buyer's forum

Techno Choices

Amy Spiezio

Starting up a new collection in your dispensary can be exciting—a fashion brand has a stylish cache, a sports-driven logo boosts business with a performance-enhancing promise. But a totally new technology can be tough to adopt and adapt to your frameboards.

Diving into the 3D eyewear pool may be fraught with anxiety for some dispensers. Why get involved with the headaches of a new technology that may or may not take root? What's the benefit of getting your practice into a whole new world?

Entering the 3D market is just part of being an innovative dispenser, notes Tom Sauer, optical manager/optician at Advanced Vision Care in Tucson, Ariz, whose practice is looking at 3D eyewear as a third-pair sale. “They're going to be a satellite, like an accessory,” he says. “We do a very high percentage of second-pair sunglasses. There's going to be many different ways to go in the future with 3D clip-ons and the photochromic 3D.”

Getting over the learning curve is the first step. “The main challenge is learning about 3D and the different types of 3D. When they first came out, I didn't have a lot of experience with 3D,” says Douglass Rees, manager of the lobby O Store in the corporate headquarters at Oakley.

But Oakley's CEO Colin Baden notes that the eyecare professionals' knowledge of eyewear and vision creates ideal candidate's for getting into 3D eyewear sales. “They are the only ones qualified to sell the product.”

Inventory Question of the Month:

Now that 3D eyewear is set to take the world of consumer electronics by storm, how will you make a place for them in your practice? - We're going to set up a full 3D experience for patients and it will basically sell itself. - 3D will be in the practice, but just in a small display or by request only. - This sounds like a flash-in-the-pan and we're not getting into it at all. Please email your responses to managing editor Amy Spiezio at Amy.Spiezio@WoltersKluwer.com or at Facebook.com/EyecareBusiness.

3D HISTORY

BEYOND RED & BLUE LENSES

The world of entertainment didn't come up with 3D yesterday. In fact, the technology has been around in some form or other for more than 150 years. Here's a brief tech timeline according to 3D technology specialist firm, Sensio (sensio.com).

1838
The invention of stereoscopy is first used as a technique to create the illusion of a third dimension in pictures and images.

1903
First 3D film “L'arrivée du train” is filmed. “When it was released, audiences panicked because they thought the train was about to crash right into them!” Sensio reports.

1952
The first “golden age of 3D” kicks off with the release of “Bwana Devil,” released by United Artists. Other 3D films of the period include Alfred Hitchcock's “Dial M for Murder” and John Wayne in “Hondo.” Sensio notes: “3D fell out of use because of the poor viewing conditions in most theatres and due to the complex equipment required to exhibit 3D movies (silver screens, polarized glasses, double synchronized projectors, special lenses…).”

1983
A renaissance for 3D cinema with films such as “Jaws 3D.” “However, in spite of its new-found success, the little cardboard glasses still didn't cut it, and 3D disappeared once again,” the site notes.

1986
The Imax 3D format presented in “Transitions” at Expo '86 in Vancouver.

2001
“The second golden age of 3D” begins.

2010
3D jumps into the center stage of entertainment as “Tron Legacy” in 3D opens.