When it comes to brightness perception, the human eye doesn’t respond equally across the entire luminance range. You may notice a significant difference in brightness when dimming lights at lower levels, but much less so when adjusting higher luminance levels. This phenomenon is due to how our eyes and brains process light—a characteristic called the "Weber-Fechner Law."

At low luminance levels, even small changes in brightness are highly perceptible. This is because our vision is more sensitive to contrast in darker environments. However, at higher luminance levels, the eye becomes less sensitive to incremental changes. In other words, doubling the brightness of a dim light is much more noticeable than doubling the brightness of an already bright light.

This is where the new MediaLight flicker-free infrared and button dimmers come into play. Our latest dimmers now offer 150 brightness levels, with 15 steps between 0-10% brightness, compared to only 5 steps in the previous version. This allows for incredibly precise adjustments at the lower end of the brightness range, where changes are most noticeable and impactful for reducing eye strain and enhancing viewing comfort.

You might find yourself thinking that the + or - buttons aren’t working at higher brightness levels. This is due to the eye’s decreased sensitivity to changes at those levels. To quickly verify that the buttons work, you can hold the button on the button dimmer to swiftly lower the brightness or press the 10% button on the remote. This will bring the dimmer to a level where the adjustments become more perceptible.

At MediaLight, we’ve designed our dimmers to give you the control you need, especially at the levels where it matters most for your viewing experience.