Gradient Lenses

[Paul Alfred]

The Rays hit the tarmac the other day and a lens broke in half....perfectly good sunnies but since Ray Ban don't repair any more, they offer you another pair at half price even if they are out of warranty :D I'm sure they will still make a killing off my next pair but I was curious about the use of 'gradient' style lenses in Aviation..pros and cons anyone.

Regards,

PA

[Capt Claret]

G'day Paul,

By gradient style do you mean progressive, corrective lenses? If so, I use them and have three pair, two untinted to satisfy the Class 1 medical requirements, and a pair of sunnies to satisfy my need for comfort on the flight deck.

I find them good for flying & sedentary duties, but walking with the current pair on is weird as they cause the visual perception that one's legs have been cut off at the knees, and one is now only 3' tall.

[KittyKatKaper]

or does Paul mean gradient as in a gradient change in optical opacity from dark at top to not so dark at the bottom, ala the Zurich ones that were mentioned in a thread not long ago.

[AerocatS2A]

I would also like to hear about gradient (light at bottom, dark at top) lenses, because with my current sunnies on I can't read the torque gauges but with them off I can't look out the window.

[Paul Alfred]

KittyKatKaper....yes, that is the style I mean....I didnt realise there was a recent thread which I'll have a look for now....when I did a search, nothing recent came up.

Thanks,

PA

[Horatio Leafblower]

walking with the current pair on is weird as they cause the visual perception that one's legs have been cut off at the knees, and one is now only 3' tall.

Clarrie I only met you once and, I confess, it was 10 years 3 months and 22 days ago.

I am 500mm at the knee cap. I don't remember you as being especially short - If you have been cut off at the knees, are you really only 3' tall?

Before you don these glasses are you 4'8"? :uhoh:

[Capt Claret]

Horatio,

I well, and fondly remember that evening at the yacht club 10 years 3 months and 23 days ago and your memory serves you well. I am neither 3' nor 4'8" in height. I nudge 6'.

To be more specific, my current graduated specs are the second prescription set I've had. The first caused me no grief. The second, for reasons that escape both my optometrist and the lens manufacturer, Hoya, cause this visual perception issue, where walking down stairs for example, one notices one's legs & feet in one's peripheral view, and said legs appear dwarf like. They don't look as long as one knows they are.

Further, often but not all the time, whilst walking any distance, one becomes aware of the appearance of one's stature shrinking, and the feeling is that one has become significantly shorter of stature.

On the flip side, one can read a Jeppesen chart, particularly advantageous in a dimly lit flight deck at night. One see the VASIS or PAPI in crisp definition. One colleague who lampooned me for spending a significant amount on (the first pair of) spectacles, subsequently went the same route and was amazed when he found he could actually see the runway, and distinguish sugar cane stalks in the mass of greenery along the Captain Cook Hwy in FNQ as he drove to and fro work.

[AerocatS2A]

Further, often but not all the time, whilst walking any distance, one becomes aware of the appearance of one's stature shrinking, and the feeling is that one has become significantly shorter of stature.
That's just joint and bone compression due to advancing age ;).