaming*
Now with a large dose of skepticism and an even larger import tax bill, it's my turn.
*music*
If you know nothing about colorblindness then try and find a decent video explaining
how it works.
But basically there's three types.
Anomalous trichromacy, a dodgy cone. Dichromacy, a missing cone. And monochromacy, missing two cones.
I have protanomaly, I struggle with some reds, browns, oranges, yellows,
greens, blues, purples and pinks.
Sometimes, but not always. It's not usually debilitating in everyday life
I can't be an astronaut.
I can't tell if I've already clicked a link on Google.
And I had to learn to enjoy and un-ripe bananas.
A potential cure is gene therapy.
Researchers in Washington have successfully cured a squirrel monkey of colour blindness,
via sub-retinal injection.
It hasn't yet progressed to human trials though,
so glasses are currently the only thing that can help.
A company called Enchroma have created some that can partly correct types of protanomaly and dueteranomaly.
The most common and mildest types of red-green colorblindness.
I suspect that most of the videos online range from somewhere between fake and slightly exaggerated.
So I got a pair to try myself.
Okay, here we go...
Sophie, make sure you get the unboxing.
We've gotta give the people what they want.
Lovely box.
They have a blue or purple tint to them.
Each lens has a hundred layers of dielectric material, each layer blocks out a specific
wavelength where the cones most overlap.
In a normal pair of sunglasses, they'll reduce the strengths of all colours.
Not equally, you'll get a varied curve throughout the spectrum.
But with these you get an almost digital signal,
wavelengths being either on or off.
By removing the confusing parts of the spectrum, these glasses are effectively
re-separating the overlapping cones.
Correcting the ratios between each of the signals. Now, this image isn't strictly true. It should look something more like this...
Individual notches, but throughout the spectrum. This means some light is blocked out, but no object in the real world reflects
just one singular wavelength of light.
There's usually a broad mix it can depend on the colour of incoming light and any shadows.
So blocking out a singular wavelengths makes little difference when viewing the overall spectrum.
However, it is enough to trick the cones into a more normal RGB ratio.
Now Enchroma stress that these are not a cure or fix for colour blindness, they're just help colours seem brighter and more vibrant.
They work better for deutans than protans and they can take 15 minutes to actually have any effect.
They also only work for four or five people, so if I'm in that 20%,
This is going to be very anticlimactic. I wear glasses in my normal life, so I've got a pair with my prescription.
I'm not being paid by Enchroma by the way, if they want to give me some money get in touch.
But I had to buy these.
Now I'm British so if I crack a smile, you know they've changed my life.
I'm trying not to smile now, they do something for sure.
Things just stand out more the red is really
The red is really red, I know that sounds ridiculous, but it is.
Everything's just more saturated. It looks like someone's whacked the saturation way up.
Sophie: "Does it feel real?"
Yeah, it feels... I does feel real. I mean it can take a while, I think they get stronger as time goes on, but it's still
It's shocking.
Whoa what colour's this?
"Purple"
Purple to me usually just looks like a dark blue - because of the red in it. I see red quite weakly.
It doesn't stand out compared to blue
So if I see dark blue somewhere, I just guess that it's purple usually based on the luminance, but this really stands out as being
quite different.
Like that blue over there,
they are two completely different colours now.
Where previously they were just varying shades of blue.
*ASMR inducing beard scratching*
*dramatic sigh*
It's not mind-blowing.
Not in the way that other people have reacted.
I mean that may just be because I have protanomaly and it works doesn't work quite as well for this.
And it has very effects on different people, because of everyone's cone overlap is different.
It still it still has an effect.
What that is, is debatable.
Whoa!
What colour's that? Is that the same flower as before?
"It's a brighter orange. It's not as dark."
That looks neon. That's a flashing sign telling me that it's open at night.
"That is really bright. What about compared to that yellow flower?"
This one? Yeah, that's quite a light yellow. But this stands out. It draws my attention.
It's crazy.
It's bizarre that's something in the natural world can be that
distinctive.
Those trees over there in the distance.
