u/Raging_Rooster

Mike Rice especially, just a great pairing and Rice had that you gotta tune in cause he might say something wild edge to him. Really miss them both on games.

I’m running into something interesting and wanted to sanity check it with people who understand lens optics a bit better.

I recently switched from digitally surfaced 1.67 high index lenses (Crizal Sapphire) to digitally surfaced CR-39 (Crizal Natural), and the difference is pretty noticeable.

With the 1.67:

• Dead-center clarity was unreal, probably the sharpest I’ve ever experienced
• Text looked extremely crisp and “high contrast”
• But:
  • Peripheral vision had noticeable distortion
  • More “swim” and aberration when moving my eyes
  • Felt less stable overall

With the CR-39:

• Peripheral vision feels much more natural and stable
• Less distortion when scanning across the lens
• Overall image feels more “correct”
• But:
  • Center clarity feels slightly softer / less punchy than the 1.67
  • Doesn’t have that same “etched” sharpness straight ahead

Both pairs are digitally surfaced, so this shouldn’t just be a freeform vs non-freeform difference.

My understanding:

• 1.67 → lower Abbe → more chromatic aberration (especially off-axis)
• CR-39 → higher Abbe → cleaner periphery
• But I wasn’t expecting the center of the 1.67 to feel noticeably sharper

So I’m trying to figure out:
Is it normal to perceive:

• Better center sharpness on high index
• But better overall optical consistency on CR-39?

Or is this more likely:

• Coating difference (Crizal Sapphire vs Natural)?
• Lens design differences between labs?
• Or just perception / contrast differences?

Rx is around -4.00 to -4.25, single vision.

I’m also pretty sensitive to distortion (a lot of high refresh rate gaming / screen use), so small differences stand out.

Curious what others have experienced, especially anyone who’s compared high index vs CR-39 in similar prescriptions.