When to give in..... Troubled Eyesight

f16sunshine

f16sunshine

Moderator
Local time
7:24 AM
Joined
Apr 28, 2009
Messages
6,257
Location
Seattle
View My Gallery
At what point does one finally give in to eye troubles as it relates to Photography.
Since an Eye injury and "corrective" surgery in summer 2011, my eyes have continually become less reliable.
I have trouble especially trying to focus on near objects as one would do checking critical focus with SLR or worse still... a TLR (worse as a TLR my preferred camera).
It's a fuzzy, blurry, double vision mess.
Left eye is better than right although I'm right dominant.
.
This past summer/fall I put a lot of effort getting a Rolleiflex kit back under the roof.
It's a great way to shoot and the way I have long used but now....
I'm ready to sell it all as I just can't seem to get back to the comfort level I once took for granted.
I just don't know if I should hang in and try to sort it out or, just give up the 6x6 and keep the AF cameras snapping frames.
At this point it's just a hobby. It just does not seem worth it.
Surely someone has gone through similar.... do you have words of wisdom?
 
I'm very sorry to learn of your visual difficulties.
What does the eye doctor say?
Will your vision stabilize at some point?
Will it be correctable with glasses at that point?

I hope for a speedy recovery.
However, if the eye doctor says that the injury is permanent, and no improvement can be expected, then this is indeed a difficult situation. If that is the case, then the Rolleiflex won't be of any use to you, and an AF camera will have to do.
 
Thanks Robert
It's good for daily use..... I'm good really and feel bad to complain.
They made me some prisms with a bit of magnification that correct at reading distances but... once I'm in closer... I can't control eye movement or focus even with magnification .
It's photography where it is an issue. I don't use Microscopes or other such.
The docs think it would improve. It's been 6.5 years. It is what it is.
 
No words of wisdom, just empathy.

My own vision gets progressively worse and I understand your frustration. Things that were simple before are harder and harder. In poor light it is near impossible to confirm focus.

I have just about given up entirely on the TLR, I put only three rolls through my old Rollei last year.

but I find I can still see well enough to use a rangefinder if the light isn't too bad and I use hyperfocus a lot.

But in poor light nothing really helps. My Pentax 645Nii has become on of my favorite cameras as it still allows me to work with medium format while using auto focus.

For myself I refuse to quit taking photographs but I think that every body has to come to terms with this problem on their own.

The only advice I can give is not to give up. That really doesn't qualify as wisdom but I do feel you can still take great photos without seeing as well as you used to.

Good luck.
 
I am in the same boat. Likely why I have not been around RFf much lately. Not sure what the future holds, but surgery is the next step for me. Scary stuff. 😥
 
Not sure what the issues are for you, but maybe a different focus hood or system on the Rolleiflex would do it? For example, the Hasselblad chimney finder has a large range diopter that I can adjust for the proper focus. It's what I liked about the 2.8C, the magnifier that moves up and down lets you fine tune focus distance.

If you want to use two eyes at one, and they are not working well together, won't focus at thesame time, or some other issue, I'd suggest finding an eye doctor who specializes in whatever your issue is. After 6 years, a doctor saying it will get better is really saying I don't know what to do. Maybe there is an optometry or opthamology school where you could be a student project? Non-surgical, of course!
 
I share your pain. Increasingly my eyes have changed over the years and I find that now I struggle to focus particularly using some cameras - my M8 is a case in point (made worse by the fact that the viewfinder of the M8 is one of the worst in the history of all Leica M cameras. In the mean time my optometrist tells me that one eye has early signs of cataracts. So the future ain't what it used to be for my image making.
So even though I love Leica M cameras as a concept I struggle more and more with them and find myself making excuses not to use mine. So instead, I increasingly use Leica glass on mirrorless cameras and I suppose one day I will need to restrict myself to AF cameras.

You say it does not seem worth it......but believe me it is. Keep it up. Find ways of keeping the spark alive. One thing I find is that I shoot dynamic moving subjects less and now concentrate more on static subjects - including people in cafes etc where I have the luxury of an easier focusing task. And needless to say I use camera eyepiece diopter adjustments - a lot. But my cameras with built in diopters are now about maxxed out. Who knows what tomorrow will bring on that front?
 
Since this forum really has a heavy film bias (I'm not trying to start an argument here) I'll just throw this out there...

I had lazy eye as a child growing up in the 1950's. The doctors managed to correct it. Up until I was 13 or 14 I did not need glasses. After that few years I needed glasses to correct for my near sided vision. It was pretty stable and I could focus pretty well. But in the late 1980's things began to change where my ability to accurately focus was trashed. Auto-focus and digital photography has kept me taking photos. In fact by using the capabilities of DSLRs it actually improved and extended my ability to take photos. Nowadays focus assist and focus peaking have become a god-sent.

Just saying
 
Sorry to hear of this Andy. Age is an issue. As you get older your accomodation, close focus capacity, diminishes with reduced flexibility of the lens. Some have convergence problems which affect stereoscopic vision close up, and this can even cause double vision.

On the other hand I am extremely left eye dominant and can hardly read with my right eye but it is sharp. When I first got a 35mm lens from my M Leicas I had to switch to focussing and framing with my right eye. That was in my mid 30s. I gradually got comfortable with it and now much prefer it to the left eye which I use for vertical shots. Several years later the next hurdle was getting used to multifocals. It took a month or more but I knew it had to become comfortable eventually. It did.

