For those that wear glasses

[Dave Colangelo]

I usually wear contacts or keep my glasses on so that the image is nice and sharp.

However it can be uncomfortable to wear glasses pressed against a finder for a long time. Depending on what kind of camera you have there are better options. Nikon (and cannon) cameras offer limited diopter correction within the body however knowing that some people wear glasses you can add more correction over the finder. Nikon outlines all the info here the correctors are fairly inexpensive and easily obtained. If you are using some kind of vintage camera you can most likely find the correction units on various auction sites.

 

[Braineack]

I have a consult for Lasik in may.

...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand scheduled for june 14th.

 

[AVargy]

I have the same issue as you do. Glasses irritate while shooting, however, when you take them off, the picture seems to look like completely different and you can't analyze it in real life. Have bought the contacts and trying to get used to them. It's much more easier to shoot without distractions but now they irritate my eyes

 

[waday]

I have a consult for Lasik in may.

...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand scheduled for june 14th.

How'd it go?

now I need bifocals and contacts don't work for that (not unless there's something new I don't know about)

I believe there are bifocal and multifocal contacts nowadays.

 

[Braineack]

went very well thanks! 20/15 vision!

and i bought cool sunglasses.

there's actually a thing called monovision with lasik/prk, they make one eye farsighted and one eye nearsighted.

 

[Lorrilia]

I keep mine on as I can see what I'm focusing on.

 

[SquarePeg]

Reviving this old thread due to a current dilemma. Went for my annual eye test yesterday. Currently I wear glasses only for reading/computer/close up and that prescription has not changed. My distance vision has gotten worse though. Not to the point where I need glasses to drive or watch a movie but to the point where driving and watching a movie could be more enjoyable with glasses on. I do sometimes have trouble making out distant objects and seeing a lot of detail in anything that is more than 40 ft. away. Went to a play recently in a small theater and from the back of the orchestra section, I could not make out any faces on the actors.

Now I have to decide - do I want a pair of distance glasses to use just for those times when I prefer to have everything 100% clear? Driving, movies etc. Or do I want a pair of progressive lenses that I would/could wear all the time? Or do I want to put it off and just continue with my "reading" glasses until I can't read the "driver's" line on the eye chart any more? I feel like if I start wearing the distance glasses, I will quickly become very disenchanted with my vision without them.

I don't mind wearing my reading glasses and have been wearing them more and more for things other than reading/working. Used to take them out at a restaurant to read the menu and then put them away but now I leave them on so I can better see my food and dining companions. I think I would prefer to be able to see it all, all the time but what is holding me back from going this route is how this could impact my enjoyment of photography.

Right now I use my diopter to adjust the viewfinder to my eyesight. I do carry my glasses in my bag but don't normally need them when I'm out shooting. I tried adjusting the diopter for my glasses and looking through the viewfinder while wearing them and it was awkward and I didn't feel like I could see as well as when I have my glasses off and the diopter adjusted to my vision.

Advice from those who wear glasses full time? Especially those who wear progressive lenses - is the middle spot where I would be looking through the viewfinder going to be fuzzy due to the transition from one prescription to the other?

 

[JoeU]

I wear my progressive lenses full time, but I still shoot without them. Its a bit of a pain, as I need them for the camera settings, so I'm constantly switching back and forth.

One consideration of you go this route: If you spend a lot of time reading or in front of the screen, they can make the bottom portion a bit larger to help with those activities. I did not go this route on the first pair of glasses, but did on the second. I find the second pair preferable, but maybe thats just me.

My optometrist had a pair of frames with slide-in (for lack of better phrasing) lens that enabled him to create a mockup of what the progressive lenses would be like. Then he let me walk around the office for a bit to see what I thought. It convinced me that I was missing more than I thought I was.

 

[snowbear]

I normally wear my progressives for everything except when watching/reading anything within about two feet (arm's distance), since that is what I asked for when I had the cataract surgery.

I generally let the auto-focus do it's thing - so far it's proven it can see better than I can.

 

[Jeff G]

I got used to wearing my progressives when I shoot, but hated it in the beginning. Now the only problem I have, is that I have to make sure I have a lens cleaning cloth for my glasses on me, because I tend to smudge my glasses when looking through the viewfinder.

