Eyesight and dioptre correction.

Dave Wilkinson

Dave Wilkinson

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Like most of us, my sight is deteriorating as I get older, I'm good as ever at distances but need 'reading glasses' for anything close. I hate using spectacles with a camera, so most of mine have now got a +2 dioptre lens installed in the vf, now focussing and composition are brilliant, but the problem of seeing aperture and shutter numbers remains, lens's with click-stops can be altered by 'feel' but the 'fully-floating' ones have me fumbling in pockets for the specs!. A couple of weeks ago I aquired a Konica FT1 slr - a compact well made camera with shutter priority AE, and built in motor, and have been out and about giving it trials. Dubious at first - I found the AE reliable, and very liberating to be able to just raise the camera, focus and fire, with perhaps a preliminary flick of the compensation switch. I love my r/f cameras - especially the feel and handling of the old M2, but have a feeling that by virtue of ease and convenience the Konica may become my first choice for street and action work. The moral of my tale is probably that I need a rangefinder camera with some kind of AE, ( preferably Leica ) if and when finances ( and my female 'estate manager' ) allow!. I suppose there will be a few in the same 'boat' as me!....and I am thankful I can still get out and enjoy the hobby with whatever equipment that works for me!, so, moan over!....sun is out and I have a roll of Ektar 100 waiting to be tried!.
Cheers, Dave. :)
 
There is a solution but it doesn't suit all people. I use monovision contacts where your dominat eye is used for distance and the other eye is adjusted for near focus ... it took me a while to settle into them but now I'm not even aware of it. The alternative as you say is fumbling around with a pair of readers when you need to select aperture or shutter settings and that to be honest is a pain. Or as you say AE which I wasn't quite ready to be restricted to just yet.

Aging is no fun when it comes to vision deterioration!
 
Dave Wilkinson said:
Like most of us, my sight is deteriorating as I get older, I'm good as ever at distances but need 'reading glasses' for anything close. I hate using spectacles with a camera, so most of mine have now got a +2 dioptre lens installed in the vf, now focussing and composition are brilliant, but the problem of seeing aperture and shutter numbers remains, lens's with click-stops can be altered by 'feel' but the 'fully-floating' ones have me fumbling in pockets for the specs!
Click to expand...

Putting a correcting diopter of your strength on the finder has a rather detrimental effect (unless it is done to correct a finder which was miscorrected to start with) - you often end up with having to adapt (or switch glasses) for three distances (scene, finder and on-camera controls).

If you want to have control of finder and on camera controls without switching glasses, you have to match the finder image to the same virtual distance as the camera body as you handle it - rather counterintuitively this usually means having a negative diopter on the finder. That way, you'll need the same glasses for finder and camera - or a monovision contact (or monocle).

Sevo
 
Keith's solution is a more elegant version of my own: a pair of spectacles with the correct strength lens (trial and error at optician's) in the finder eye and my reading prescription in the other eye. Since having cataract surgery I no longer need correction for the finder, so I hang reading glasses around my neck.
 
Like Payasam, I dangle a pair of readers from my neck.
A friend of mine approaches the challenge with a small
plastic magnifying glass tied to his camera strap... not
very elegant, but functional and inexpensive.
 
Yes, it afflicts all of us as we get older. My solution is to have the correct diopter in the camera, not wear glasses, and get to know the camera. Simple rangefinders are ideal. If you've used one in the dark in a theatre, it doesn't take long to work out how to set aperture and shutter by feel.

Imagine what it would be like trying to do this with a digital camera, with 20 or so controls. I can't even pick one up without changing some settings.

But Leica didn't help when they made the shutter dial go the opposite direction in the later models (M6TTL and on).
 
I have very poor eyesight, getting worse as I get older. Astigmatism in both eyes, permanent monocular diploplia in both eyes, and bifocals.

In my Pentax *ist DS, I'm using a cheap Chinese Katz-eye viewscreen knock-off with split-image rangefinder, and my wife got me one of these for Christmas:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/469574-REG/Pentax_30150_O_ME53_Magnifying_Eyecup.html

I'm doing ok with both SLR's and rangefinders. I don't mind the bifocals, I can just look down and set my shutter speed and aperture manually, no problems.

I have 'hard line' bifocals because I cannot stand progressives. You would not believe how hard it is to convince an opthamologist to sell them to you. They really, really, don't want to do it - you have to threaten to walk out.

