When it comes to sunglasses, no lens is more versatile than the energizing, warm, colorful brown tint.
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How Do Brown Sunglass Lenses Work?
Brown lenses can colorize your view in a way few other lenses can do for an interesting reason: In terms of colors, brown is not a color on the visible light spectrum and even if it was, our eyes do not have any receptors to pick up the color.
Instead, brown is a mix of red and green, but mostly red, making a dark orange color. It can also have some blue mixed in, but essentially it is red with green. Though there can be many different concentrations and variations of brown lenses, this is the basic recipe.
This is important because we have three kinds of color receptors in our eyes that can pick up different light wavelengths and generally they correspond to blue, green, and red, which you can read more about here.
The basic science of tinted lenses is that the lens transmits relatively more of the lens color and absorbs more of the opposite color. A green lens will let more green light through the lens relative to other colors (and block more magenta) so the visual experience will look more green. You can see this on the color wheel for green.
In the case of a brown lens, red is transmitted the most and becomes richer, with green also being let through at lower levels than red, and blue being the most absorbed and least transmitted.
A brown lens will therefore let more red and green light through the lens relative to blue. This is notable because when it comes to contrast and clarity, red and green are very useful, and blue is not, so brown checks a lot of boxes.
Red is the most useful regarding color and contrast enhancement because there is generally less of it around us as compared to green and blue. Since red wavelengths have the largest waves and the lowest energy, they get absorbed more easily by most objects relative to green and blue. Since they are absorbed more, they do not reflect off objects to create a red appearance. Look around outside, how much red do you see relative to blue and green? In many places, like where I live in the northeast, it's almost all blue and green.
But to create contrast, and by extension a bit more clarity, we need to be able to use all the colors at our disposal. If you are on a golf course, and the grass and surrounding trees are all green, how can you sharply tell the greens apart if they are all so similar?
We can do that using red, which is actually present in almost everything you can see. All colored objects have the appearance of the color wavelength the object reflects. But it is very rare for an object to only reflect one particular wavelength. Usually, there is a mix of wavelengths and the object has a combination of colors that span the light spectrum, and each combination makes a different specific color.
For example, see the differences between red, green, and yellow apples.
The red apple has a lot of red light (roughly 600-700) but still has some blue (400-500) and a bit of green (500-600). The green apple has a lot of green but has a lot of red and a bit of blue too. The yellow is a mix of red and green, with a bit of blue.
So a green apple absorbs a lot of red light but does reflect some of it. What if we were to alter the amount of green and red there was relative to their starting positions, but only slightly?
We would get a redder apple, but it would be a redder green. That might sound unappealing, but it's actually very subtle. See this:
Letting more red reflect from a green apple relative to the green light makes the apple look more yellow (but still green) similar to how a yellow apple is nearly equal parts red and green.
If there were a basket full of green apples, green peppers, watermelon, and green pears, on a bright day it might be hard to tell the different items apart because the green is so bright. Boosting red relative to green will bring out the subtle differences in each object since they all have different spectral properties.
See how this plays out in this (very accurate) Oakley simulation of their bronze-based Prizm lens.
There is another reason brown lenses have enhanced color and clarity, and that is the relative reduction of blue light.
Blue light has two problems with it in regards to optics: there is too much of it and it blurs other colors (it has other problems in regards to health as well). Because blue light has the highest amount of energy and the shortest wavelength, it is absorbed the least of any color. That is why the sky and bodies of water are blue, and there is a lot of blue all around us.
Short-wave (near 400nm) high-energy blue light creates scatter and haze, making objects appear somewhat blurry. See that Oakley picture above. The left side looks much more blue, and duller, compared to the right side.
Brown lenses are well placed to reduce blue light because of the mix of red and green faces opposite blue on the color wheel, as seen above.
For the issue of blue being so common, brown lenses are great. For the haze, brown lenses are only moderately effective as they do not block all of the high-energy light, just more of it. Many brands offer high-energy blue light blocking as a feature, and these brands have managed to completely eliminate it. Maui Jim, Serengeti, Costa, Spy, and Bajio are just some examples.
Now that we have established what brown lenses do, let's understand some aspects of them.
The color wheel can be divided into warm and cool colors. The warmth or coolness of a color is also known as its color temperature. The color combinations found on a color wheel often have a balance of warm and cool colors. According to color psychology, different color temperatures evoke different feelings. For example, warm colors evoke feelings of comfort and vitality, while cool colors are associated with tranquility and seclusion.
