IS PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) the "magic" coating for cameras?

[Bill58]

Recently I've read a little about this coating most often used on tactical or military watches/ watchbands and it appears to be the best for cameras. It's almost black, thin, but tough as nails.........and relatively cheap.

Anybody tried it or know someone who does it on cameras?

 

[Pherdinand]

i'm not sure about the relatively cheap part.
Unless you have access to the equipment and tehcnology through your job, or such.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

And I thought that was a term coined for the Microsoft anti-trust proceedings.

I found something at good ole Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_vapor_deposition

 

[Bill58]

i'm not sure about the relatively cheap part.
Unless you have access to the equipment and tehcnology through your job, or such.

I meant it's gotta be cheaper than the pros like Shintaro, et al.

 

[vrgard]

It can't be that expensive. There's a small watch designer in Hawaii that sells small runs of automatic and mechanical watches with PVD coatings at a fairly low price. And there are even different color PVD coatings offered. Check out www.bathyswatch.com

-Randy

 

[clintock]

I'm wondering if PVD is any better or worse than normal plating? It seems to be a very thin layer of a metal deposited on the surface of another metal. Just like plating.
Sure looks cool tho- I wonder how it wears?
Say isn't AR coating on glass a PVD process?

I want a camera made of gunmetal, with a blued surface that I have to keep oily..

 

[kbg32]

I want a camera made of gunmetal, with a blued surface that I have to keep oily..

Its gonna make changing lenses and film kind of a challenge.

 

[ywenz]

What about Rhino Coating?

 

[LazyHammock]

PVD is a coating process but it says nothing about the type of coating. We use a lot of electron beam PVD coatings in the aerospace industry for different applications. What type of coating are we talking about?
Nick