Looking for high light absorbent black paint

[Greg]

Have been looking around for some really high light absorbent black paint. Today came across an article in current THE NEW YORKER magazine that mentioned Vantablack that absorbs 99.96% of light. Problem is that it is not sold to private individuals. Also mentioned was Singularity black paint from NanoLab which "absorbs 98.5% of visible light incident upon it". But a 250ml can of Singularity black goes for $300.00. Other options out there that are more reasonably priced?
Thanks

[desertrat]

Would it be possible to glue a thin piece of black flocking material to whatever it is you're trying to paint?

[Greg]

Would it be possible to glue a thin piece of black flocking material to whatever it is you're trying to paint?

Unfortunately inside of the housing has a lot of compound angles. I have some black flocking material, and considered using it but painting would be a whole, whole lot easier.
thanks
Greg

[Pieter]

Not sure if it is black enough for your purpose, but I used blackboard paint from Home Despot to paint the wall behind my enlarger.

[Peter De Smidt]

Maybe this?

https://www.amazon.com/Citadel-Base-Abaddon-Black-Workshop/dp/B007REKK7A

Or this:

https://www.culturehustleusa.com/products/black-v1-0-beta-the-world-s-mattest-flattest-blackest-art-material

[LabRat]

It's hard to absorb light, as most finishes will bounce some light off of them due to angle of incident issues (light bounces off a surface at the same angle of the incident angle that strikes it)...

Something to consider is observing where the biggest trouble spots are and treat those angles first (like baffling, grooved, felts, etc) then other places can use general painting with very flat blacks should do the trick to attenuate the reflected light...



Where are you trying to solve a reflection problem?

Steve K

[Luis-F-S]

What's the application? That would probably help us to come up with a recommendation. L

[Greg]

Where are you trying to solve a reflection problem?
Steve K

Paint on the inside of the housing has flaked off (age?) and bright metal surface underneath shows through.
thanks
Greg

[Taija71A]

... Or this:

https://www.culturehustleusa.com/products/black-v1-0-beta-the-world-s-mattest-flattest-blackest-art-material

+1.

Excellent Service and Outstanding Product...
'Nuff said!'

[LabRat]

Paint on the inside of the housing has flaked off (age?) and bright metal surface underneath shows through.
thanks

Which housing???

Steve K
Greg

[LabRat]

Let's try this again (dumb fone), which housing???

Steve K

[Luis-F-S]

Are you touching up the inside of your enlarger dichroic head? If so, I'd just use a flat black matt enamel paint and be done with it. L

[Jac@stafford.net]

Are you touching up the inside of your enlarger dichroic head? If so, I'd just use a flat black matt enamel paint and be done with it. L

I second Luis' suggestion. In my long experience, Testor's Flat Black #1147-rm11471-0611 is more than adequate, easy to apply, and durable.

In my shop I have a Leitz enlarger cooling head device painted in the product. I an only 'see' it because it is the part of the scene I cannot 'see'.

[jim10219]

One thing to help is to keep the surface from being too smooth or shiny. A light dusting of some ultra fine powder to some wet paint, followed by more paint will often do it. I've used paprika for this. Though if it's a place where you don't want to be introducing dust, that may not be a good idea.

I've always wanted to try that Black 2.0 paint. It's cheap enough to be worth playing around with.

[Eric Woodbury]

I've found the flocking materials to be best outside of materials we use for satellite imagers. For black paint, I like the UFB (Ultra Flat Black) made by Krylon. The name may have changed.

Low reflectance is all about surface texture and baffling. You should check in with astronomers. They are very picky about their telescopes.

[Greg]

Let's try this again (dumb fone), which housing???

Steve K

Inside of the 4x5 reflex housing on a Nikon Multiphot.
Greg

[MMELVIS]

BBQ grill hi temp paint in the aerosol can or chalkboard paint.

[Nodda Duma]

I've found the flocking materials to be best outside of materials we use for satellite imagers. For black paint, I like the UFB (Ultra Flat Black) made by Krylon. The name may have changed.

Low reflectance is all about surface texture and baffling. You should check in with astronomers. They are very picky about their telescopes.

I can say the same for the imaging systems I’ve worked on.

Krylon Ultra Flat Black is still made, but unfortunately the binder was reformulated for low VOC and so it’s not quite the same really low broadband spectral reflectivity as it was, say, 15 years ago. I think it is probably still fine for use when it’s not appropriate to mix up chemglaze or pull out other really high priced optical blacks.

[Drew Wiley]

Gosh that Krylon is soft and crumbly over time, and just itches to get dust stuck to it (somewhat electrostatic). Wrong binder indeed. I can't even find a decent dull black wall paint for the darkroom anymore. Needs a bit of oil emulsion in it in order to resist static and scuffing. Or you can go straight to oil enamels for a new installation (wouldn't do it in a working darkroom where film and paper are already stored). But even those are getting scarce in terms of real quality. Last winter I simply retouched the walls with Black Cat ink - worked better than any water-based paint.

[Greg]

Was talking with a friend (who is a serious model RR hobbyist), and he told me that he has and will give me a small can of some of his really, really flat black paint. He found the paint at a tag/garage sale. Unfortunately at some point in the past the paper label on the can came off and was discarded, so we have no idea of the brand. Plans are to spray multiple coats onto the interior of the Muliphot's reflex housing with an air brush, after carefully masking the unit to prevent overspray. He told me it is actually noticeably a bit better than the current Krylon Ultra Flat Black.

