Can the iridium coating affect the base tint appearance?

[kronin323]

As an encore, don't go on to prove black is white.

lol well if you think about it...

From the perspective of, say, making colors, white is the absence of all colors while black is a mixture of all colors...

While from the perspective of light, black is the absence of all visible wavelengths (colors) while white is a mixture of all visible wavelengths (colors)...

While from the perspective of seeing a particular color, it's because the object is reflecting the visible wavelengths that make up the color you perceive and absorbing all other visible wavelengths, so black is absorbing all visible wavelengths while white is reflecting them all...

So, black can either be the absence of all colors or the mixture of all colors, while white can either be... the absence of all colors or the mixture of all colors.

Mind = blown...

 

[OakleyFrankFMJ]

lol well if you think about it...

From the perspective of, say, making colors, white is the absence of all colors while black is a mixture of all colors...

While from the perspective of light, black is the absence of all visible wavelengths (colors) while white is a mixture of all visible wavelengths (colors)...

While from the perspective of seeing a particular color, it's because the object is reflecting the visible wavelengths that make up the color you perceive and absorbing all other visible wavelengths, so black is absorbing all visible wavelengths while white is reflecting them all...

So, black can either be the absence of all colors or the mixture of all colors, while white can either be... the absence of all colors or the mixture of all colors.

Mind = blown...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Picture Cheech and Chong is all I gotta say.

 

[kronin323]

Alright, that interesting side-result I mentioned yesterday, check this out...

A pic from when I was removing the iridium on the Violet, at the point where I had thinned it in the center without getting all the way through yet...

Notice how the center has changed from Violet to blue, like at the edges?

What does this mean? It can be interpreted in a couple of different ways...

One is that the color of the iridium depends on how thick the layer is. For violet, a thinner layer looks blue while a thicker layer looks purple. Ruby, a thinner layer looks orange while a thicker layer looks red, and even thicker can get a little purple... Fire, thinner layer looks yellow while a thicker layer looks orange...

If this interpretation is true, it would support the speculation that the more Fire-like "Fruby" and the Fires that look more yellow than orange are the result of Lux skimping on the amount of iridium being applied to save time and money...

The other interpretation is that for these two-color iridium hues, Oakley is applying two colors of iridium. One is the "off" color, applied evenly across the lens. The other is the "main" color, more concentrated in the center but left off the edges...

That interpretation also supports the speculation of Lux's skimping on Iridium in Fruby and yellow-Fires. And both interpretations are consistent with how one can cut off the "off" colors on the edges, say in a set of custom cuts, without creating new "off" color edges...

Somebody with insider / industry knowledge of how Oakley makes / applies their iridium could answer which interpretation is correct, but figuring it out via testing is beyond what I'm equipped to handle.

You'd have to scrape / collect (for Violet) a sample of the purple iridium and a sample of the blue iridium, then put them through some sort of chemical analysis. I don't have a fancy machine that can do that analysis. A more old-school test would be to burn the samples in a bunsen burner; since iridium is metallic in nature, if they're different metals they'd burn in different colors. But even if I had a bunsen burner, I don't believe I could collect sufficient samples of each iridium color and guarantee that they are pure, uncontaminated by the other color, which would invalidate the results...

But still, I thought it was interesting how the Violet turned blue like on the edges as I thinned it down...

 

[Rustpot]

It could also due with the application process as it relates to curvature, and if I recall "bake" times.

Colors have been shifting since well before the 2007 ownership change.

 

[Rusty M]

@Ecko

 

[Rustpot]

@kronin323 any updates?

 

[kronin323]

@kronin323 any updates?

Yeah I didn't have a chance to get to them until this weekend but they're done now; I just need to process the pics.

 

[kronin323]

Okay, another set processed; these are fire generously donated by @Rustpot.

Fire has a unique greenish base tint that some love and others hate. Is this an effect of the iridium? Based on the results here so far, one can better make an educated guess, but why bother; here's the truth, proven...

Before...

With its greenish base tint...

And here's the after - though the iridium is removed on the left, from the wearer's perspective it will be removed from the right... (interesting side note - the "Oakley" printed over the nosebridge was much more durable than the iridium...)

And there ya go - without the iridium, the base tint is as amber as amber can be...

This pic shows it the best...

 

[Rustpot]

Interesting. I'm still not a big fan of Fire, but I didn't think the base would be so colorful.

 

[Rustpot]

Oh, and I'm surprised you didn't post a before before, how it arrived