bio-mimicry in action - the inspiration for the Zeiss LotuTec coatings (1 Viewer)

Yesterday I was birding at Long Valley in Hong Kong and found a lotus pond in which several of the leaves still had rain droplets on them from a rain shower that morning. As the wind blew the leaves I watched the water droplet sliding around the leaf like quicksilver and grabbed the short video linked below.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10154335250840333&set=vb.864050332&type=2&theater

I'm about to buy a new pair of alphas and I'm considering waiting for the new SFs and would welcome any thoughts about how effective Zeiss's coatings are at dust and water rejection.

Cheers
Mike

They are about as good as a lotus leaf, Zeiss claims. I've never seen fit to dunk my 7x42 Victory T* FL Lotutec.

http://www.zeiss.com/vision-care/en...coating-coloured-lenses/coatings/lotutec.html

Bob

In medium and heavy rain the coating works very well as the water just runs off.

In very fine rain, especially if it is more like a mist than falling rain, the water slowly builds up on the lenses because the droplet size is not big enough for the Lotutec effect to work. However, with all types of rain, giving your bins a shake will throw off a lot of the water, even when the the rain is only fine.

Cleaning the lenses is easier with Lotutec as small particles do not appear to want to 'stick' to the surface in the same way, but it is still recommended to brush particles away before breathing on the lens and polishing with a micro-fibre cloth.

If you wear spectacles then having your spectacle lenses supplied with Lotutec coating is also a great idea.

Lee

Troubador said:

If you wear spectacles then having your spectacle lenses supplied with Lotutec coating is also a great idea.

Lee

Click to expand...

I've had similar coatings on my last few pairs of specs - just brilliant. So darn easy to keep clean. I wont ever buy specs without hydrophobic/oleophobic coatings on in the future.