Kodak

Centennial Optical wants to help people see in HD.

The Toronto-based independent eyewear company, which is the Canadian wholesale distributor for Kodak lenses, launched the high-definition Kodak Unique HD digitally customized progressive lenses this summer in Canada.

The free-form lenses – the newest addition to the Kodak Lens Professional Series – feature wide fields of view to provide picture-perfect vision at all distances.

“The Kodak Lens Professional Series offers eyecare professionals an exclusive portfolio of advanced technology options to meet their patients’ needs,” says Rick Leroux, director of marketing and communications for Centennial Optical’s lens division.

“The power of the Kodak brand, as shown in a progressive lens wearers’ study, is that patients favour Kodak Lenses two-to-one over other lenses, based on visual performance, brand name recognition and sensible pricing.”

Kodak Unique HD progressive lenses, a full backside design, are created using position-of-wear measurements to more highly customize the lens to the individual patient’s viewing needs. The design features variable corridor lengths customized for frame size and shape and compensates for prescribed prism.

Consumers will notice greater colour contrast and reduced distortion for smooth, more natural viewing. The lenses are also thinner, making for more cosmetically appealing eyeglasses.

Kodak Unique HD progressive lenses are available hard-coated or with Kodak Clean&CleAR.

Many lens manufacturers, like Kodak, now offer free-form lenses – the most popular type of high-definition lenses – as part of their portfolios.

Known for offering superior image quality and less nighttime glare, free-form lenses are highly customized lenses that are created using computer-aided design and surfacing processes.

Essilor, the world leader for corrective lenses, launched this year in Canada the Varilux E series lenses, which are created with technologies inspired from the company’s most advanced Varilux S series lenses.

Varilux brand manager Kristel Bordeleau-Tassile of Essilor Canada says the Varilux S series, when it launched just a few years ago, “completely revolutionized the concept of progressive lenses” and broke the compromise between wide fields of vision and limited swim effect.

“Varilux S series is the first line of digital progressive lenses providing a real breakthrough in wearer experience thanks to its Nanoptix patented technology, entirely re-engineering the fundamental structure of a progressive lens to reduce swim effect, combined with SynchronEyes patented technology taking into account the physiological differences between the two eyes to ensure extra-large field of vision,” she says.

4D Technology is the other patented technology available specifically on Varilux S 4D design, which “takes the leading dominant eye into account in lens calculations to ensure instant focus and faster visual reaction time for the wearer.”

Both Varilux S series and Varilux E series use a patented manufacturing process called Varilux series Digital Surfacing, which is “designed to reach an unmatched level of precision,” Bordeleau-Tassile says.

The Canadian company Plastic Plus, the exclusive production and distribution partner of German-based Rodenstock Group, began offering Rodenstock’s Impression FreeSign 3 lenses last year.

“Impression FreeSign 3, which replaces its predecessor Impression FreeSign 2, has benefits to offer that take progressive spectacles wearers into a new dimension: maximum visual zone, high image stability and the highest spontaneous compatibility.”

“Aberrations are pushed into irrelevant areas for the wearer so that they do not adversely affect natural perception. Impression FreeSign 3 is also unique because of the great design flexibility with which the individual habits of the wearer are accommodated.”

Opticians can offer patients one of three prefabricated design types or an individual design “calculated on the basis of the customer’s personal vision profile.”

The prefabricated lenses include an “Allround design” for people who want equally balanced visual zones for near, intermediate and far vision as well as an “Active design” for active patients.

“This is a thrilling lens, especially for dynamic activities, due to extremely high image stability as well as large fields of view for far and medium viewing distances.”

The “Expert design” provides ideal vision comfort in the intermediate vision range, making it perfect for people who travel a lot and work at the same time.