They're different shades of green.
Above that house.
I can identify which...
Tree, belongs to which...
Which canopy belongs to which tree.
"That's amazing. I'd never even thought about that kind of difference."
I haven't until just now. I've realized that you can look at a tree and identify
the tree and the leaf is there being the same.
That's shocking, what's colour's that?
"That's a red-purple."
Really purple.
"That's the same color is beetroot."
Is that what beetroot looks like?
"Yeah"
Beetroot's blacky.
"Beetroot's a dark purple-red."
That's really...
It feel like I've never seen that color before. I know there's a logical part of my brain where
that can't be true. But it feels like a new colour.
There's probably a little bit of placebo thrown in as well.
I blame you fully for my colorblindness.
Roger: "That's worse than before."
Do you see any difference in the colours?
"I don't know. It's difficult to tell."
"It's a lot darker."
Yeah. They are sunglasses.
"I don't honestly think they make much difference."
No, they may not do. They don't work for everybody. And obviously,
you're seeing them through my prescription as well.
"I always tell people the traffic lights so easy to tell."
"Because the
brown one's at the top, the yellow one's in the middle and the blue one's at the bottom."
"They say it's hereditary, don't they? To a degree. My Grandfather was."
"My Granddad was a painter and decorator and he used to have to take
samples home to his wife. To ask her whether that went with that, you know"
Was it your Mum's Dad?
"Yeah. Women usually aren't, are they?"
No, it is quite rare.
" I wonder why? It's just a strange defect I suppose. I don't know what does it. Why it does it."
Did you not watch my first video?
"Hmm?"
Did you not watch my video?
"Have I watched it?"
Did Mum show it to you?
"Yes, I'd like to see it. One day. When I'm feeling strong."
Sophie: "Have you got a new favourite colour?"
Yeah, I like red. Really like red.
It's almost sexy.
Can a colour be sexy?
*music*
What is that called?
'Lupinus Manhattan Lights, kindly donated by Lorraine Baker'. Thank you, Lorraine Baker.
Is that just normal green?
"Yeah"
It almost looks, sort of luminant green.
I don't think that's real.
They're like tiny little peppers. Like if pepper and sweetcorn had a baby.
They're not as dramatic as some people make out they are. I mean, it varies for everybody but...
They make a difference, but it isn't life changing.
These look normal.
These glasses don't help diplomats. If there's not a cone there to be fooled. Then it doesn't work.
These only work with anomalous trichromats and for them, it's just a nice luxury.
It's definitely worth trying them.
But at $350, plus shipping, plus import tax.
I'm not sure it's worth buying them.
To be fair to Enchroma,
they don't advertise these as a cure or a fix for colour blindness.
It's other people that spread that idea with videos like 'Oh my god my colour blindness has been cured!"
Actually creating a cure for colorblindness is really subjective.
What do you optimise for?
Passing an Ishihara test?
The greatest distinction of colors?
Or making colors bright and vibrant?
That's what these do. They're designed to be as aesthetically pleasing as possible.
Because at the moment we can't measure the severity of someone's cone overlap. So you can't build a pair of glasses optimised for accuracy.
Normal people will still see an improvement with these on.
A brightening of colours. The same effect is happening, the cone sensitivities are being pushed further apart.
The result is just way more prominent for colour blind people.
So I can see why some people have those really extreme reactions.
And I don't think they're all fake. Some of them are probably exaggerated.
But if you go into this thinking that they're going to fix you.
It's going to be a huge surprise. Because this isn't how the rest of the world see.
They're arguably better, or worse depending on how you personally think colour perception ought to be scored.
But...
I guess it's hard to fit that kind of nuance into a thumbnail.
They haven't got any bananas.
"There might be inside."
Shall I ask?
Hiya, have you got any bananas?
Shopkeeper: "Can I tell you a joke about colour blindness?"
Feel free, yes.
"Are you sure?"
Yeah, go for it.
"I went to the optician."
"He says I'm colour blind."
"It came out the purple"
*laughing*
That is good. Thank you very much.