Glasses and Photography

[rab3rd]

So, I am getting to the point now where needing to wear glasses is becoming more and more required. I have been wearing them for a few years now when I drive and have tried a few times while taking pictures. I find that trying to wear glasses while looking through the view finder sucks and I end up just taking the glasses off. I am trying contacts for the first time and the jury is still out on those. I havent tried taking and pictures with them in yet. So, what do those of you that wear glasses do about taking pictures while wearing them? Do you use a bigger eye piece on the camera so you can press your glasses against it?

[Tom]

I try to wear my contacts, but sometimes wear glasses when I shoot. I just use the regular eyepiece.

Wearing contacts every day made my eyes start developing extra blood vessels because less oxygen was flowing to my eyes, which could hamper my vision long term (I may have gotten some of that wrong, but more blood vessels=bad.)

I now wear the daily disposables, so I put on a fresh set every day. And I only wear my contacts 4-5 days a week max. I stopped wearing my contacts for 6 months and my vision improved from -3.0 in each eye to -2.25 in each eye. A year later, they are stable there.

[bigjon0107]

What about the diopter adjustment on the viewfinder? It is suppose to adjust it so you don't have to wear glasses.

[Kev]

This frame could be an answer for you as far as getting the eyeglass lens out of the way on your shooting eye..you'll still need to use the diopter adjustment, but at least your tracking eye will be covered by your prescription lens:

PhotoFrames-Hoodman Corporation

[rab3rd]

It only works to a certain point. I find that I really cant rely on my eyes to manual focus so I have to switch on the auto find the focus point then switch it off if I dont want to be in auto mode.

[Carl Stone]

I wear trifocals, even while shooting.

[epoh]

I just press my glasses up against the viewfinder if I'm not wearing my contact lenses. Contacts certainly make things easier though. It's taken quite a while to get used to the contacts, and I still don't wear them every day, but I'm liking them more as time goes on.

[gardener]

I wear mine while shooting and just keep a lens wipe handy for the eyeglasses and a small towel in my pocket for my face. Not perfect but it works for me...

[Imagebuffet]

I usually cannot focus through the eye-piece. I use the viewfinder to compose my shot as best I can, and rely heavily on autofocus.

[revjvegas]

Just another reason why I'm glad I had PRK.
Contacts for 25 years before that.

[Carl Stone]

Originally Posted by Imagebuffet

I usually cannot focus through the eye-piece. I use the viewfinder to compose my shot as best I can, and rely heavily on autofocus.

Anyone that doesn't think that auto focus was a boon to photography needs a whipp'in!

No, that doesn't serve well with micro work, but it sure has been a big help to a lot of folks that would otherwise be out of luck for photography without it.

[shiladityab]

I wear glasses and contacts both. As rab3rd said, auto focus helps me a lot compared to manual focus.

[Imagebuffet]

It is worth mentioning that some cameras are easier for us half-blind people to use than are other cameras. "Full frame" cameras generally have larger and brighter viewfinders, as they have a larger aperture, compared to 2/3 frame or 3/4 frame cameras.

[jtriron]

Bi-focal Contacts have worked very well for me, most of my work is outside, and wind sometimes bothers me but not to the extent of wearing glasses

[Patti Edens]

I have horrible myopia (near-sighted) and have looked into this since I can't focus manually worth a darn.

If your vision problem is either mild near or far sightedness, you can just adjust the knob (commonly referred to as diopter adjustment) on the camera as previously mentioned and look through the viewfinder without your glasses.

If your vision problem is more pronounced (me) and cannot be corrected with the adjustment on the camera (mentioned in earlier post), you can buy supplemental vision correction lenses. They are named and classified differently depending on the brand of camera you have, but Canon's are called "dioptric adjustment lenses". They just clip on the regular eyepiece and provide additional correction to what is already there. If you decide to do this, read up on it because Canon has a weird way of defining how much correction they provide which you have to understand and you also have to know your prescription to get the right one. INFO

You can buy third party focusing screens for most cameras that are brighter and have different types of focusing methods, some of which are easier to use when manually focusing.

Or, you can do what I have done. When possible, just use the Live View feature if your cam has it, zoom in and focus while looking at the LCD. My macro shots have improved greatly using this technique, but it won't work for everything - kinda tough on birds in flight.