HD Masks vs. Clear Masks

[CaptainPanda]

Do HD Masks actually make a difference underwater, or are they a bit overhyped?

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Do you mean the ones with tinted lenses? Those do reduce the amount of light that will reach your eyes.

 

[CaptainPanda]

Do you mean the ones with tinted lenses? Those do reduce the amount of light that will reach your eyes.

Sort of, yeah. More specifically, I'm curious about masks like this that claim to 'sharpen colors' or 'improve clarity,' kind of like those HD glasses you see in infomercials. I've never used them, so I'm wondering if they actually work.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Benefits of Copper, Orange, Yellow and Brown Lenses

I'm guessing that this would extrapolate to underwater.

 

[HumbleWarrior]

I’ve found that this sort of gimmick is really only helpful in shallow water and close distance objects. The farther light has to travel through water, the more it refracts and loses color that’s why everything turns blue at depth and/or distance. If you want to see better colors my advice is to get a powerful wide angle flashlight,not underwater sunglasses.

 

[Dominik_E]

I have never tried tinted lenses, but would agree that the solution is probably rather in the light source.

 

[David Wilson]

What goes around comes around. Yellow filter glass was a diving mask option in the 1954 Lillywhites of London catalogue:

By the 1960s, however, colour filter mask lenses had vanished from view.