A black matte coat

[soldevilla]

I´ve found a really matte coat that is very usefull for to paint dark inside our adaptors. Plus, it dryed very quickly...

I bought a black matt nail polish brand Claire´s and the results are more dark that my best matte sample of paint.
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http://www.digitalphotomicro.com

[seta666]

[Ancient1]

Here is a review of black coatings for space applications, such as telescopes and other optical systems. Exhaustive work has been done to quantify the reflectance and durability of various coatings.

http://www.optics.arizona.edu/optomech/papers/persky%201999.pdf

My only question is whether these coatings are available in small quantities.

Here is a product that I have been using in optical systems for years, with good results. However, I do not have any quantitative data for its reflectance properties.

http://www.micro-tools.com/store/P-CF3-F/Paint-Flat-Black-1-Fluid-Ounce.aspx

Gene
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Eugene Cisneros

[g4lab]

I would give it a little high temp bake too to make sure all the volatiles had been evaporated off.

Probably won't flake because it probably has flexiblizers added.

Nail polish is usually the same thing as brushing lacquer a word which in the modern world does not mean the same thing that it used to.

Flat black nail polish is probably very similar to good old fashioned Kodak Black Brushing Lacquer. I have two bottles of that and since I don't use much every ten years or so I add some reagent ethyl acetate to freshen them up.

[BugEZ]

About a year ago I needed to paint the shiny inside surfaces of an optical detector inside an aircraft engine vent line. The temperatrues can occasionally go up to about 400C (750F). The detector was for an engine development stand. We used a relatively inexpensive spray paint intended to paint the inside/outside of barbeque grills. My expectation was "better than shiny" but the results were quite good.

Here is a link to this spray paint.

http://www.krylon.com/products/bbq_stove_paints/

Keith

[ChrisLilley]

[g4lab]

Model makers have tiny bottles of enamels some of which have flat and matte surfaces which they use for painting models of war machinery.

http://www.testors.com/products/136003

http://www.testors.com/product/136012/1260T/_/Dullcote_Lacquer_-_3_oz._Spray_Can

http://www.testors.com/products/528102

http://www.testors.com/products/136204

http://www.testors.com/products/136839

[ray_parkhurst]

[DQE]

A caveat, based on my possibly inadequate or incomplete experience:

I have found that many or perhaps most "flat" or "matte" black coatings have a significant specular reflectance. A better material, with its own issues and limitations, may be a velvet-like black flocking material. If you look inside many high-quality camera lenses and extension tubes, you may see such a material in use. For example, Canon's extension tubes use this, as shown in the link and thread below (scroll down about 3/4 of the page to see photos):

http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16544

One would like to be sure that the fibers of any flocking material that is used would not flake off, of course. I've never noticed anything like that from my Canon extension tubes, so far, and they are about 6 years old.
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-Phil

"Diffraction never sleeps"

[Rylee Isitt]

Any advice on what kind of paint to look out for if shopping at local arts and crafts stores? I've noticed that oil paints can be fairly matte, but flake and peel rather easily (I've used Testor brand paints, which really need to be sealed, and the sealant isn't very matte).

If it's possible to get black flocking, or perhaps black velvet material, it might be possible to glue it to the inside of adapters assuming that the reduced inner diameter wouldn't introduce vignetting.

Another possibility is the use of sand mixed with glue and paint. The roughness would probably reduce specular reflections. I used to play Dungeons and Dragons when I was a kid, and made my own terrain for table-top war gaming. I used to glue sand to pieces of styrofoam and then paint them so that the texture looked like gravel or grass. It seemed very, very sturdy and very matte, even with latex paints.

[Peter De Smidt]

Krylon Ultra Flat Black is quite good, although I've heard it's been discontinued.

Good flocking is readily available. See: http://www.protostar.biz/flock.htm
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www.peterdesmidt.com/blog

[Chris S.]

For flocking, many of us use Protostar flocked light trap material. For me, this is an essential studio supply that I reach for constantly. It was developed for flocking the inside of telescope tubes, but works well in macro situations as well.

Regarding paint, the addition of talc as a dulling agent appears to be a long-standing practice--but it's something I haven't tried.

Edit: I see that Peter beat me to the mention of Protostar flocking. But it's worth mentioning twice.