Thanks to everyone for all the comments on this thread.

[Jac@stafford.net]

So, how much more effective is a 99.9% black compared to a modest 60% black for our purposes.
I say, not much, in fact the 99.9% is an insignificant improvement for our purposes.

[Drew Wiley]

60% black, Jac? ... (hmm, a rhyme)... That means twice as bright as a gray card, or for sake of all the bearded ones, Zone VI. "Black" generally implies something a lot lot darker than that ! What kind of purposes do you have in mind? Inducing flare? ... Or are you merely referring to pigment load per volume? Generally, the more pigment in relation to binder, the more fragile the surface is, and the harder it is to retouch. Deep flat blacks are simply the most difficult to make in this respect. I'm not a Hassie guy, but does someone here remember when they introduced "papilli" coatings to inhibit internal
reflections. I heard some horror stories about it. Maybe new nano technology will bring an improvement.

[Jac@stafford.net]

60% black, Jac? ... (hmm, a rhyme)... That means twice as bright as a gray card


Yep, I messed up on that. Thanks for the correction.

[Nodda Duma]

Jac, the best black coatings use carbon as the pigment, and from there the differences are the binder and the surface structure of the coating. Carbon black has a uniform 6% (I think... as I get older I forget more and more) reflectivity across the visible spectrum. Binders only increase the reflectivity from there. Krylon Ultra Flat Black if properly applied has about 7%. You’d be hard-pressed to improve on that for anything less than $100 an ounce.

Those are direct measurements that I made and verified independently (you used to be able to dig and find the actuals if you knew where to look. The link is gone now) about 15 yrs ago. I measured because it was that important at the time. Basically Krylon UFB is damned good stuff:.. any other relatively cheap coating was 1 or 2% higher including flocking paper and stuff like that. In the infrared (near and far) it is about the same.

[Jac@stafford.net]

[... snip important info ...] In the infrared (near and far) it is about the same.

Aside: I happened to have a black so-called military type belt pack in my darkroom while I tried some IR binoculars. The pack was brilliant white! I laughed out loud imagining all the play-acting preppers loaded up with such crap.

(The pack happens to be perfect for holding five 4x5 holders.)

[LabRat]

Aside: I happened to have a black so-called military type belt pack in my darkroom while I tried some IR binoculars. The pack was brilliant white! I laughed out loud imagining all the play-acting preppers loaded up with such crap.

(The pack happens to be perfect for holding five 4x5 holders.)

The other funny thing was when I tried to photograph the SR-71 Blackbird at the science museum at night with my point and shoot digicam, and the IR auto focus refused to focus on the nearby finish, probably due to anti-infrared compounds in the paint... :-)

Steve K

[Drew Wiley]

Reflectance can also be significantly affected by the degree of humidity and temp at the time of drying - too slow a dry generally means the binder will have more gloss. A lot depends on the solvent, but Krylon being a consumer product, it's
not formulated ideally for this kind of application.

[Jac@stafford.net]

The other funny thing was when I tried to photograph the SR-71 Blackbird at the science museum at night with my point and shoot digicam, and the IR auto focus refused to focus on the nearby finish, probably due to anti-infrared compounds in the paint... :-)

Steve K

What to you make of its top-side red lines? To identify by satellite?

[Nodda Duma]

What to you make of its top-side red lines? To identify by satellite?

No-step areas

[Jac@stafford.net]

No-step areas

Interesting! The lines are not on all SR-71, but I suppose the crews are adequately trained. They might also lay down temporary stripes for maintenance. Whatever. My imagination soars with the SR-71. I guess you have been close enough to one to see how very tiny the cockpit(s) are, then look back to the engines! It almost makes me dizzy.

[Corran]

Pali, for his 6x17 3D-printed camera, recently started using spraypaint made for simulating a chalkboard service. Seems to work well for him. I am going to get some for my Mercury 2x3 camera which has some reflectivity issues with the widest lenses.

Edit:
Possibly this one
https://www.amazon.com/Krylon-I00807-Chalkboard-Aerosol-12-Ounce/dp/B001DJ1VCS/

[LabRat]

Pali, for his 6x17 3D-printed camera, recently started using spraypaint made for simulating a chalkboard service. Seems to work well for him. I am going to get some for my Mercury 2x3 camera which has some reflectivity issues with the widest lenses.

Edit:
Possibly this one
https://www.amazon.com/Krylon-I00807-Chalkboard-Aerosol-12-Ounce/dp/B001DJ1VCS/

I use this as a general blackening paint, as it does not shed it's surface, is tough, and covers well... But it is a bit slow to dry, and the surface can reflect a little, but as I mentioned, where there is a major incident reflection of light, additional baffling, grooving etc can also be added... The trick is not to allow broad smooth surfaces (even any kind of special black) to reflect...

Also visit a good hobby or art store and see the materials used for train set buildings or architectural models, as this material can be painted and placed in trouble areas...

Steve K

[Paul Ron]

krylon ultra flat black or high temperature flat black spray paint.

[Sfroza]

You may want to explore "black body". https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FhRiDsmZMag