[Rand Scott Adams]

Cameras, Lenses and Shooting Gear

on: June 26, 2019 at 10:17 pm

I wear glasses with progressive lenses.  They work “OK” when looking through my viewfinders.  I find the “sweet spot” in my glasses and set my diopter adjustment in my camera to match.  And, then when I “chimp” I can look through the close up portion of my progressive lenses to get the LCD in focus for image review.

What dawned on me over time was that I was always making small adjustments of my head while looking through the viewfinder, or looking at the LCD to get to the “just right” spot in the progressive lens for optimum clarity.  I was slow to recognize that this was a minor pain in the butt, and interfered with my “seeing” workflow in what I was photographing.

I had an insight, I went to my local LensCrafters with camera in hand, and had them make me a pair of plain old bi-focal glasses.  Distance only on top, close in reading RX on the bottom.  And, we “played with” where the distinct line between the two would be located.  On a typical bi-focal the lower reading focus portion is pretty low in the lens, according to the technician.   She drew lines on the lens blanks in the frames I selected.  I then put the camera up to my eye and sighted, then pulled my head away and looked at how much of the lens would be close up (below the line she drew).  We then tweaked the location of the dividing line several time to what seemed like optimum.  Enough “above the line” to get a solid view of the viewfinder, enough below the line that I could see the camera’s controls / buttons and the LCD with great ease.

Two hours later I had my new photography only glasses!  And they work!  So much better than progressive lenses (which I absolutely love in general).

Thought this worth sharing  . . .

Rand

Rand Scott Adams Rand47

• This topic was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by Rand Scott Adams.

[Christopher Sanderson Gold Member Posts: 366]

Re: Progressive lens glasses and viewfinders… an insight.

Reply #1 on: June 26, 2019 at 11:15 pm

That is a great idea! Next time at the opticians, I will do the same. Many thanks!
cs

[Jeff Schewe Gold Member Posts: 136]

Re: Progressive lens glasses and viewfinders… an insight.

Reply #2 on: June 28, 2019 at 4:03 am

Yep…great idea…I also have an occupational prescription pair that has a “arms length” prescription for my computer display and bifocals for close up. I had the closeup set so it doesn’t conflict with the botton om my displays but works for the keyboard and for reading is need be.

[Jim Tsioles Participant Posts: 6]

Re: Progressive lens glasses and viewfinders… an insight.

Reply #3 on: June 28, 2019 at 12:18 pm

I’ve gotten to the point when checking the focus on the LCD of my camera, I am pulling my glasses down to use just my eyes from about three inches away. My eye sight is horrible. I’m afraid if I get my eyes lasered, problems might or might not be worse, especially when viewing the editing monitor. Is getting laser surgery a bad idea?

[Owin Thomas Participant Posts: 2]

Re: Progressive lens glasses and viewfinders… an insight.

Reply #4 on: July 9, 2019 at 6:20 am

I use the viewfinder diopter and remove glasses.

[Felix De Sacco Participant Posts: 2]

Re: Progressive lens glasses and viewfinders… an insight.

Reply #5 on: July 9, 2019 at 6:38 am

Genious!

[Scott Abbey]

Re: Progressive lens glasses and viewfinders… an insight.

Reply #6 on: July 9, 2019 at 8:26 pm

I usually wind up removing my eyeglasses.  Outdoors I’m often wearing polarized prescription sunglasses anyway.  The diopter adjustment on most recent cameras has had adequate adjustability.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 1 month ago by Scott Abbey.

[David Gee Gold Member Posts: 1]

Re: Progressive lens glasses and viewfinders… an insight.

Reply #7 on: July 10, 2019 at 2:09 am

Whether one really needs Rand’s “bifocal” solution or not really depends on the degree of myopia/presbyopia. Most of us will get by with adjustments to the diopter setting on the viewfinder. If you are severely myopic you may need a magnifying device such as a Zaputo on the LCD (using live view of course). A few years ago, after bilateral retinal tears and intraocular bleeding I found the Zaputo excellent. Now, after many eye operations my vision has thankfully recovered to the extent that, as far as the LCD is concerned, I can easily see the info I need (histogram, level, and composition) without glasses. The viewfinder diopter adjustment is now ok for me.

On a related matter, I have a longstanding grievance with camera manufacturers, most of whom assume that we are all right-eye dominant. This means a left-eye dominant person like me smears the LCD with their nose! Some viewfinders, like my Pentax 645Z, have the eyepiece sufficiently “proud” of the camera back, which lessens the problem,

[Jeremy Roussak]

Re: Progressive lens glasses and viewfinders… an insight.

Reply #8 on: July 10, 2019 at 3:37 am

Jim Tsioles wrote:

I’ve gotten to the point when checking the focus on the LCD of my camera, I am pulling my glasses down to use just my eyes from about three inches away. My eye sight is horrible. I’m afraid if I get my eyes lasered, problems might or might not be worse, especially when viewing the editing monitor. Is getting laser surgery a bad idea?

It works well for some people; I have friends who are very pleased with the results. I’ve also been involved in litigation when the subjects were less than wholly satisfied.

I’ll have it done when I see consultant ophthalmologists having it done. It’s not happening yet.

Jeremy

• This reply was modified 5 years, 1 month ago by Jeremy Roussak.

[Kelly Bolin Participant Posts: 5]

Re: Progressive lens glasses and viewfinders… an insight.

Reply #9 on: August 13, 2019 at 1:26 am

What a great idea Rand, thanks for sharing.  While I don’t need progressives yet I know the day will come.  Hopefully by then I won’t have forgotten this idea.  LOL

 

[Author]

Posts