For those of you with glasses or declining eyesight...

....do you keep your glasses on (I can't and won't do contact lenses)
when looking through the viewfinder, or do you depend on the in-camera
adjustments for eyesight that many newer cameras have?

I usually take my glasses off, but as I get older it's getting harder
and harder to manually focus and I think I may have to adjust my
methods.

TheDave© wrote:
...do you keep your glasses on (I can't and won't do contact lenses)
when looking through the viewfinder, or do you depend on the in-camera
adjustments for eyesight that many newer cameras have?

I usually take my glasses off, but as I get older it's getting harder
and harder to manually focus and I think I may have to adjust my
methods.

I pretty much have to leave my glasses on since the adjustment range of
the camera's viewfinder does not go far enough for my eyesight.

Scott

"Scott W" wrote:


TheDave(c) wrote:
...do you keep your glasses on (I can't and won't do contact lenses)
when looking through the viewfinder, or do you depend on the in-camera
adjustments for eyesight that many newer cameras have?

I usually take my glasses off, but as I get older it's getting harder
and harder to manually focus and I think I may have to adjust my
methods.

I pretty much have to leave my glasses on since the adjustment range of
the camera's viewfinder does not go far enough for my eyesight.

Scott

Doesn't it depend if you are near-sighted or far-sighted? For many kinds
of photography you should shoot with both eyes open. I can see fine in the
distance without my glasses, so I take them off to compose and shoot the
shot. I use the camera's diopter adjustment to view the focusing screen
through the viewfinder and my other eye watches the wider action. I have
to put my glasses back on to adjust any camera settings that don't show in
the viewfinder. If the photographer has poor distance vision without
glasses, then wouldn't she/he have to keep them on when shooting with both
eyes in order for the wide action seen by the unobstructed eye to be in
focus?

BTW, Canon sells an accessory Dioptric Adjustment Lens that goes as high as
+3. I presume other manufactures to also.

Mardon wrote:
"Scott W" wrote:

TheDave(c) wrote:
...do you keep your glasses on (I can't and won't do contact lenses)
when looking through the viewfinder, or do you depend on the in-camera
adjustments for eyesight that many newer cameras have?

I usually take my glasses off, but as I get older it's getting harder
and harder to manually focus and I think I may have to adjust my
methods.
I pretty much have to leave my glasses on since the adjustment range of
the camera's viewfinder does not go far enough for my eyesight.

Scott

Doesn't it depend if you are near-sighted or far-sighted? For many kinds
of photography you should shoot with both eyes open. I can see fine in the
distance without my glasses, so I take them off to compose and shoot the
shot. I use the camera's diopter adjustment to view the focusing screen
through the viewfinder and my other eye watches the wider action. I have
to put my glasses back on to adjust any camera settings that don't show in
the viewfinder. If the photographer has poor distance vision without
glasses, then wouldn't she/he have to keep them on when shooting with both
eyes in order for the wide action seen by the unobstructed eye to be in
focus?

BTW, Canon sells an accessory Dioptric Adjustment Lens that goes as high as
+3. I presume other manufactures to also.

Then I have been shooting wrong for centuries. And backwards, almost. I
stick my left eye onto the viewfinder, usually with glasses on. I then
close my right eye.

Should I retrain self to use right eye and keep both open? I was
thinking about this before this thread came up.

--
John McWilliams

In article =?iso-8859-1?Q?TheDave=A9?= writes:
$...do you keep your glasses on (I can't and won't do contact lenses)
$when looking through the viewfinder, or do you depend on the in-camera
$adjustments for eyesight that many newer cameras have?

I prefer to shoot without glasses on. I can't see the whole viewfinder
if I leave my glasses on, and the gap between my face and the camera
allows a lot of light to get in and cause problems if I have glasses on.

With my Canon EOS Elan II, I usually kept my glasses on, as the
camera didn't have built-in dioptric correction and I never got around
to buying a dioptric correction eyepiece for it. When I upgraded to
an Elan 7E, I was happy that it had dioptric correction, so I could
shoot without glasses. (As well, eye-controlled focusing worked very
well on that camera for me without glasses, but I could never get it
to calibrate well with glasses on.) I've now gone digital, with a 20D,
which also has dioptric correction built-in, and again, I shoot without
glasses when possible.
--
Stephen M. Dunn
---------------- http://www.stevedunn.ca/ ----------------
------------------------------------------------------------------
Say hi to my cat -- http://www.stevedunn.ca/photos/toby/

"TheDave©" wrote

...do you keep your glasses on (I can't and won't do contact lenses)
when looking through the viewfinder, or do you depend on the in-camera
adjustments for eyesight that many newer cameras have?

Yes and yes.

I usually take my glasses off, but as I get older it's getting harder
and harder to manually focus and I think I may have to adjust my
methods.

