Darkness of Masks

[kb1200]

So why is it that in any of the competition videos (mainly epee), you cannot see the face of the fencers through the mask? Yet in practice and the mask I own, you can clearly see the face of the fencer. Are FIE masks darker than non-FIE masks or something? What makes a mask not see through? Also, why is it that on a lot of white colored masks, or saber masks, it is very hard to see their face, more so than someone wearing a black mask? I searched all over the internet for the answer to these questions and I found no answers.

[touchefriend]

I think its the lighting. Sometimes you can see the faces of the fencers, especially epeeists

[Purple Fencer]

So why is it that in any of the competition videos (mainly epee), you cannot see the face of the fencers through the mask? Yet in practice and the mask I own, you can clearly see the face of the fencer. Are FIE masks darker than non-FIE masks or something? What makes a mask not see through? Also, why is it that on a lot of white colored masks, or saber masks, it is very hard to see their face, more so than someone wearing a black mask? I searched all over the internet for the answer to these questions and I found no answers.

Your eyes in real life will generally pic up those kind of things better than the average video camera.

[Palisadeur]

Also, why is it that on a lot of white colored masks, or saber masks, it is very hard to see their face, more so than someone wearing a black mask?

The white reflects more light (glare) than the black does.

As an experiment;
Tonight, with the lights on, try looking out of a window from at least a metre away. Then go outside and try looking in through the same window.
Same principle.

_

[Hauptman]

I think its the lighting. Sometimes you can see the faces of the fencers, especially epeeists

It's likely the angle of viewing that is responsible. When you're fencing you're looking straight on through your opponents mask; on video you're looking at an angle.

[Wetmelon]

Because the video resolution is **** on 99% of the videos you will ever watch in fencing. You would be able to see their face in a fully HD 1080p video.

[erik_blank]

The white reflects more light (glare) than the black does.

As an experiment;
Tonight, with the lights on, try looking out of a window from at least a metre away. Then go outside and try looking in through the same window.
Same principle.

_

You seem to be describing the lighting effect normally used in the theater with a 'scrim' drop, which is a cloth mesh that when light from the front is opaque and when there is light in the back it appears relatively translucent.

Soooo.... based on this, maybe instead of having these welders masks for FIE televised matches, we should require people to install small LED's in the masks so that they will be easier to film....

For those people that want to try something even MORE annoying, you could go with some sort of strobe effect so that you could have a sort of still image for your opponent to contemplate while you set up your attack!