Lens Tint Categories

It is important to understand that the colour of a lens can have an effect on the user depending on the amount light transmittance. There are European Australian and American standards which generally use a 5 point category system to identify the different lens colours.

The sunglasses we sell are all 100% UV protection lenses in categories 0 through to 3 we do not sell category 4 sunglasses. If you are not sure of the lens category of any of our sunglasses please contact us and we will gladly help. Each pair has a tag showing the category relevant to that model. The most common being category 3

Category 0
This is a clear lens or very light tint allowing 100% light transmittance for cosmetic or fashion use and night driving

Category 1
This is a lightly tinted lens with 50% to 80% light transmittance for cosmetic or fashion use in low or weak sunlight conditions not recommended for night time driving

Category 2
This is a medium tinted lens with 25% to 50% light transmittance for general use in medium sunlight conditions not recommended for night time driving

Category 3
This is a strong tinted lens with 10% to 25% light transmittance for general use in strong sunlight conditions not recommended for night time driving

Category 4
This is a very dark tinted lens with less than 10% light transmittance for special use in very strong sunlight conditions not recommended for driving at any time

Photochromic lenses will move colour through a couple of categories depending on the available UV light. These tend to go from category 1 to 2 or category 2 to 3.

Never look directly at the sun even when wearing sunglasses.

The standards are EN ISO 12312-1:2013/A1:2015 (superseded EN ISO 12312-1:2013 in 2013) for Europe Ansi Z 80.3 – 2003 for America and AS 1067 -2003 for Australia.