With enough diopter adjustment in the viewfinder there shouldn't
be much problem unless you have a lot of astigmatism. Do you
have the adjustment cranked to the limit? If so, you may be
just able to get the screen in focus but it is causing eye
strain - you think things are all right but they aren't. If
you are at the limit of adjustment try adding a diopter lens
such that your eyes are happy with the adjustment lever closer
to the middle of the range.


I am nearsighted, but wearing glasses I am farsighted.
Nikons as they come from the factory are set for an apparent
viewing distance of one meter and as I have lost focusing
accommodation I have trouble focusing that close with regular
distance eyeglasses [or top of the bifocals]. So for
focusing with glasses I have changed the diopters in my Nikons
to '0' (a +1 lens labeled '0') that moves the apparent viewing
distance from 1 meter to infinity. Made a terrific improvement.

The only camera with adjustable diopter is my F4S and I have a
fixed diopter lens of [darned if I can remember but not '0' (+1)]
diopters so the adjustment range on the finder is enough to
accommodate no glasses and glasses.

For critical work I use a 6x chimney finder with no glasses.


--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Darkroom Automation: F-Stop Timers, Enlarging Meters
http://www.nolindan.com/da/index.htm
n o lindan at ix dot netcom dot com

"Mardon" wrote

For many kinds of photography you should shoot with both
eyes open.

I sure don't. Both eyes open would be the exception to the
exception and I haven't found it yet. If I am following fast
action I use an 'action finder' or put a wire frame sports
finder in the accy shoe.

You can use the two eyes technique with a Leica M3 with only
a bit of eyestrain -- until it comes time to use the rangefinder.
I suppose if you use a zoom lens at the right setting so you
get a virtual 1:1 in the finder things might work.

I see no advantage to it -- but I am no sports photographer,
a scrimmage at Boy Scout camp or kids playing Frisbee with the
dog pretty much covers my action oeuvre.

--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Darkroom Automation: F-Stop Timers, Enlarging Meters
http://www.nolindan.com/da/index.htm
n o lindan at ix dot netcom dot com

John McWilliams wrote:

Then I have been shooting wrong for centuries. And backwards, almost.
I stick my left eye onto the viewfinder, usually with glasses on. I
then close my right eye.

Should I retrain self to use right eye and keep both open? I was
thinking about this before this thread came up.

I wouldn't call it "wrong" to use one eye. I just think for sports and
other types of fast moving action, it's very helpful to use both eyes and
many people that I know do so. In hockey or football for example, it's so
much easier to see the direction the play is moving and have the camera in
place before the action even appears in the lens. There is no advantage
that I know to using both eyes for static or slow moving subject. It's
just that it's hard to switch from one style to another so people who shoot
with both eyes open usually do so all the time. I prefer to keep my
dominant eye to the lens and my other eye open for the wide view.

"Mardon" wrote in message
. 130...
John McWilliams wrote:

Then I have been shooting wrong for centuries. And backwards, almost.
I stick my left eye onto the viewfinder, usually with glasses on. I
then close my right eye.

Should I retrain self to use right eye and keep both open? I was
thinking about this before this thread came up.

I wouldn't call it "wrong" to use one eye. I just think for sports and
other types of fast moving action, it's very helpful to use both eyes and
many people that I know do so. In hockey or football for example, it's so
much easier to see the direction the play is moving and have the camera in
place before the action even appears in the lens. There is no advantage
that I know to using both eyes for static or slow moving subject. It's
just that it's hard to switch from one style to another so people who
shoot
with both eyes open usually do so all the time. I prefer to keep my
dominant eye to the lens and my other eye open for the wide view.

It's also wise to keep both eyes open when shooting football because you
sort of want to see if you're going to get run over or not.

;O)

Jay Beckman
Chandler, AZ
www.pbase.com/flyingphotog

Mardon wrote:
John McWilliams wrote:

Then I have been shooting wrong for centuries. And backwards,
almost. I stick my left eye onto the viewfinder, usually with
glasses on. I then close my right eye.

Should I retrain self to use right eye and keep both open? I was
thinking about this before this thread came up.

I wouldn't call it "wrong" to use one eye. I just think for sports
and other types of fast moving action, it's very helpful to use both
eyes and many people that I know do so. In hockey or football for
example, it's so much easier to see the direction the play is moving
and have the camera in place before the action even appears in the
lens. There is no advantage that I know to using both eyes for
static or slow moving subject. It's just that it's hard to switch
from one style to another so people who shoot with both eyes open
usually do so all the time. I prefer to keep my dominant eye to the
lens and my other eye open for the wide view.

I use one eye, also, but my right eye. I have been doing more football
lately, but generally don't do much fast-action stuff.