Warm hues span from red to yellow and evoke a sense of warmth akin to the sun.
Cool shades encompass blue, green, and purple, evoking a coolness reminiscent of water.
Brown is on the warm side of the wheel and as such, will make your view feel "hotter" and can cause you to feel more energized and excited. This is often why brown lenses can feel overwhelming in the brightest light on the hottest days. It isn't that too much light is coming through the lens. It's that you feel the world is too overwhelmingly "hot". When I was in Phoenix in 115-degree weather (45 Celsius), I exclusively wore grey and green lenses. The brown was too much (especially in an environment like the desert with a lot of red).
That being said, where I live in the northeast I wear brown lenses more than any other lens colors combined. They work in full sun since they are a dense tint. They work in cloudy conditions where the world gets an extra blue filter from the clouds and the brown lenses brighten and colorize everything. They work for sports with their contrast-enhancing features.
Here is an example of Maui Jim's HCL Bronze Lens
Here is Serengeti's Drivers Lens
You can see both of them do an excellent job at cutting down any blue haze and boosting reds and greens to enhance the colors of all objects.
What are Brown Lenses Good for?
Sports
For sports, lenses are better when they evoke feelings of energy and boost colors. Brown lenses do that. Even more importantly, the color boost and contrast they create by boosting reds and greens and reducing blues makes them a tool and advantage when playing sports.
I often switch between brown and rose lenses for sports, but I will not use anything other colors. When I show others at the tennis court my brown lenses from brands like Oakley and Maui Jim, by the next week they will be wearing the same lenses.
Driving
In my opinion, brown lenses are the best for driving as long as the view is not too red, which is usually only in desert environments. One of the best lenses in brown - or any color - is the Serengeti Drivers lens, specifically designed for driving. Since the road and other cars are mostly highlighted by the red light spectrum, and much of the rest of our view is green from any grass or trees, brown lenses are well suited to brighten and highlight all the colors most prevalent in our views.
Golf
Though rose lenses are generally better for golf, the red highlights that brown lenses have will help to show the differences in the greens and allow you to see the ball better against the sky and grass. Unlike rose lenses, the greens will still stay bright with brown lenses, and many people I know prefer that.
Beach
If you want to go to the beach and enjoy bright, beautiful colors, brown lenses are the right lenses for you. They are still dark enough to control the light levels to manageable amounts, but the colors will pop. The only exception is the water and sky. Depending on the brown lens they may be more impacted and the blue brilliance may be reduced. If the world is already too "hot" for you at the beach then go with a grey or green lens, but if you want the energy and liveliness that comes with brown lenses you will not be disappointed.
Top Brown Lenses
Here are my picks for the best brown lenses. There are many other excellent brown lenses as well but these are the best for me:
Serengeti Drivers
Every time I show this lens to someone and they try it on they go buy one for themselves. The beauty this lens achieves is astounding. The colors are warm, highlighted, and clear. The lower VLT works amazingly in overcast or mixed conditions, while still a top lens in full sun. This is as close to the perfect sunglasses lens as you can get.
Maui Jim HCL Bronze SuperThin Glass
A close competitor to the Serengeti Driver, this lens is a bit more yellow-brown compared to the Driver's more rose-brown tint. This still works great in overcast but where it thrives is in full sun, bringing out the color and liveliness in the view while managing glare with ease.
Smith Chromapop Glass Brown
Smith did a great job here. Like the Maui Jim HCL Bronze, this lens works great in full sun and overcast conditions. Slightly more red than the Maui Jim, this is a great choice if you prefer a more saturated view to the other options.
Revo Terra
This is almost identical to the Maui Jim HCL Bronze in the MauiBrilliant material. A bit of a less vivid color option than the glass, but with spectacular clarity and versatility. If the glass is a dealbreaker because of weight or impact resistance, this could be your go-to.
Conclusion
If I had to pick only one lens to keep for the rest of my life it would be a tough choice between the Maui Jim bronze and the Serengeti Driver. Brown lenses are not just versatile but are also some of the most beautiful lenses to look through. They are the first lens I recommend to people looking for premium sunglasses, and I am certain that you will see why as soon as you try a pair for yourself.
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