Turning off Transition Glasses (sort of)

With my latest pair of glasses, I decided to give transition lenses a try (technically, mine are Warby Parker’s “light-responsive” lenses) – if you’re unfamiliar, these are regular glasses indoors and then “transition” to sunglasses when exposed to the sun (specifically, the UV light).

For the most part, they work well. I’ve had one scenario, however, where they transition when I don’t want them to.

Sometimes I like to shoot photos of birds and sometimes I like to do so when it’s snowy outside. The snow reflects enough UV light, even on very overcast days, that the lenses get very dark. Usually that’s fine, but when I’m looking for small birds hiding in trees on overcast days, it can make things more difficult than I’d like.

I didn’t want to buy a separate pair of glasses and I couldn’t find an existing solution, but I remembered they sell cheap clip-ons advertised as blocking blue light to reduce eye strain while looking at computer monitors – seemed like they should also block UV, so I figured it was an easy and cheap solution to try.

I first tested with a UV flashlight – they didn’t block 100%, but it was very promising (see the shadow cast in the photo). As they absorb and reflect the UV light, they even look like they glow. Later I had a chance to take them out into the field.

Success! Mostly! It’s not 100% and it’s not uniform, but it definitely helps and I’ve found it to be a practical solution without having to buy and bring a second pair of glasses.

What’s with the gradient?

There’s a gap between the glasses lens and the clip on lens. There’s also some space at the bottom. Since light is bouncing around off the snow at all angles, it’s no surprise that some light gets by the clip-ons.

Well that was easy. Hadn’t seen anybody share this as a solution, so hopefully this helps anybody that’s looking to do something similar.