Quote:
Dan L said:
There was a matte black 959 ... I'll BET it reduces your laser return ANOTHER 3dB at least.
Dan,
Actually, it generally makes the reflection WORSE, not better.
Imagine photographing a polished chrome-plated sphere using a single-flash camera in a totally black room. You will end up with a photo of a tiny point of reflection, while all other light is deflected away to other directions and lost (absorbed) in the "blackness" of the room.
Now, repeat with a sand-blasted, but otherwise identical sphere, giving a satin/matte appearance. You'll get a picture of the whole sphere because of the millions of small scattering points distributed across the surface of the sphere, each of which can reflect a small portion of the flash back to the camera.
See?
Gloss black is way better than dirty black, metallic black, or "flat" black.