I got hold of sample of Groglass Artglass. It is anti-reflective, low-iron, hard coated glass. At least on paper and images on the web it looks great. It can be cleaned with micro-fiber cloth. And it shouldn't have issues like Museum glass I have read about in this forum (clarity issues).
So I desided to test it myself and put it under different conditions, hopefully bad enough to test it thoroughly.
My conclustions:
- Artglass really stands out, or I should better say - disappears, when compared side by side with regular glass.
- Light that is passed through is not altered - It has no tint. Although reflected light has green tint (see lamp test below).
- Anti-reflection properties is very good for wide range of angles. Only on very small angles (see small angle test) difference between Artglass and regular glass is less visible.
- You can notice some reflections when things reflected is very different in light emission, for example, lighted up ceilings vs shadowed hand. Otherwise you can't notice reflection of sunny blue skies (see sky reflection photo).
- When that sample stands under more normal conditions, sometimes I catch myself with thought - where is the glass
I would like to use this glass also for next Archivists I will build, but that would require to order full size Artglass sheet (~7m2 or 25 sets of 2 platens). Although I'm planning to build many Archivists, 25 is a little bit too many, at least in the beginning So, if there is any interest to get such Artglass platens (proper size and angles) for Archivist, let me know by PM or email to ilmars at delibero.lv. Note: I'm living in Riga (Latvia, European Union).
BTW, there is Groglass Artglass available in many countries, although most probably 2mm thick, used mostly for framing pictures and photo. One of the companies in USA, that cuts Artglass in custom sizes is Framed Destination, although it looks like they have only 2mm one.
Different test shots below: