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PENTAX-exclusive HD Coating
A new multi-layer lens coating process developed for lenses used with PENTAX lens interchangeable digital cameras
Press Release
September 11, 2012
PENTAX-exclusive HD Coating
PENTAX RICOH IMAGING COMPANY, LTD. is pleased to announce the launch of the HD Coating technology, a newly developed, multi-layer lens coating process.
Compared with conventional multi-layer coatings, the new multi-layer HD Coating,* exclusively developed by PENTAX, offers much improved light transmittance and a much lower refractive index. Because it minimizes reflections, it delivers sharp, clear images free of flare and ghost images, even under demanding lighting conditions such as backlight. This coating assures optical performance almost equal to Aero Bright Coating, another PENTAX-exclusive lens coating process made possible by advanced nanotechnology and applied to higher-class lenses.
All future interchangeable lenses for digital cameras that equip this new coating will bear the name “HD PENTAX”, instead of the conventional “smc PENTAX”.
* HD stands for High Definition, and signifies the lens’s capacity to reproduce images that excel in transparency, definition, resolution and rendition.
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50% reduction of reflections in visible spectrum
The coating reduces reflections by more than 50% over the entire visible spectrum, compared to conventional multi-layer coating. -
High-rigidity coating layer
Since the HD Coating has a stronger bond among its coating materials and a higher packing density, its coating layer assures exceptional high rigidity for extra durability. -
Faithful reflection of design concept to actual coating layer
In conventional multi-layer processes, the coating layer is produced by the vacuum evaporation method, in which coating materials are dissolved and deposited in a vacuum. This method, however, sometimes cause the unstable situation to achieve a coating layer with density sufficient enough to prevent disparity in the thickness and refractive index of the coating layer.
The HD Coating effectively solves this problem by employing a PENTAX-exclusive manufacturing process, while optimizing the density of its coating layer and controlling the thickness the accuracy of a nanometer (one millionth of a millimeter). As the result, original design data on the lens coating is accurately applied to the actual coating layer to optimize anti-reflection performance of a lens.
Comparison between conventional multi-layer coatings and HD Coating
The coating reduces reflections by more than 50% over the entire visible spectrum, compared to conventional multi-layer coating.
The new coating allows an ideal control of color balance thanks to stable Reflection at Wavelength.