eyesight going bad

mark · Jul 14, 2011

Guess I am officially getting old. In the last year my closeup eyesight sucks. I am having to lift my glasses up to see the close focusing on the ground glass.

For those of you elderly types does this mess with focus? I don't think so but thought I would check.

Told the wife that since my eyes were getting bad looking at a small 8x10 GG I needed a bigger camera. She told me to go get granny glasses at walmart.

Worth a try.

papagene · Jul 14, 2011

I use a pair of "Cheaters" (granny glasses) for rough focusing and composition on my 4x5 & 5x7 and in the darkroom. It is better than lifting my regular glasses up or craning my neck to see the GG.

jp80874 · Jul 14, 2011

Mark,

I’m 71, have been wearing glasses since second grade, wear tri focals now. I use my glasses for rough focus and composition and then fine tune with a Toyo 3.something loupe. Moving up from 4x5 to 8x10 was like turning on a bright TV set. Just between us though, for me 7x17 is not any brighter than 8x10. I have fantasies about a 12x20, but realistically I think I would have trouble setting it up after getting it to the site in the baby jogger I use now. Use the best tools you can and keep on making pictures.

John Powers

Sirius Glass · Jul 14, 2011

I usually wear contact lenses when I do photography although I can use either progressive or lined bifocals or trifocals. With the contacts I do not need reading glasses unless the light is dim and I have to read fine print.

However to get a sharp focus on ground glass some times I use a 4.75 reading glasses instead of 1.75 and a loupe.

Steve

Bruce Osgood · Jul 14, 2011

At 72 I'm about ready to toss away my progressive lenses because for TV and longer they don't do it anymore. For computer time they are OK but for ground glass viewing/focusing they are worthless.

I am wondering if the loupe in place of glasses might be more effective than granny glasses? I think you need to be careful in selecting a loupe because the magnification can be so strong as to magnify the grain of the glass and miss the image. I don't know what a proper strength would be.

Ken Nadvornick · Jul 14, 2011

Sirius Glass said:
However to get a sharp focus on ground glass some times I use a 4.75 reading glasses instead of 1.75 and a loupe.

Similar here, except I use 6.00x magnifying glasses intended for the vision-impaired. The glasses themselves are dog-butt ugly, but the binocular-viewing and hands-free factors are excellent while under the darkcloth. And if they accidently fall off a cliff they only cost a small amount to replace. I keep several pair handy, including in the darkroom for lightbox work.

Ken

Sirius Glass · Jul 14, 2011

If I could find a +6, I would buy it. The reason I have the 4.75 is that it was the strongest set of three glasses that Costco had for $19US. Actually it was the strongest reading glasses that they had.

ann · Jul 14, 2011

I must have tried at least 6 different loupes when i went through this issue.

I found that general focus with my glasses would do, but then would use the loupe for fine tuning

mark · Jul 14, 2011

Great. I have the eyesight of a 70 year old. I'm only 40!!!

Guess I am in the market for some granny glasses to focus. Somewhere Around the house I have a Satin Snow Ground glass I never got around to putting in the 8x10.

I flip my glasses above my eyes and I don't need a loupe. I can focus on really minute details. I just hate lifting my glasses up to use my own built in magnifier.

jeffreyg · Jul 14, 2011

I compose and do initial focusing with my reading Rx but fine focus with a Horseman 4x loupe and no glasses. I find that using the loupe "forces" me to check the focus isolating different areas on the ground glass and is helpful to confirm the effect of any camera movements that were made. That system works for me. For medium format I have a corrected eyepiece which beats using the glasses.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

Curt · Jul 14, 2011

Go get an eye exam, it's the proper way, and you will have your eye health checked too.

greybeard · Jul 14, 2011

I routinely use a loupe (okay, it's not really a loupe---it's a no-name 35mm camera lens used backwards, because it is optically better than the best loupe that I have) but find that for indoor work a pair of the flip-up binocular magnifiers is much better. I have them in both 2 and 7 diopter, and the 7's are like using a stereomicroscope. They are around $30 from MSC Supply, but can probably be had for less elsewhere.

mark · Jul 14, 2011

I had an eye exam he said the close up thing was going but not too bad. Guess I found the first thing affected by it.

Sirius Glass · Jul 14, 2011

Curt said:
Go get an eye exam, it's the proper way, and you will have your eye health checked too.

Damn it! Don't ruin a thread by being practical!

semi-ambivalent · Jul 14, 2011

Double plus good

Curt said:
Go get an eye exam, it's the proper way, and you will have your eye health checked too.

I'm 57 and getting old on schedule so I use cheaters. But an eye exam lets me be exact on which cheaters to buy and the attendant, painless, test for glaucoma (I'm paranoid about getting glaucoma) is the icing.

R gould · Jul 15, 2011

I have been having to lift my eye glasses for many years for close focusing with my MF cameras, never had focusing problems yet,
Richard

Steve Smith · Jul 15, 2011

R gould said:
I have been having to lift my eye glasses for many years for close focusing with my MF cameras, never had focusing problems yet,
Richard

It's the ideal way for those of us with short sight (negative diotre corrective lenses) as taking away a negative dioptre is the same effect as adding a positive dioptre. Instant close up vision without a loupe.

Steve.

eyesight going bad

mark

papagene

Membership Council

jp80874

Sirius Glass

Bruce Osgood

Membership Council

Ken Nadvornick

Sirius Glass

ann

mark

jeffreyg

Curt

greybeard

mark

Sirius Glass

semi-ambivalent

R gould

Steve Smith

eyesight going bad

Membership Council

Membership Council

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency