In any case, I took them outside on a sunny day — and was floored. I mean, I had a visceral reaction to what I saw.
Colors I see just fine — blues, yellows, oranges — looked exactly the same. But all of a sudden, greens and reds looked richer. It’s almost impossible to describe in words. In fact, it’s impossible for normal-vision people to understand, even by wearing them, because they don’t see anything different with the EnChroma glasses on!
But an old brown Vermont barn roof was revealed, quite clearly, to be salmon red. Yards full of leafy trees and plants suddenly had different shades of green. Everywhere I looked, desaturated or barely discernible red things were popping.
There was a weird sensation of seeing red and green areas in the periphery of my vision.
It was a little like the Claritin TV commercials, where you’re seeing a nature scene, and then they “peel away” what is revealed to be a subtly milky film over the camera lens, making the image much richer and more saturated.
The highlight came on Day 4 of my tests, when my kids discovered a rainbow arcing across the sky, pointing and exclaiming. I looked. With my own eyes, I could barely see it. Maybe there was a soft arc of yellow, but that was it.
Then I put on the glasses. Unbelievable! Now I saw two entire additional color bands, above and below the yellow arc. It was suddenly a complete rainbow. I don’t mind admitting, I felt a surge of emotion. It was like a peek into a world I knew existed, but had never been allowed to see.
My mind raced. Is this what normal people see all the time?