Are Prizm Sapphire brighter than Prizm Grey/gray ?

[MORRID12]

Hello everyone,

New member from the UK.

Looking for some advice re. Prizm Grey/gray and Prizm Sapphire lens replacements for my Latch's please.
I popped into my local Oakley store to have a try of both lenses.
I tried the Prizm greys first and really liked them a lot.
Then I tried the Prizm sapphires and actually liked them too but I was surprised to find that, to me anyway, they appeared to be brighter than the Greys.
I assumed with Prizm Greys giving 17% trans? and the sapphires 12% ? that the opposite would be true?
The store assistant had a look and agreed that the sapphires were brighter. She then asked another colleague who also agreed but neither could offer an explanation.

I asked a number of times if they were definitely the stipulated lenses and was told that they were.

The sapphires were in a pair of skins mix 942803 55/17

The grays were in, I think if i remember correctly, a pair of latch but I didn't note the number but the lens did say prizm and the label did say grey.

Both are non polarized.

I know what my eyes saw but being new to the technicalities of lenses and tints, am I missing something here? Are the transmissions on the Oakley site correct and are prizm sapphs actually brighter than prizm grays?

Thank you

 

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[VirusSixZero]

Visible Light Transmission (VLT%) is only part of the equation for what a user will experience from a lens. The Light Transmission profile (LTx) is also an important part, and one that Oakley sadly does not really report on that often. LTx tells you which colours the lens allows to pass through to your eyes for perception. If you take a Grey lens with a 17% VLT and tune the lens to be pure magenta like one of those kids' secret code reader windows, you'll still have a 17% VLT but the LTx is completely different.

Grey is a neutral lens that blocks a fairly even amount of all light wavelengths, the Prizm part means that some of the magenta and yellow spectrum is let through to make some of the reds and greens appear slightly more vibrant. Sapphire is a grey base, but the blue reflective Iridium coating means a larger part of the cyan spectrum is reflected, and the lens itself is tuned to let a bit more yellow through. The result for a user is that things appear a bit brighter, despite the VLT% being lower.

 

[Chris A Hardaway]

Visible Light Transmission (VLT%) is only part of the equation for what a user will experience from a lens. The Light Transmission profile (LTx) is also an important part, and one that Oakley sadly does not really report on that often. LTx tells you which colours the lens allows to pass through to your eyes for perception. If you take a Grey lens with a 17% VLT and tune the lens to be pure magenta like one of those kids' secret code reader windows, you'll still have a 17% VLT but the LTx is completely different.

Grey is a neutral lens that blocks a fairly even amount of all light wavelengths, the Prizm part means that some of the magenta and yellow spectrum is let through to make some of the reds and greens appear slightly more vibrant. Sapphire is a grey base, but the blue reflective Iridium coating means a larger part of the cyan spectrum is reflected, and the lens itself is tuned to let a bit more yellow through. The result for a user is that things appear a bit brighter, despite the VLT% being lower.

One of the better reads in a long time! I was just going to say in layman's terms there are various colors in the light spectrum. When you block certain wavelengths less/more you can enhance contrast. So prizm SAPPHIRE may have a lower overall light transmission, but allow more purples, or dark Violet colors through. So the overall view will look "brighter"...

 

[Jbru]

Visible Light Transmission (VLT%) is only part of the equation for what a user will experience from a lens. The Light Transmission profile (LTx) is also an important part, and one that Oakley sadly does not really report on that often. LTx tells you which colours the lens allows to pass through to your eyes for perception. If you take a Grey lens with a 17% VLT and tune the lens to be pure magenta like one of those kids' secret code reader windows, you'll still have a 17% VLT but the LTx is completely different.

Grey is a neutral lens that blocks a fairly even amount of all light wavelengths, the Prizm part means that some of the magenta and yellow spectrum is let through to make some of the reds and greens appear slightly more vibrant. Sapphire is a grey base, but the blue reflective Iridium coating means a larger part of the cyan spectrum is reflected, and the lens itself is tuned to let a bit more yellow through. The result for a user is that things appear a bit brighter, despite the VLT% being lower.

Wow Thank you for that explanation. I've had the same thoughts as OP.

 

[jageya]

wow...i am trying to decide between prism black and tungstan polarized in the straighback. I have the tungstan already and its a bright lens but will i like the prism black?

 

[MORRID12]

Visible Light Transmission (VLT%) is only part of the equation for what a user will experience from a lens. The Light Transmission profile (LTx) is also an important part, and one that Oakley sadly does not really report on that often. LTx tells you which colours the lens allows to pass through to your eyes for perception. If you take a Grey lens with a 17% VLT and tune the lens to be pure magenta like one of those kids' secret code reader windows, you'll still have a 17% VLT but the LTx is completely different.

Grey is a neutral lens that blocks a fairly even amount of all light wavelengths, the Prizm part means that some of the magenta and yellow spectrum is let through to make some of the reds and greens appear slightly more vibrant. Sapphire is a grey base, but the blue reflective Iridium coating means a larger part of the cyan spectrum is reflected, and the lens itself is tuned to let a bit more yellow through. The result for a user is that things appear a bit brighter, despite the VLT% being lower.

Many thanks for the great info. It's appreciated and clears things up for me brilliantly. Who said "ignorance is bliss"??
I've ordered the Sapphire lenses.
The lower transmission but with a brighter outwards view seems to be a good combo.
Thanks again

 

[MORRID12]

One of the better reads in a long time! I was just going to say in layman's terms there are various colors in the light spectrum. When you block certain wavelengths less/more you can enhance contrast. So prizm SAPPHIRE may have a lower overall light transmission, but allow more purples, or dark Violet colors through. So the overall view will look "brighter"...

Many thanks for the reply. Again, it's appreciated and the combination of explanations puts me "in the know" a lot more now.
Thanks