Corrective Eyewear and Photography

[eddy-4]

Not sure how many of you wear corrective eyewear, but figured this would be the best place to seek some advice. I've worn corrective eyewear since I was in the 6th grade. I'm now a gracefully aging 48 year old. So, as you can see, I've had quite a lot of experience with glasses and contacts. About four years ago, I damaged my eye and could not wear contacts any more.

The transition to wearing glasses when shooting has been a bit of a challenge for me. I've never really been satisfied with a) constantly cleaning my glasses b) the amount of light that manages to sneak between my glasses and my view finder, c) the sharpness of distant objects, and the d) sharpness when viewing the LCD.

For example, I just returned from Disney/Sanibel Island and had my point and shoot out to get some pictures of the coastline (I pulled out the DSLR when the dolphins showed up.) The screen was absolutely black. So I pulled off my sunglasses and could see the LCD again. No mystery there--the polarization was preventing me from seeing the LCD. So I started thinking about the number of times I've been shooting and missed good shots because I was fussing with my eyewear--there have been more than I would like.

At my recent eye appointment they cleared me for contacts again and told me that a lot of photographers prefer distance lenses and use readers for close up. I'm on my fourth pair of lenses (multi-focal, mono vision, adjusted monovision, and now stronger multi-focal) and this last pair seems to be about 85% there. Distance is great, but reading takes a few seconds of dialing in the focus. My last resort is the distance/reader combination.

So I'm wondering what you guys do? What have you found to be the most successful option?

 

[cobright]

With nikon at least you can order an "eyepiece corrective lens" with correction from -5 to +5 diopter. I'm sure all major brands offer something like this.

 

[ukstitch]

At the moment I have a pair of reaction lens glasses, which means that (having a sony A99 with EVF) it's very hard for me to shoot while wearing my glasses as the image I see ends up being much darker than it should be.

I tend to get round the problem by lifting my glasses so I'm not using them while I'm shooting. The adjuster on the A99 gets close enough for my liking, so everything looks plenty sharp enough to my eyes.

I'm also a contact user, but that's only when I actually remember to use them!

 

[cpbjgc]

I am on the edge of bifocal land. If I am likely to do some shooting, I use distance contact lenses and and adjust the dioptor. I also keep a pair of reading glassed handy to review on the lcd screen.

There was a thread a while back on this very question that had lots of good information.

 

[wiigirl]

With nikon at least you can order an "eyepiece corrective lens" with correction from -5 to +5 diopter. I'm sure all major brands offer something like this.

Did not know that! Thanks

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

I'm still in the range of using the default diopter with my naked eye, but it's getting close. I'll probably have to order a corrective one soon. My biggest problem is with seeing the LCDs without reading glasses, then taking them back off again to look through the viewfinder. I've started to wear one of these things from the Shark Tank show whenever I don't have a shirt pocket. It at least makes it easier to find the reading glasses. (BTW, mine is plain white and doesn't have the diamond bling.)

I also take my tablet with me, and have an Eye-Fi card that uploads images to it as I shoot. I can't use that to review every image as I'm shooting, but I at least look at it every once in a while to see if there's anything I'm missing on the smaller LCD.

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

I have to wear bifocals, therefore it is crazy for me, shooting motorsports, to be switching glasses, etc. There just isn't time. I just shoot with them on and deal with it. In fact my right lens (right eye shooter) is permanently scratched at the top where it is pressed against the viewfinder. Its not in my normal vision so I don't worry about it.

 

[zackiedawg]

I still wear single-focal lenses, for nearsightedness, and always shoot with my glasses on for all of my cameras' viewfinders, both optical and electric. I'm right at the transition point of needing reading glasses - I don't yet, but I can tell my closeup reading vision is starting to go - I need a wee bit more distance for everything to be clear. So far, I'm lucky enough that I can still discern camera settings and the LCD settings without reading glasses. I adjust the diopters on all my viewfinders for use with glasses...and use them with both standard glasses and prescription sunglasses (separate pair). The sunglasses are the ones that create a little difficulty because they're polarized, which means they do partially block out the LCD when I try to see settings - I have to hold the LCD at the right angle to avoid the polarization effects. Fortunately, optical viewfinders are unaffected by this, so my DSLR remains perfectly shootable through the finder with sunglasses...and surprisingly even my electronic viewfinder mirrorless camera is much more visible through sunglasses using the EVF than when I try to see the LCD...the polarization sometimes produces a slight dark stripe, but not enough to affect my shooting.

I do know from experience that LCD-only cameras and me just don't get along - I pretty much require a viewfinder, whether optical or electronic, to shoot comfortably and accurately...and my glasses don't seem to present any issues when using viewfinders. I'm not a contact candidate because I'm completely wigged-out about anything touching my eyeballs - so I stick with glasses!