As you walk into the cinema to watch the latest 3D movie, have you ever wished that you could wear something more stylish than the one-size-fits-all, potentially grubby 3D glasses handed out at the theatre door? Well, an eyewear maker will soon be selling 3D glasses that not only look trendy, but can also function as sunglasses to boot outside of the cinema.
Marchon Eyewear is a US-based eyewear and sunwear manufacturer/ distributor which has seen its designs and technologies (e.g. the Flexon frame material) go into famous fashion brands such as Calvin Klein, Fendi, Jil Sanders, Nike, Nautica, Sean Jean and Coach in addition to its own Marchon house brands. This week the company announced that it had bought the 3D intellectual property assets of MicroVision Optical to launch a subsidiary called Marchon3D which will specialise in making and selling designer 3D-cum-sunglasses.
To gain more credibility, Marchon3D also signed a global licensing agreement with RealD, the world’s No. 1 supplier of stereoscopic digital projection technology to 3D cinemas, to use the RealD brand in marketing the 3D glasses. Under the terms of the licensing agreement, Marchon3D’s eyewear will be labelled as “RealD-Certified”, indicating that these 3D glasses are optimised for viewing in RealD-powered 3D cinemas, and carry the full endorsement from RealD.
Equipped with a host of patent-pending technologies, Marchon3D’s 3D glasses will feature curved lenses which are fashionable, well-fitting, comfortable, and apparently deliver superior 3D viewing experience. These 3D glasses can also be used to watch compatible passive (but not active) 3D televisions and displays.
Out of a 3D cinema, Marchon3D’s 3D glasses can act as sunglasses by blocking 100% of UVA and UVB rays from the sun, without any of the visual distortion or blurriness that are usually expected when not looking at a 3D screen.
The first batch of Marchon3D glasses is scheduled to be available to buy in cinemas and eyewear retailers from the fourth quarter onwards, with prices ranging from £25 to £65. The company will also sell clip-on and fit-over accessories for prescription glasses, and is in the process of developing its technology for prescription lenses.
I like the idea of multi-purpose devices. These will be useful because they perform two functions but you only have to carry around one set of glasses which you know will be comfortable.
I’m skeptical about this though, mainly because I worry they’ll be a jack of all trades, master of none, meaning they might not be very good sunglasses at the expense of also being 3D glasses.
Another reason why I’m skeptical is that there are different standards of 3D technology in cinemas. I’ve tried taking glasses from one 3D cinema to another and they didn’t work. So can these claim to work for all 3D technologies?