Aging eyes, focusing and optometry

[Chinasaur]

Hey,

Noticed that over the last 3-6 months I can't focus my RF's with any accuracy. 🙁 My contact lens prescription is 14 months old, and my eyeglass scrip was optimized for computer work, so it's not useful.

Anyone have any suggestions about what to tell the Optometrist other than I want, at least, my right eye to be able to focus from 3ft to Infinity for camera work?

Any eye Dr's in the house?? 😀


TIA

 

[Keith]

I'm no optometrist but I'd ask your eye specialist about the possibility of monovision contact lenses.

They took me a while to get used to (six weeks) but the effort was worth it. My dominant eye is set for distance (-6.50) and my other for reading etc. (-5.00)

Not everyone can use them them but they made my life a lot easier by not having to carry a pair of readers around for deciphering aperture and shutter information on my cameras ... it was driving me nuts!

 

[dave lackey]

I'm no optometrist but I'd ask your eye specialist about the possibility of monovision contact lenses.

They took me a while to get used to (six weeks) but the effort was worth it. My dominant eye is set for distance (-6.50) and my other for reading etc. (-5.00)

Not everyone can use them them but they made my life a lot easier by not having to carry a pair of readers around for deciphering aperture and shutter information on my cameras ... it was driving me nuts!

+1...it worked for me, but I also had a prescription for what I term as long-distance for driving, especially at night. In the office, the monovision worked quite well. Then, I found out I could take one of the lenses and it did the same thing!😀

 

[Pickett Wilson]

I just use a diopter on the camera finder to compensate. Still wear my glasses when shooting...the added diopter on the finder solves the additional strength I need (.5 in my case) for the camera.

 

[Chinasaur]

Sooo..I think I've heard of this.. you end up with "blended" vision from both eyes using different focal strengths?

Keith: Headaches? Or do they go away???

Dave: He.. yeah! I always have to have my readers with me or I can't see anything on the camera itself..

Pickett: Too many RF's to outfit with diopters..even IF they were available... 🙁

This sucks because I had to pass on a Nokton 1.1 recently because I couldn't use the freaking thing 😡

 

[Bob Michaels]

Add another vote for monovision contact lenses. Your brain rapidly acclimates to using one eye for reading and the other for distance. For 20+ years I swore it would not work for me (without every trying) and wore two contacts to correct for distance. Then I wore reading glasses which basically reversed the distance correction to zero.

One day my left contact was bothering me so I left it out. By the end of the day I was reading with my left eye and using my right for distance. Been using a contact with minor correction for reading in one eye and the other with correction for distance for some 10+ years now.

FWIW, my eye doctor, a 35 year old, had had the laser surgery to correct one eye perfectly for reading and correct the other perfectly for distance.

 

[Keith]

It's a matter of the brain learning to switch dominance from one eye to the other automatically as you look at far or near objects. This is where the six weeks comes into the equation ... it takes some serious brain re-mapping aparently before it happens naturally. Up to that point it can be frustrating and many adopters don't make the distance.

Never had any headaches that I can recall but I do remember that it was very difficult to drive at night initially and my vision seemed to be all over the place.

 

[peterm1]

I am assuming you are using a Leica here. If not it can be a bit more problematic and you will need to get glasses - perhaps thats what you intend. (Incidentally if that is your case - why not just go to a Chemist store and try on successive pairs of their non prescription reading glasses till you find one that works for you when looking thru the camera finder. These are cheap and can be thrown away if they get scratched.

When I had my eyes tested for reading glasses recently I asked my optometrist about my requirements for correction assuming a "target" two meters away. (I believe that Leica viewfinders emulate a target at this distance.) My normal correction for reading purposes for my right eye is +2.75 diopters from memory but as reading is normally conducted quite close, that is far too strong for use with a viewfinder/ rangefinder. In that case - for using a rangefinder I think my optometrist said I required about + 1.25 to + 1.5 diopters (again working from memory).

You have to consider then that the Leica viewfinder already has a default diopter of (I think its either plus or minus 0.5 - someone here will know) so if you wish to buy a Leica dipoter then you must allow for that in your calculations.

I avoided the issue. Go to the Japan Exposures Store (Google it) and search for their viewfinder magnifiers for Leica. These magnify either by 0.15 or 0.35 times. But they also have infinite diopter adjustment between -1.5 and +3.0) (again I am working from memory so you need to check this.) The beauty of these is that (a) you do not need to know your exact requirements, (b) they are very flexible - Leica diopters only come in half stop adjustments and sometimes you need something in between, and (c) if your eyes change over time you can make further adjsutments without having to buy a new diopter lens.

I find this to be abetter option than using glasses as most cameras do not have sufficient eye relief meaning you have to get your eye very close to the finder - something thats hard to do with glasses.

 

[Chinasaur]

Pete.

Nope.. no Leica. But maybe someday, an anonymous future Leica user will be able to use the information you have provided.

Thanks though 🙂