COLOUR IS LIGHT

COLOUR IS LIGHT

INTRODUCING A NEW LENS DEVELOPED BY

TRANSITIONS OPTICAL AND ESSILOR INTERNATIONAL

TRANSITIONS ADAPTIVE LENSES, MORE THAN VISION CORRECTION

BEYOND SIMPLE ACUITY, Transitions lenses offer spectacle wearers a unique vision experience every day. Clear indoors, they adjust their tint to the level of light outdoors, becoming as dark as sunglasses in bright sunlight, constantly optimising the amount of light the eyes receive, to reduce glare and eventually eye fatigue.

NEW TRANSITIONS SIGNATURE GRAPHITE GREEN

TRANSITIONS SIGNATURE LENSES are now available in a new grey-green colour, Graphite Green, enriching the range next to the “classic” Grey and Brown tints. Colour may seem to be a cosmetic choice, but it is actually one of the most important considerations in the function of a lens. Grey Transitions Signature lenses uniformly reduce the intensity of outdoor visible light, transmitting light to the eye with same degree of luminance contrast, whilst main-taining image definition and colour, giving a vision with true life colours. Brown Transitions Signature lenses have been designed to absorb more violet-blue light to provide higher contrast. New Transitions Signature Graphite Green lenses now complete the palette by providing a more natural vision in changing light conditions.

TINTED LENSES AND COLOUR CONTRAST

LENS ABSORPTION SPECTRA

Wavelength (nm)

Green lens

Grey lens

Brown lens

380 430 480 530 580 630 680

Ab

sorb

ance

This graph shows how colours are filtered differently depending on the colour of the lens, how blue/green is more absorbed by the brown and how grey is very neutral.

REQUIRING TWO YEARS OF RESEARCH, Transitions Optical and Essilor International have jointly developed the new grey-green colour for Transitions Signature lenses, using a unique patented colour science technology to provide an enhanced colour and contrast experience. A green sunglasses colour had been originally developed in the 1950’s because research showed that the human eyes do not respond equally to all colours in the visual spectrum. Based on this insight, a green lens had been formulated to emphasise certain colours in order to help pilots locate and track objects in motion against a variety of outdoor backgrounds including earth, sky and water.

ESSILOR’S R&D has substantially contributed with its patented chromatic colour adaptation technology, which addresses two essential criteria: keeping natural perception of colours whilst enhancing contrast. These two objectives are usually difficult to balance as any tinted filter is altering the way we see colours, even if our brain is re-establishing the true colours.

Essilor R&D has worked for many years with specialists* in colour vision to develop colorants that minimize colour distortion. As a result of the project shared between Transitions Optical’s R&D and Essilor’s R&D, the new Transitions Signature Graphite Green provides a more natural vision in changing light conditions.

* Paris Museum of Natural History - CNRS (National Scientific Research Center) - CRCC (Collective Conservation Research Center)

The blue filter, here, modifies the perception of the yellow square,

we see green.

The blue filter is, here, applied to the full vision field, our visual system adapts

and balances colour perception.

ON COLOURS

THE COLOURS WE SEE ARE LIGHT WAVELENGTHS.

Sir Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727) was one of the first scientists to investigate colour theory. He discovered the origin of colour when he shone a beam of light through an angular prism and split it into the spectrum – unlike scientists be-fore him, he discovered that colour is not the result of mixing light and darkness, but inherent to light. His worldwide famous experiment led to the revolutionary discovery of the existence of coloured rays in white light, distinguishable when refracted in a prism.

He conveniently divided the colours of the spectrum into seven: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, each of them merging gradually into its neighbour to give hues.

700 800 900600500

VISIBLE LIGHT: WHAT THE HUMAN EYE CAN SEE

400300

LIGHT THAT ACTIVATESTRANSITIONS LENSES

INFRAREDUVB UVA BLUEVIOLET

LIGHT IS MADE UP OF WAVELENGTHS OF LIGHT THAT ARE REFLECTED, and each wavelength is a particular colour. For example, a red book looks red because it has absorbed the wavelengths of light from the violet/blue end of the spectrum. Red light is the only light that is reflected from the book. If blue light is shone on a red book, the book would appear black, because the blue would be absorbed and there would be no red light to be reflected. White objects appear white because they reflect all colours. Black objects absorb all colours so no light is reflected.