So it is worth isolating eyes and seeing whether it is only the stereopsis that is defeating you, or whether with your good eye alone there is still a focus problem. If that were the case then a prescription solution ought to do it. Also worth trying a different optometrist. In Australia they are all highly trained and their skills have increased enormously in 25 years, but still there are those with a special interest who might take things that extra yard.

Best wishes
 
Autofocus is great.
For 135 I use AF and the little Olympus XA models for hyperfocal work.
I won't give up photography .... ever.
It just does seem like it's time to give up on TLR.
It's Portraits I use it for not landscapes/street which would be more forgiving.

I may just let allthe TLR's go so I can focus on what does work rather than struggle with what used to work.
This is not a new issue. I'm just now airing it out with the new year starting.
It's close... just need a bit more momentum to make the choice to let it go and find a way forward.
Thanks all for your comments and thoughts.
 
No injury here, but I am recently having more problems with my vision. As I've never sold a camera I have many to test my vision problems. I'm fine with a good bright RF camera, in my case: Mamiya Super 23 (mirror easily cleaned), Leica IIIf (separate magnified RF), BessaR, Olympus 35RC and a Konica C35. When it comes to SLRs (and TLRs), I like Rolleiflex with a split screen, Pentax P3n with a slit screen, and strangely Pentax 6x7 with it's micro-prism.
 
My mother in law was troubled with her eyes since she was kid. Some idiot told her parents to avoid medical care. Only in another century she took it.
She can't read without big difficulties. Yet, she takes great pictures.

Find the object you love and feel for it. If it comes from your heart and you love it, the rest... doesn't matter. We will see it clear&loud and support you.

Are you ready? We are ready.
 
I empathize.

My eyes were never "great", but they worked well enough.
They haven't gotten any better as I age, but I don't let it bother me.

There are many things that take more work to do successfully now than they did once upon a time. This is simply the way it is. I accommodate the differences and workaround what doesn't work so well any more. Some things I no longer pursue the same way at all. I don't see any point to complaining about it, despite that it occasionally frustrates me.

Regarding cameras, I don't want to carry any heavy gear any more. My MF enquipment gets used only rarely as a consequence, even my SL sits most of the time. I can still manage to focus well enough, but it takes more work to ge5 it right. I still outperform AF most of the timewith manual focusing. I've changed my subject matter and photographic interests to suit my current ability/desire to deal with equipment ...

And I accept my limitations despite striving to extend them. That's the most important part.

Good luck to you!

G
 
Andy, to be a photographer and have vision problems is truly disheartening, and I feel for you and your situation.

You pointed out that you pursue photography as a hobby, so it would just boil down to what you still enjoy doing. If you no longer enjoy using your TLRs due to visual difficulties, there probably isn't much reason to keep them, though you could decide to keep one just to fondle it occasionally, at least for awhile. 🙂

(This is probably what I would do, with my favorite Minolta Autocord. Then, eventually, I would probably look for just the right person to pass this treasure on to - someone who would treasure it also. This could be either as a gift or as a sale.)

In my own case, I am left-eye dominant, I wear glasses, and my eyes are aging. I had problems with the grouping of controls on SLRs from 35mm AF on, so I only use older manual-focus SLRs for 35mm. I have always loved TLRs, and they became my solution to my left-eyed problems. I can still focus, albeit slowly, so I haven't had to move on yet.

I wish you the best with this difficult decision.

- Murray
 
Sorry to hear about this Andy.

A suggestion. Since the TLR is mostly used for portraits, why not train yourself to accurately place subjects an exact distance from the camera, and scale focus. You might find it necessary to use a smaller aperture to give yourself a bit of leeway, but still, this might help to get around the problem.
 
Yes, I have gone through something similar. At 66 my eyes are not what they used to be, and it has affected my photography. In fact, I switched back to painting and drawing mostly, and recently have been involved in hand building pottery, glazing it firing it, etc. This stuff is big :]

My right eye has weakened considerably, so when I do take photographs I have switched from my usual right eye to my left to focus with. This was surprisingly easy to do, and it works out a lot better.

There's no shame in making photography a hobby. One thing I discovered in my pottery class is that it can be a collaborative effort, and I enjoy that. There are some incredibly talented people in my class (all seniors at a local senior center here in Albuquerque), and we are always asking each other what might be a good thing to try? This is brand new for me, as I worked alone as a photographer and painter. In fact, on Tuesday we have an open studio w/o a teacher and this is our favorite class. We call it group therapy. It's all about catching up w/ each other, sharing problems as well as successes, and we still get some good work done. I have made some damn good friends in there, including meeting the love of my life.

So that's what worked for me. Try switching mediums, make allowances for your strengths as well as your weaknesses w/ photography (AF is fine), and get involved with people that are going through what we all are experiencing....getting older, wiser and better, but maybe a little less able in some areas. There's a LOT of things I can't do like I used to.......but thank the universe for Viagra! And even that is not so important like it used to be. I see a lot of people who are much older almost daily that have settled down into fondness and companionship, and that is just great.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

zane0777
Join the Nikon USA Club! - Data mining in the Before Times
Replies
3
Views
454
DennisM
D
Hayli
Pentax 17 rewind knob not turning when advancing
Replies
8
Views
2K
Godfrey
Godfrey
A
Life's little (photo) lessons - what are yours?
4 5 6
Replies
114
Views
5K
kxl
kxl
Bololoco
Cameras to fix
2
Replies
31
Views
1K
fub
F
Jbennett68
First roll of film in a Barnack
2
Replies
26
Views
2K
MNS
MNS
Back
Top Bottom