Polarized Lenses

Horizontal light reflecting from car's hood greatly impairs the driver's visibility. This amounts to a fair number of road accidents every year. Horizontal light or glare also affects the vision of fishermen and makes it impossible for them to spot school of fish or underlying disasters. Hence, it becomes essential for drivers and fishermen to counter the problem of glare. A good solution to this problem is the use of polarized lenses.

Working of Polarized Lenses

Sunlight is a non polarized source of light. Thus, the rays from sunlight are reflected in every possible direction, horizontal, vertical, diagonal, etc. When the sunlight strikes horizontal surfaces, the light rays enter the viewer's eyes at a similar angle. This magnifies the effect of horizontal light thereby impairing the viewer's vision. We call this horizontally reflected light as glare. Polarized lenses use vertical laminate strips to counter the effect of glare. The vertical laminate strips only allow the vertical light to enter while entirely blocking the horizontal light. Since, there is no continuous glare from the road, water or any horizontal surface, driver's and fishermen are offered better visibility.

Benefits

As mentioned above, glare reduction is the most important benefit offered by the polarized lenses. These lenses also enhance the perception of colors and contrast so that the colors appear brighter and bolder. This in return improves visibility to a greater extent. These lenses also decrease the intensity of light entering the eyes. Thus, people with light sensitivities are benefited a great deal by using polarized lenses. This property of polarized sunglasses is especially helpful for people who have to work for long hours on computer. They greatly reduce the strain on eyes, thus minimizing the possibility of vision problems in the long run. Polarized sunglasses are also very popular as they offer better protection against light as compared to non polarized sunglasses. Polarized lenses for camera are also available which can enhance the color of objects in the frame as well as filter the light from reflective surfaces.

Polarized Lenses Test

Polarized lenses are expensive than non polarized ones. Hence, when you buy these lenses you definitely want to make sure they are authentic. How do you test whether the lenses you are buying are authentic or not? There are simple tests that will allow you to confirm the authenticity of the lenses right in the shop itself. Your polarized lens will most likely come with a tag or a sticker. Now look at this tag through your lenses and rotate it slowly until 90 degrees. At this point, the tag should appear brighter and bolder than it is. If this does not happen, your lenses are fake. Another test is pretty simple, just get another pair of polarized lens and hold it at a right angle to your pair. The vertical laminates on both glasses are perpendicular to each other at this point. Thus, complete blockage of light takes place. Another test of knowing whether your glasses are really authentic or not is by checking the glare from horizontal surfaces like glass countertop, car hood, etc.

There are a few limitations to using polarized lenses. As they reduce the light entering your eyes, you cannot wear them in dark. Polarized lenses for skiing may not allow the skier to distinguish between snow and shadow. Also blocking the reflecting light means that the skier may not notice the hazards ahead of him.

Polarized lenses are definitely not for everyday use. However, wear them if you have to combat huge amount of glare from horizontal surfaces.