 

[smoke665]

I went from single, to bifocoal, to trifocal so progressive was the only way to go. It took a little bit to adjust, but once I did the slight head movement became automatic. After cataract surgery I only require reading glasses, that I remove when not needed. I find that more comfortable then wearing glasses all day. My wife on the other hand prefers to wear glasses all day with progressive lenses after her cataract surgery, because she doesnt like putting them on/taking off. Different strokes for different folks.

 

[ac12]

Sharon,

I like to see what I am looking at. I do not like fuzzy vision, and looking at an out of focus scene gives me a head ache, as my eye and brain TRY to bring the scene in focus. So glasses on ALL the time.

I wore bifocals and now progressives.
IMHO, for TWO prescriptions, I would go with BI-focals over progressives.

Here is the issue, as I learned from talking with an optician several years back. The lens technology may have changed since, but my current progressives verify his statement.

A progressive is not as progressive and even as one would think. The progressive Rx is vertical in the center of the lens, NOT the sides. And looking thru mine, I can verify this. So, you have to rotate your head more, to put the progressive Rx part of the lens on the thing that you want in focus.
And the smaller the lens, the smaller the progressive Rx section. In fact they cannot make progressives on some of the smaller fashion glasses, as the vertical height of the lens is too short.

When you see people looking at something and moving their head around, it is because they are "trying" to put the correct part of the transition Rx on the object they are trying to see, like a clock. I did not mind that at first, but now I find it irritating to have to do.
​

I personally prefer BI-focals, so the RX is all the way out to the side, and I have a BIG area of the correct Rx, vs. the more limited area of the transition.
I did not have any problem adapting to bifocals, but my eye doc warned me that some people have trouble adjusting to bifocals where the Rx has a sharp change at the bifocal line.

With both bi-focals and transition, you need to be aware that the reading glasses Rx is on the bottom of the lens. So when going DOWN stairs, your vision of the stairs will be blurry. And you need to be careful of this kind of situation.

But when I needed TRI-focals (mid distance to see the TV), I bit the bullet and went progressive.
I adjusted to putting the viewfinder on the correct part of the lens fairly easily.
Although the having to move my head around to get the right Rx on an object has bothered me to the point that I am now considering going to plain tri-focals.

BTW, I have a separate pair of computer glasses, and did for many years.
It is a bifocal. The main Rx is for eye to monitor and is set at 24 inches, the lower bifocal is for reading stuff on my desk and is set for 16".
With the progressive, I was tilting my head up, to get the correct Rx on the screen, and that quickly gave me a sore neck. And since I was/am on the computer a LOT, that was not acceptable.

 

[Derrel]

I tried a pair of progressive lens eyeglasses several years ago, and was extremely displeased with how they work. I thought it was the shittiest idea and implementation ever designed in the field of eyewear. Despite their insistence that "we don't do cash refunds", the manager at the Sears Optical store decided that it was worth it to give me my $360 back in cash, after I told him how diligently I would work to smear the store's selling practices and products on my Facebook page. In the case of the pair of progressive lenses that I was sold, there was a very small area about as wide as a pencil and about 3/4 of an inch tall at most, which was where I was supposed to do my intermediate distance viewing, which is for objects from 12 to 20 feet in distance, which is a huge amount of my normal viewing, and so the glasses were basically almost useless for me. I was extremely underwhelmed by the idea, and by the implementation. I would definitely encourage you to investigate the issue of progressive lenses very carefully before committing to them.

 

[smoke665]

I would definitely encourage you to investigate the issue of progressive lenses very carefully before committing to them.

Progressives done right work great, progressives that aren't are a PITA. My first pair from a reputable Optician, came back just a hair off. Couldn't wear them, took them back, they had a machine that could measure such things, and determined that they were in fact off. Had to wait a few days for the lenses to come back, but once they did, there was a world of difference. Over the years I had two or three more pair from the same place without an issue. Funny thing was after the cataract surgery, it took a while to unlearn the "head movement" required with the progressives.

 

[vintagesnaps]

Progressives/'no line', you get used to them. Supposedly the area with the progression is an hourglass shape, so looking to the side things aren't as sharp as looking straight thru them. I've had glasses since elementary school, although I wore contacts for years til they only made gas perms and my eyes were so dry I gradually quit wearing them. So back to glasses all the time and eventually bifocals.

I can't see distance well enough to be able to just use the diopter! but adjust it for wearing glasses except using vintage cameras that don't have one. I got used to taking pictures wearing glasses instead of contacts years ago, you just figure out how to adapt.