COLOUR VISION

Human beings perceive colours through light sensors in the retina, named cones. It is said we are trichromatic, be-cause the cones are of 3 different types, receptors of three different ranges of wavelengths: short, around 450nm and blue colour, medium around 540nm and green and long, around 570nm and red. As such, light, whatever its composition of wavelengths, is reduced to three colour components by the eye. The 10 million colours we are sup-posed to be able to distinguish are the interpretation of our brain. According to the painter Robert Delaunay (1885 – 1941) our colour perception depends on the colours that surround them.

THE APPARENT COLOUR OF AN OBJECT can indeed be affected by the surroundings. For example, the two circles in the figure below are the same colour, but they look different when they are seen against the two surrounds. This effect is called colour contrast.

WHAT DO YOU SEE ?

THE HUMAN EYE CAN PERCEIVE more variations in warmer colours than cooler tones. This is because almost 2/3 of the cones process the longer light wavelengths (reds, oranges and yellows).

About 8% of men and 1% of women have some form of colour impairment. Most of them aren’t aware that the colours they perceive as identical appear different to other people, they still perceive colour, but certain colours are trans-mitted to the brain differently.

The most common impairment is red and green dichromatism which causes red and green to appear indistinguishable.

Plate 1: those with normal colour vision will see a 5, those with green/red vision deficiency might see 2. Colour blind won’t see anything.Plate 2: those with normal colour vision will see a 29, those with green/red vision deficiency might see 70. Colour blind won’t see anything.Plate 3: those with normal colour vision will see a 45. Colour blind won’t see clearly.Plate 4: those with normal colour vision will see a red/orange line, those with green/red vision deficiency might see a red/green/blue line. Colour blind won’t see any line.Plate 5: those with normal colour vision won’t see clearly, those with green/red vision deficiency might see 45.Plate 6: those with normal colour vision will see a yellow/green line, those with green/red vision deficiency might see a red/green/blue line. Colour blind won’t see any line.

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4

2

5

3

6

PHOTOCHROMISM AND LIGHT MANAGEMENT

OUR EYES NEED LIGHT TO SEE. Light entering the eye is collected by the retina and processed by the brain to obtain pictures. It is an essential part of the process of vision, but sometimes the amount or quality of light can affect our ability to see. Excess of light produces glare. Glare may cause discomfort or even hinder correct vision.

Adaptive spectacle lenses use photochromic technology to filter the amount of light that reaches the eye, adjusting it to the right level. The excess light is filtered out; the eye is protected from glare. As the world leader in photochro-mic technology, Transitions Optical invents adaptive lenses that manage light so that vision is constantly enhanced.

TODAY, ADAPTIVE LENSES ARE THE SMART ALTERNATIVE to ordinary clear prescription lenses. Transitions Opti-cal’s R&D employs 110 scientists (27 Ph.D.s) dedicated to working on new chemicals molecules to produce the rever-sible colour change that defines photochromism. Granted with 115 patents, and 331 still awaiting approval, they have already developed more than 4500 photochromic dyes to produce the best performing adaptive lenses.

So many dyes are needed for just a few lens colours produced, because actually there is not one dye for one colour of lens, but a dye combination that will ensure colour stability throughout the photochromic activation process. This is how Transitions lenses have overcome the aesthetic challenge and produce a constant colour in varying light conditions – solely providing the gradations of darkness that are required.

Transitions Optical could make appear any colour in a clear lens and any colour transformation in a tinted lens.... from green to pink, from purple to yellow... the possibilities are endless and could virtually run into millions. However, the purpose of enhanced vision is the criteria for making a new lens colour.

Thanks to Lafont, ic! berlin, Etnia Barcelona and Face-à-Face for their frames.

Copyright ©2014 Transitions Optical, Inc. All rights reserved. Transitions and the swirl are registered trademarks and Transitions Adaptive Lenses, Signature and XTRActive are trademarks of Transitions Optical, Inc. Other trademarks or service marks included are property of their respective owners. Photochromic and polarization performance are influenced by temperature, UV exposure, and lens material.

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