I’ve been enjoying my FW3As and FW1A, but it’d be really nice if they came without AR coating on the lenses. Polishing the coating off takes a while and leaves my hands sore.
It’s worthwhile since removing the coating improves the tint… but it’d be nice if they came that way by default.
Interestingly, my FW3C with the early one-piece Lumintop optic (that fills the space taken by a glass lens) has a slightly less rosy tint than my later purple FW3A which has the Carclo clone + glass lens. The FW3C looks to be about bang on the BBL for me, and the FW3A is just a hair on the rosy side. I suppose this is largely down to variation of emitters within the same bin though.
The spare glass lens that came in my FW3C box has no sign of coloured reflections when I hold it up to a light source. Does this mean it is likely uncoated?
Hum, shall we expect the 18350 tubes after the Chinese National holidays? Yeah, I know, 30th september was only yesterday and delays are expected.
I am just asking to organize my “shop” activity
I picked up a 23x1.5mm sapphire lens that Neal offers, and it’s a perfect non-coated replacement for the FW3A. I decided the time and effort to polish off the coating was worth at least the $5 it cost for the sapphire lens.
On every production FW3A / FW1A I’ve checked, there was AR coating on both sides of the lens. That doesn’t mean every item has it, since production details typically vary at random… but it’s at least probable that the lens has AR coating unless it’s a sapphire lens.
Usually the way I check is by holding a known-bare glass lens next to the lens being tested, and holding both under my Viltrox panel so they reflect at a ~45-degree angle right next to each other. Then I flip the lens and test the other side too. If either side is a different color than the reference glass, it has some sort of coating.
Hey quick question, I have a defective FW3A and I want to take apart the section but can't figure out how to remove the lens. I got as far as the retaining ring on PCB. Can someone please point me to the post or thread that has info on taking it apart? Thanks!!!!