Just spent $800 to have my MKIIa put into my BMW 330 and I can't see the damn thing through BC's Red lens. Way too dark.

Anybody know if the original red lens was a better match for BMW Orange and/or easier to see through?

I'm thinking a clear lens sandwich with orange gel in the middle might be the only way to go here. Is there any chance of me finding one of the old Rainbow sets somewhere?

Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks!

The red lens was a late addition to the official lenses, but it was pretty close to the BMW dash lights color. That said, you're trying to tint blue-green light to a red color. It's going to be dark. There's not a lot of red being emitted in the first place.

Man. Looking back at that web page, I forgot what an insane system I had come up with for getting perfect comparison photographs of every lens in three possible lighting conditions. I was nuts.

The number of plays sometimes differs between 9 and 13.

Factory red is a very good match for my E36 dash. As close as you'll get I think.

However as others have said, during the day it's not real easy to see and impossible to see anything if there is direct sunlight on it.

I find it perfectly usable though and have used it that way for nearly 3 years

Even the clear lens + red gel can be tough to see. I have a non-reflective (slightly textured) lens with my orange gel. When the light hits it, the entire screen is washed out. Maybe the truly clear lens will be the best.

But first, you have to find someone to give you a red from their gel set.

Dug up the post I made with some pics when I installed it.
http://empegbbs.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=install&Number=255487

I just hit the "next track" button while it was paused, thus leaving it sitting at time index 0:00. It's not like I had to carefully press the pause button at the exact correct moment or anything.

It wasn't being anal, it was just trying to fulfill the purpose of that comparison page. I wanted every photo to have the same screen on the player so that an accurate comparison could be made. I did the best I could do without getting truly anal about it.

If I'd been really anal, I could have hacked the dynamic data partition to show the correct number of plays, or I could have made the player display a hand-created graphic that looked exactly like I wanted it to look. Instead, I just did the simple and easy thing: Call up the Pink Floyd playlist, press Pause, and advance to Great Gig in the Sky. Then start swapping lenses and taking photos.

But during the photo shoots, as time progressed, as it often does, the position of the sun would have changed. Thus the ambient/direct sunlit photographs are not all created equal. Now I can't make an accurate comparison to help me decide which Darkstorm lenses to buy! Kidding, of course.

I had a similar, but much less painstaking experience while creating the lit button gallery for Greenlights. The "Daylight" photos required the empeg atop a stack of cardboard boxes of various heights, with the camera on my Pelican case (on edge) on a chair, putting them at the same height. The empeg sat on white paper with paper propped up behind it to provide a neutral background. I'd view each photo on the camera, zooming in to the max and comparing the top of the fascia against the camera screen to ensure a level shot. And I'd have to wait for the frequent thin clouds to pass to ensure equal sunlight. It took me so long that, yes, the angle of the sunlight changed quite a bit during the shoot.

And for the "Lit" photos, I would pause the track at a point where the Tripping Prisoner visual (note, 1.03 Info>Line) was showing a nearly equal amount of the four shades of grey. And each track chosen contains some reference to the button/lens color being shown.

Whatever, if you're going to do it, then do it right. That motto is why everything takes me so darn long.

Awesome thread. I really admire your dedication, Tony.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a factory red lens or a Darkstorm clear/rainbow lens set (with or without gels)? Will Filener cut a lens for the right price if provided with materials, perhaps?

Any help much appreciated... My beloved Empeg is pretty much useless with this red lens.

Thanks!

Huh?

Ah. Har har...

That's what I've been doing. Sucks.

I wanna red lens!!! *stamps feet*

PM me.