Taken last night, manual focus (Pentax SMC M42-mount 50mm f/1.4, 1/125th @ f/1.4) and all manual control, manual white balance, manual ISO, everything under manual control.




I shot the whole evening like that - nothing but M42 lenses and full manual control. No problems.
 
I am right now at the +2 diopter correction stage.

I can propose you three different approaches:

a) the tactile approach. you attach the diopter you need to your camera, and use a camera which you can control f/stops and speeds by tact. Btw as we become more and more blind, we rely on our tactil intuition for a lot of things.

b) the strap approach. You attach the diopter you need to your viewfinder, but control the speed and f/stops with your spectacles. For mooving up and down your spectacles you will build a special short strap enabling to lean your spectacles on your head. There they will be safer from messing with your camera.

c) the medium format approach. You will not believe how easy you can focus a big medium format screen of a medium format camera without any diopter help. Some medium format cameras have very big number marks as well, others not.

Btw, I vouch for these diopters, being of good quality and reasonbly priced:
http://cgi.ebay.com/2-Diopter-Correction-Lens-for-Leica-M3-M6-M7-M8-MP_W0QQitemZ170296099935QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item170296099935&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1234%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

Cheers,
Ruben
 
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Just FYI, Ruben - diopters don't work if you have astigmatism, which is common. Drugstore reading glasses don't work, either, for the same reason. The viewscreen magnifier my wife got me works because I leave my glasses on when using it.
 
If I may be so bold as to append a 4th option "D" onto Ruben's list: use a Lumix G1. It has a great adjustable diopter for the EVF; so much adjustment range that I can set it so I see the EVF clearly using the distance portion of my bifocal perscription, meaning that I don't have to change the viewing angle of my glasses as I proceed from viewing the scene with my glasses to using the camera's electronic viewfinder.

~Joe
 
Dave, if you are fine with a +2 diopter eyepiece lens on your M2, your distance vision maybe okay but not perfect since the standard Leica finder power is actually -0.5 diopters or as high as -1.00 diopters on most other cameras without a built-in diopter ajustment. That means your true distance correction is about +1.00 to +1.50 diopters. It also means that you must add to this about +2.00 diopters to see the engraved numbers clearly on a dial making the total reading power about +3 diopters. Try it with a pair of +3.00 drugstore readers to see what happens!

Any modern RF with an LED display (M7, Bessas, ZI and Hexar RF) will address your problem as most have AE. An M6 will also work well since correct exposure occurs when just the center of three LEDs is lit.
 
ChrisPlatt said:
Maybe we should compile a list of "Best cameras for eyeglass wearers"...
Click to expand...

I'll start. :)

I've had good luck with the Canon QL17 GIII both with and without glasses. I wear single-vision, -2.25 or so, spherical correction only, for driving and distance. I can easily focus and view the meter of the GIII with and without glasses. Plus I don't seem to scratch glasses with any part of the camera.

I recently shot in late afternoon with prescription sunglasses and regular glasses and I could clearly see both the focus patch and the meter, as well as the viewfinder field as a whole.

Ditto to an extent with the Mamiya SD RF.
 
awilder said:
Dave, if you are fine with a +2 diopter eyepiece lens on your M2, your distance vision maybe okay but not perfect since the standard Leica finder power is actually -0.5 diopters or as high as -1.00 diopters on most other cameras without a built-in diopter ajustment. That means your true distance correction is about +1.00 to +1.50 diopters. It also means that you must add to this about +2.00 diopters to see the engraved numbers clearly on a dial making the total reading power about +3 diopters. Try it with a pair of +3.00 drugstore readers to see what happens!

Any modern RF with an LED display (M7, Bessas, ZI and Hexar RF) will address your problem as most have AE. An M6 will also work well since correct exposure occurs when just the center of three LEDs is lit.
Click to expand...
I think awilder has nailed my condition exactly here - I use the cameras fine with +2 lenses installed, but now really need +2.5 or +3 specs for small print or fine close work, so I think I'll just get one of those fancy strings and hang 'em round the neck!. Ruben's point about m/f and waist level finders was certainly valid - so if anyone would like to donate a Rollieflex ( 2.8f - nice bright screen! ) to this old guy, it would be gratefully received! :D
Cheers, Dave.
 
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