We know you guys have been patiently waiting for the results of our comparison, but before we get right into the photos, we’d like to explain how we’ve set things up.
As we were reading through the comments in the post announcing the comparison, we really liked the idea presented by Riaan Rossouw.
He suggested first using a dummy, which we already had decided on doing and had with us, and second using a statistics technique called AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process).
We weren’t familiar with AHP at the time and did some research from an iPhone to learn more. Basically the decision makers (our readers) systematically evaluate various elements by comparing them to one another two at a time.
There are a lot of other nuances of AHP that we’ve decided not to get into, or place into our comparison, but we thought that holding polls for the patterns would be a better way to narrow them down into stronger candidates.
Here’s how we’re going to do that…
Comparison Specifics
The comparison took place in various locations within the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Lawton, Oklahoma Friday December 11th thru Saturday December 12th.
We shot 10 different Camouflage patterns at four different terrain locations, with each location having a different distance (as notated below).
Each of the Camouflage patterns was placed on a torso mannequin and each location was completed in a matter of just 15-20 minutes. This was to ensure that the lighting was realitively the same for each image.
Camouflage patterns used:
- Crye Multicam
- Bulldog Tactical Mirage Camo
- Hyde Definition PenCott Camo
- Crye Sand
- Desert MARPAT (Desert Digital)
- 3-Color Desert Camo (DCU)
- UCP (ACU)
- Woodland Camo
- Tan Flight Suit
- OD Flight Suit
Our photos were shot on a tripod with a Canon EOS 40d using a Canon EF-S 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS USM. We tried to shoot as close to f16 as possible, which we’ve found to be the sweet spot for focus and depth of field on this particular lens.
The white balance for the photos was custom set using an 18% Grey Card in each location. The photos have not been altered in any way by Photoshop or any other editing program and do not even include our watermark.
Master images are available on our Flickr Account but are copyrighted and not free to use without permission. For more specifics on our images you can view the properties on each individual image on Flickr.
What’s also great about Flickr is that you can view our sets as a slideshow, which you may find easier when comparing the images below.
Lighting varied somewhat between Friday and Saturday, with Friday being mostly overcast and Saturday being partially foggy due to a front that moved in Friday night.
Location
One last thing before we get into the comparison images. We know that the Wichita Mountains are not the most ideal conditions for a comparison to Afghanistan, but it’s the closest location we had to us that resembled the terrain.
The region has open prairies, sparse and isolated granite mountains and red rock canyons.
We plan on doing this entire test again (with more patterns) in the Spring down in Big Bend National Park. We had wanted to get down there originally, but couldn’t commit to the 14-hour drive from the D/FW area right now.
Reader Evaluation
Here’s where we’d like your input. Using a bastardization of the AHP, we’ll be showing patterns compared in two’s for each of the four terrain locations we shot in.
For instance, you’ll see Multicam vs. Mirage each in four different images and then vote in a poll underneath that on which pattern out of those two you think blends in the best.
We’ll repeat that pattern five times, so there will be five different polls to vote in, each time choosing the pattern you think blends in the best out of the two.
The first thing you’ll see below are our control shots of each terrain location, they show what the mannequin looks like in each location so you can get a feel of where and what you’re looking for.
Location Alpha
Date: 12.11.09
Time: 15:24 – 15:45
Bearing: 060
Distance: 15 Yards
Condition: Overcast
Location Bravo
Date: 12.11.09
Time: 16:45 – 17:00
Bearing: 304
Distance: 15 Yards
Condition: Overcast
Location Charlie
Date: 12.12.09
Time: 08:58 – 09:15
Bearing: 010
Distance: 75 Yards
Condition: Foggy
Location Delta
Date: 12.12.09
Time: 11:50 – 12:08
Bearing: 292
Distance: 15 Yards
Condition: Foggy
Multicam vs. Mirage
Click the first image in the series below to open up the slideshow viewer here, or use Flickr’s slideshow viewer to view larger images for this set here.
Sand vs. Woodland
Click the first image in the series below to open up the slideshow viewer here, or use Flickr’s slideshow viewer to view larger images for this set here.
Desert MARPAT vs. 3-Color Desert (DCU)
Click the first image in the series below to open up the slideshow viewer here, or use Flickr’s slideshow viewer to view larger images for this set here.
UCP (ACU) vs. PenCott
Click the first image in the series below to open up the slideshow viewer here, or use Flickr’s slideshow viewer to view larger images for this set here.
Tan Flight Suit vs. OD Flight Suit
Click the first image in the series below to open up the slideshow viewer here, or use Flickr’s slideshow viewer to view larger images for this set here.
Here are some direct links to our Flickr Slideshows to view images by location rather than by pattern as above:
Now that we have your votes on these five polls, we’ll run another article comparing the most popular patterns selected. We’ll then narrow the choice down to two and eventually one pattern.
Stay tuned for the results, and let us know your critiques so we can take those ideas on board for the next comparison in the Spring!
We’d like to thank Bulldog Tactical for providing Mirage Camo, Hyde Definition for providing PenCott Camo, and Omaha’s Surplus in Ft. Worth, TX for allowing us the use of UCP, 3-Color Desert, and the Tan / OD Flight Suits!