In the frame room
Lenses and coatings
The half of the purchase that actually decides how you see.
People choose the frame and are then surprised that the lenses cost more than it. The lens is where the money does something: the material decides the thickness and the weight, the design decides how wide the useful part is, and the coatings decide how much of the light reaching you is light you wanted. Each is priced on its own here for that reason.
What this includes
- Single vision, and the reading and occupational versions of it
- Varifocals in three corridor lengths, because a short frame cannot take a long corridor
- Bifocals, still, for people who want them
- Thinner materials for a strong prescription, with the trade-off said out loud
- Coatings listed and priced one at a time rather than bundled
What this is not
- No lens prevents eye strain, and none of these is sold on that claim
- A thinner lens is thinner, not sharper
Lens designs
Priced on their own, before any coating is added.
| Lens design | What it is | From |
|---|---|---|
| Single vision | One power across the whole lens. Distance, or reading, or a screen. | $95 |
| Varifocal, long corridor | Distance, middle and near in one lens, with the widest usable middle. | $325 |
| Varifocal, short corridor | The same three zones, compressed, for a shallower frame. | $295 |
| Bifocal | Two powers with a visible line between them. | $175 |
| Occupational | Built for a desk rather than for a street. | $245 |
Coatings
Added one at a time, and priced one at a time.
| Coating | What it does | From |
|---|---|---|
| Anti-reflection | Lets more light through the lens and stops other people seeing it bounce off. | $65 |
| Scratch-resistant hard coat | Makes a plastic lens harder to scratch. Not impossible to scratch. | $35 |
| Ultraviolet filter | Blocks ultraviolet in a clear lens, with no tint. | $25 |
| Photochromic | Darkens in daylight and clears indoors, slowly. | $125 |
| Polarised | Cuts reflected glare off water, snow and wet roads. | $95 |
| Thinner material | The same prescription in a thinner, lighter lens. | $85 |
About the price. Every price on this site is a starting price for one part of the job. A frame, a lens design and each coating are priced separately, because they are chosen separately and because what a pair of glasses costs depends on a prescription that has not been written yet. Nothing on this site adds up to a total, deliberately, and you will be told the price of the whole job before anything is ordered.
Ready to choose your lenses?
Ring to book an eye examination, or come in and browse the frame room — no appointment needed to look.