If you want the best vision possible, then you want your lenses to be made by Zeiss.
We understand that the multitude of options Zeiss has can be quite confusing, so here's a breakdown of everything Zeiss has to offer...
Lens Material Options...
Zeiss Germany is distinct from other manufacturers who produce Zeiss lenses all over the world. Often, the Zeiss name is licensed and then the lenses are made by independent labs. Zeiss Germany works with a specific set of materials - so you have CR39, which is the standard plastic, higher index plastics that are thinner and lighter, all the way up to 1.74 index. You can also get Zeiss lenses made from Trivex, which is the best all-around lens material available. The reason for that is because Trivex combines excellent clarity with incredible durability and is very lightweight, hence why it is called Trivex; these three properties make it pretty special.
Glass is also available as a lens material. Glass lenses produce the clearest and purest optics. If you want to see something in the most realistic way possible, with the most definition, glass lenses will give you that. While most spectacle lens manufacturers in the world have moved away from glass, Zeiss still makes really high-quality glass lenses. They are also the thinnest that you can get, so if you have a high prescription, it's definitely something to consider.
Lens Design...
Once you've chosen the lens material that's right for you, the next thing is to choose the lens design, and there are a few out there...
Zeiss ClearView Lenses
The standard Zeiss lens design is 'ClearView,' which was released last year and represents a huge advancement in the production of stock lenses (lenses that are more mass-produced). By producing lenses in that way, they were able to reduce the cost price while still maintaining the highest level of quality. ClearView lenses are the pinnacle of stock lenses, and the reason for that is they have 700 points of clarity around the lens, which means (almost) no matter what angle you look at, your vision will be crystal clear. Additionally, the sharpness of ClearView lenses is very close to glass.
Our clear view lenses come standard with a DuraVision Platinum coating, which is scratch-resistant, easy to clean, waterproof, antistatic, and anti-reflective. Just like all Zeiss lenses, they have complete sunglass-level UV protection, which is actually one of the main reasons we recommend Zeiss lenses. UV protection is crucial for the health of your eyes, and knowing that any Zeiss lens will protect you from the harmful rays of the sun, even if it's completely untinted, is incredible. Clearview is only available for single vision lens wearers, ideally for people who are either younger and don't require varifocals or progressive lenses, or older clients who want lenses just for a given task. So, if you want a pair of reading glasses solely for the purpose of reading, Clearview lenses will give you excellent clarity. But while Clearview might sound incredible, we can go much higher...
Zeiss SmartLife Lenses
Zeiss SmartLife was a huge innovation in the eyewear industry when Zeiss unveiled it back in 2019. Zeiss SmartLife lenses have a 99.9% acceptance rate - that means that only 1 out of 1000 people do not like SmartLife lenses.
What is the principle behind SmartLife lenses? Well, Zeiss performed a lot of research and as they are fundamentally a research-based company, that is what distinguishes them from all other lens manufacturers. Zeiss conducted their research and monitored how our eyes behave in a modern-day lifestyle. The results were pretty obvious: we spend a lot of time engaging with digital devices, and interestingly, we use our peripheral vision more than ever before. This was a surprise to the scientists because when we're actually looking at a smartphone, our brain is computing what's going on around us, and we use our peripheral vision to judge that. We also tend to hold our digital devices at specific angles and distances from our eyes, which has an effect on how the muscles work. So, SmartLife lenses contain optimizations that are designed to reduce the strain on those muscles, making your vision more comfortable when you're interacting with digital devices throughout the day to give you that amazing crystal-clear peripheral vision. SmartLife is the ultimate Zeiss lens.
Zeiss DriveSafe Lenses
Zeiss DriveSafe technology, one of the oldest technologies within the Zeiss portfolio, is equally as good as SmartLife - just tuned in a different way. In the field of optics, we have a scale with comfort at one end and clarity at the other. Generally, we find it more comfortable when our vision is not overly sharp. For example, ClearView is tuned towards sharpness and SmartLife is tuned towards comfort. DriveSafe is not as natural a lens or as comfortable as the SmartLife lens, but it does give you the same clarity of peripheral vision, if not a little bit better, because it's designed for a static environment when you're seated behind the wheel and all you want to do is check your wing mirrors accurately and see the road ahead with perfect sharpness. DriveSafe lenses also contain a filter that reduces glare from oncoming traffic, which is useful not just at nighttime but also in the rain. Now, both SmartLife and DriveSafe technologies can be made in both single vision and progressive lenses. Progressive lenses are for older clients who need reading glasses, and with SmartLife, there's actually a category in between called a Digital lens.
Zeiss Digital Lenses
Digital lenses are essentially a hybrid between single-focus and progressive lenses for people who use digital devices even more than the average.
Zeiss Energize Me Lenses
Finally, we have the most overlooked Zeiss lens - Energizeme. Energizeme lenses are designed for contact lens wearers, for people who wear contact lenses either most of the time or about equally as much as they wear their glasses. The concept behind Energizeme is that it allows you to easily change between your contacts and your glasses without noticing too much difference in the vision that you get between them, which is a conventional problem for contact lens wearers. They are designed by combining a few different technologies like a blue light filter to give your eyes a refreshing feeling at the end of the day. It is the lowest-priced Zeiss lens, which is great for contact lens wearers who possibly don't want to spend as much on their glasses. So there we have it, that's all of the Zeiss lens technologies they offer.
Keep an eye out for our next blog, which will dive into all of the different treatments and coatings you can pair your lenses with.
If you're looking to order a pair of Zeiss lenses, contact us and start your eyewear journey with us today!
