There are two kinds of black. One is enough to fool the eye, the other fools the sensor as well. The difference is invisible to the naked eye — it only shows up on the meter, and by the time it shows up, it is usually already too late.
The whole choice comes down to one question:
Is a human looking at the surface, or a sensor?
If the answer is a human — a camera, a viewer, a photographer, an audience — there are four materials to choose from, and the choice is made by surface. If the answer is a sensor — LiDAR, machine vision, night vision, satellite optics — there is in practice only one option.
For the human eye: four materials, chosen by surface
These four absorb over 99% of visible light. All four also get brighter once the wavelength passes about 700 nm. That is not a fault — they are designed for visible light.
| Material | Absorption | Reflectance 550 nm | When the surface is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fabric KIWAMI | 99.9% | 0.1% | woven fabric – backdrops, curtains, studio |
| Fabric FR | 99.8% | 0.2% | fabric that has to carry a fire rating |
| VL Flock Sheet | 99.7% | 0.3% | flocked sheet – tolerates contact |
| Musou Black paint | 99.4% | 0.6% | paintable – objects, scale models, set building |
The differences in visible light are small. In practice the choice is made by surface type, not by percentage: liquid, woven, flame-retardant or flocked.
For a sensor: one material
If the surface is being looked at by a sensor that sees into the near infrared, the visible-light figures tell you nothing. At 950 nanometres the difference is drastic:
| Material | Reflectance 950 nm |
|---|---|
| IR Flock Sheet | 0.3% |
| Musou Black paint | 2.0% |
| VL Flock Sheet | 10.0% |
| Fabric KIWAMI | 37.7% |
| Fabric FR | 46.6% |
In visible light Fabric FR is a practically perfect black — and it reflects almost half of 950-nanometre radiation straight back. This is exactly why a material cannot be chosen on the absorption percentage alone.
IR Flock Sheet is the only material in our range that stays below 1% reflectance across the whole 250–2500 nm range. Applications: LiDAR calibration, satellite and star-tracker optics, optical darkrooms, ToF cameras, DMS/OMS, machine vision and AOI inspection.
One exception is worth knowing: if you only work around 950 nanometres and do not need a flocked sheet, Musou Black paint, at 2.0% reflectance, is clearly the best of the four visible-light materials. That does not make it a NIR material, but it is a usable figure for many purposes.
All five, all wavelengths
| Material | Absorption | 550 nm | 950 nm | 1500 nm | Designed for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Musou Black paint | 99.4% | 0.6% | 2.0% | 10.7% | visible light |
| Fabric KIWAMI | 99.9% | 0.1% | 37.7% | 19.0% | visible light |
| Fabric FR | 99.8% | 0.2% | 46.6% | 22.7% | visible light |
| VL Flock Sheet | 99.7% | 0.3% | 10.0% | 43.7% | visible light |
| IR Flock Sheet | 99.5% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.5% | visible light and the near infrared |
How to read the figures
- Absorption tells you how much of the light stays in the surface. Reflectance tells you how much bounces back. They are two sides of the same thing — the lower the reflectance, the higher the absorption.
- The absorption of the paint and the fabrics is stated for visible light. The 99.5% for IR Flock Sheet is measured across the whole 250–2500 nm range, which is a more demanding basis of measurement — in visible light its absorption is about 99.7%.
- The wavelengths tell you what each material does at different points of the spectrum: 550 nm is in the middle of visible light, 950 nm is the typical LiDAR and machine-vision range, 1500 nm is the near infrared.
- The figures are measured by the manufacturer (Koyo Orient Japan, September 2026, AOI 8°). The manufacturer notes that the values are not guaranteed values but typical measurement results.
The most common mistake
A material is ordered on the absorption percentage and only after installation does it turn out that the sensor sees the surface. The percentage is correct — it just applies to a different wavelength from the one the device works at. This is an expensive mistake, and it is easy to avoid by asking first: which wavelength is the decisive one here?
We will not sell you the wrong black
Dekoja.net (Noin Company Oy) is the official importer and Koyo Orient Japan's appointed distributor in Finland for Musou Black materials. The manufacturer lists us on its own Distributors page; in Finland there is one.
In practice that means we get the manufacturer's measurement data and documentation straight from the factory, including for demanding projects. If you are not sure which wavelength is the decisive one for you, tell us what you are building — we would rather answer the question than sell you the wrong material.
Ask about the right material for your project →
The technical case and applications on the NIR page → · The full Musou Black range →