Lense Choice.. clear, amber or mirrored?

[Huw]

Dont suppose anyone can shed any light on a lense choice dilemma can they??

I am about to order the Riffe Naida mask and I love the idea of mirrored lenses. Do any drawbacks come with these? What about amber?

I will be hunting in the Uk is about 20ft vis. the water is not exactly bright, but not too dark either!!! I will aslo be travelling next year, and should be in areas such as the Maldives and Dubai... and intend to use it there.

Anyone know if the amber or mirrored lenses make the water very dark or decrease vis?

Any imput would be very happliy recieved.

Cheers,
Huw.

[island_sands]

Originally Posted by Huw

I will aslo be travelling next year, and should be in areas such as the Maldives and Dubai... and intend to use it there.

Anyone know if the amber or mirrored lenses make the water very dark or decrease vis?

Any imput would be very happliy recieved.

Cheers,
Huw.

I used my Sporasub mirrored mask for a few dives in Maldives... see attached. Was great against the sunshine (although it was cloudy on the day of the photograph) - but you dont see the true colours of the reef - its like looking at life through rose coloured glasses

If your guiding dives no-one can see your eyes, so not good for eye communication

[Pastor]

Know what your thinking there Huw, thought about that myself. I tried a mirroed mask during the summer that one of the locals bought, I thought it just cut back on everything in all light conditions; not tried the amber lenses, maybe they would increase the contrast.
I think for our green seas we need to get as much light into the eye most of the time to even see the fish which to my mind rules out mirrored lenses, can't coment on the amber ones though, maybe they are just the thing.

[Marwan]

i use the mirrored mask sometimes in the red se, its great viz, so i dont have problems there, but on the other hand i didnt exactly note any advantages of the "mirror", i think you will enjoy the amber a lot more, it will also work great in lower viz conditions..just my opinion
cheers

[josedesucre]

I have not tried colored/mirrored lenses underwater. My experience is with motorcycle googles and sunglasses. amber and yellow lenses improve visibility under poor light conditions, particularly at dusk, but beyond that you need clear lenses. I agree with Pastor that you need as much light as you can get, so I dont like the idea of the mirrored lenses. What I would really like to try is polarized lenses. They really improve you visibility above water so I guess it is a matter of time until someone produces a mask with polarized lenses.

[Huw]

Ok guys this info is really helpful.

Just as i suspected... and pastor confirmed, in the uk we need as much of the light as possible, and mirrors just wont help that.

I am still curious about the ambers though to be honest, since i cant see why riffe would have bothered making them (and fitting them to all models of their masks) if the difference was minimal. I know that riffe are definatley NOT a uk company by any means, but i am just wondering.

Will amber not cut down on light too? How can a duller lense help improve dull conditions? Will vis not be reduced?

Cheers,
Huw

[Huw]

Originally Posted by josedesucre

... They really improve you visibility above water so I guess it is a matter of time until someone produces a mask with polarized lenses.

By the way the riffe amber and mirror lenses both have UV protection.
If anyone wants to check out mask details, the link is as follows:

http://www.speargun.com/mask-snorkel.htm

Cheers,
Huw.

[josedesucre]

Just in case: UV protection is one thing, polarization is another.

[Huw]

Originally Posted by josedesucre

Just in case: UV protection is one thing, polarization is another.

cheers, thats cool.

Huw

[trux]

Although on the surface it might be useful, I do not think that a Polaroid filter would make any positive effect under water. It would only reduce the intensity of the passing light. The purpose of the polarization is to reduce glare, but I doubt that glare under water is a problem for many divers. Would be great though for so-called "surface-divers" who rarely put their face into water and rather have their mask just as a prevention against splashing water - the polarization then, due to the reduced glare, indeed helps seeing through the water surface into the depth.

Personally I hate polarization glasses, and I am glad I lost the only ones I had (original Polaroid). Especially during the driving they often created unexpected and disturbing light interferences on some reflecting surfaces.

If you want to know something about light polarization, have a look for example at this page - it explains it in simple terms:

http://www.glenbrook.k12.il.us/GBSSC...ht/u12l1e.html

[josedesucre]

Umm, if that is simple terms, it confirms what I already knew, Trux. You are a genius! I am sure you are right, but I like my polarized sunglasses. Like you, I lost a pair of them, but I immediately bought a new pair. I confirmed that they work very well one time I was driving at dusk under the rain. I had my sunglasses on, but when I realized it was already dark I removed them and, oh surprise, my visibility was a lot worst. In effect, the lenses removed a lot of the glare reflecting of the wet windshield, so everything else was much more clear. Of course, underwater is another thing, but I would be willing to give it a try.

[trux]

Yes, you are right, when there are glares, the vision in self-protection reacts and closes the iris, hence lets less light inside the eye, and paradoxically even though the glare adds luminosity, you see everything dimmer then you would without the glare. Polarization glasses can remove part of the glare, hence reducing the protective eye reaction.

However, as I wrote, this works only in some cases. The Polaroid filter lets through only vertically polarized light and filters out the horizontally polarized part. It means that only half (ideally) of the light gets through - that's already pretty much light reduction if you are in poor light conditions like under water.

Now, when you are driving, or fishing, the Polaroid filter works quite fine, because the waste majority of the glaring reflexions come from horizontal surfaces (road, water, snow,..) and are therefore horizontally polarized (light polarizes when reflecting on non-metallic surfaces). In the moment there are many vertical or metallic surfaces, the filter loses its effect rapidly, because the reflects are not polarized at all (metallic reflects), or are polarized vertically, hence going through the filter.

Now, when you are under water, the space is no more organized in civilized vertical and horizontal structure with many flat surfaces like outside. You are now in a quite chaotic three dimensional world, where vertical and horizontal does not play any important role. And also yourself, you are moving through the 3d space in a way that continually changes your orientation to the light polarization from possible glares (if there is any).

I agree with you, that in spite of the theory, it is worth of trying, but my vision gets easily confused by Polaroids even in normal conditions, so I am pretty sure it would be even worse under water.

[ATHF]

I tried the amber lenses a few years ago in my AQA sight mask and didn't care for it at the time. It seemed to decrease the light to much for my taste and I stopped using that mask and stayed with my Oceanic shadow. I recently started using a AQA mantis mask with amber lenses again and now see the benefits of using this mask. I can see the outlines of fish in murky water a lot sooner with the amber lenses compared to a clear lensed mask. Especially fish like ukus and mu which blend in well with their silver color. It does make looking in caves more difficult and takes the eyes longer to adjust, also I have a harder time looking for tako(octopus) because they are usually a dark brown /purple color and the amber lenses makes it harder to see them because all dark objects almost look the same, they don't stand out as much now. My friend uses a Sea Lynx yellow in silver out mask and really likes it. It seems to brighten and clean everything up when looking out. Almost a polarizing effect. I would use that mask if it fit my mug better

[Huw]

ATHF...

Thank you very very much, this was exactly the type of response i needed to make my decision. I think i will just go with normal clear lenses, since here in cornwall UK the bass i hunt are very dark whilst hidden in the kelp, and if it is harder to spot them with amber, then forget it! And if light is blocked by mirrored then forget that too!!!

Cheers guys for such a fast and clear response... i really did need to wrap that all up today ,

Huw.

[Pastor]

Thanks for that info ATHF