pamelaj

Can you believe I have still not decided on buying my first good camera! Not because of the camera, I narrowed that down to a Nikon d5600 or a Sony A6000.......I am going back to the eye doctor today, this has now become my hangup.......I can not see far and near clearly at the same time, at all, very bad vision......and yes I could wear my bifocal glasses over my contacts, I just can't seem to get used to doing that with the camera needed right in my face. My optometrist let me try out a pair of contacts with bifocals this past week, but I can not see real close up with them, he said with my eyesight, that it may not be possible, that we would have to keep trying....................I also tried wearing just one contact for the far and leaving one out for the near, but when looking at one or the other, I have to cover one eye each time to focus, not only unprofessional looking, but takes extra time.......PLEASE TELL ME WHAT OTHERS DO THAT TAKE PICS THAT CAN'T SEE FAR AND NEAR AT THE SAME TIME............. In summary, I can't afford to invest a great deal of money into a camera, if I can not see what I am doing. Thanks for your inquiry, haven't forgotten all you fine folks and your wonderful advice, just still trying to figure this out.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

haha...welcome to the club.

I use reading glasses hung around my neck on a lanyard. I don't shoot with them, I just use them if I have to do anything up close. Nothing else works for me.

My cameras have a diopter in the viewfinder matched to my "old man vision" so that I can see to focus.

Most of the time though, I use a zone focusing camera...much nicer and much faster.

pamelaj

Thank you, forgive me, still new, what is a Zone focusing camera?

DaveC1 Loc: South East US

If I understand your post this happens to everyone in middle age, you lose the ability to focus on near objects like print or camera controls and menu screens with normal vision at distances. Depending where you were in your early adulthood with your sight, you may not be able to focus on far objects without corrective lens if you are near sighted; but those same lens make focusing on near objects impossible now.

So here is the problem do you wear bifocal contacts, use reading glasses, or go with bifocal prescription glasses. I'm afraid those are the choices as far as I know.

Personally, I was near sighted my entire life until I had cataract surgery now I'm 20/20 in each eye and wear bifocal reading glasses for camera work, reading, and use of a computer.

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

I know this is a problem for many, and it's one where only trial and error helps. For me, at least, there is a difference in whether I'm viewing a screen up clos (e.g. the Sony) or looking through a viewfinder on a direct line of sight (the D5600).

I have horrible near vision, and currently wear progressive bifocals. My distance vision is okay. I've found that I either need to use the upper part of my glasses to see a SLR prism view properly, or the lower to set controls or look at a live view screen. In the old film days I found the same thing applied when looking at a groundglass or Fresnel versus looking through a viewfinder or SLR screen.

Also, the viewfinder focus control is your friend - adjust it carefully. I've found that, since I got my new prescription, I often slide the glasses up onto my forehead when I'm looking through the SLR viewfinder - it always takes a while to get used to a new 'scrip, and your viewfinder is effectively a new 'scrip.

Good luck!

tinplater Loc: Scottsdale, AZ

I would address this issue with your eye physician. Some have different corrections for each eye using contacts (or even after cataract surgery). By the way the Sony is a wonderful camera and I believe is on sale at reduced price currently. Or buy used from Ebay for around $350. With use you will develop familiarity with the camera that will make the poor near vision only an inconvenience, mainly when looking at menu and function displays. Of course all cameras have a diopter correction for the viewfinder viewing to adjust sharpness for you individually. I personally have both eyes, corrected by cataract surgery, for distant to pretty near focus. Now I almost never wear reading glasses unless working on small items or viewing something closer than 18 inches.

Bill_de Loc: US

I have a similar issue. It takes my eyes several seconds to adjust from far to near, or the reverse. Years ago they had me doing eye exercises to no avail. Since looking through the viewfinder is looking close, even if the subject is distant, I sort of found a solution. What I wind up doing is spending much more time looking through the viewfinder once I point the camera in the direction of the subject. Not a perfect solution, but it has become second nature.


Good lock.

BebuLamar

For Zone focusing I don't know if the A6000 would display focus distance on its LCD or not. I know the D5600 doesn't. I have a Coolpix 5000 and it displays focus distance when I focus manually and it works great for Zone focusing. In fact a lot more accurate than Zone focusing with only a few symbol.

pamelaj

mmmmmm, that might work.................just such a new process for me, I guess it is just something that I am going to have to adapt to.

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

Regardless of how good or bad any one vision is or is not, NOBODY can see far and near at the same time.

DaveC1 Loc: South East US

"Since looking through the viewfinder is looking close, even if the subject is distant,"

What????????? Through a prism viewfinder? How do you have it adjusted?

DaveC1 Loc: South East US

This is true.

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

That's what I thought, as well. I have lousy closeup vision, but no problem through a prism, with the diopter setting properly adjusted. It's the screen and controls I can't see - so I'm always pushing my bifocals up and down, or hanging a pair of cheap readers on a chain.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Greetings.

I had cataract surgery ten years ago, and had to adapt. My vision was corrected to 20/25 for fixed focus distance vision in both eyes — really good for driving and any work from six feet to infinity, just like a 1960s box camera. But, at the time, I was a trainer of school portrait photographers and a producer of training videos for that role. So I had to find a solution! I had to be able to read camera menus, work on the computer, perform photography, and do it all efficiently. Constantly putting on and taking off 2x readers wouldn't work!

My ophthalmologist prescribed Shamir lenses. Compared to the progressive lenses I wore when I was near-sighted (pre-surgery), these are a sort of "reverse progressive" lens. The top quarter of the lens is for distance vision — essentially, it has no correction. The bottom quarter of the lens is for reading at about 8 to 12 inches. The center gradually reduces diopter correction as you raise your point of focus. These are not trifocals, or bifocals, but multi-focal! I moved my head up and down to focus.

They worked fine for a while, then got annoying. There was too much close-up correction. I needed to be able to wear them for everything, and not have to strain my neck (or look down my nose at people). So I went back and got something a little different. I'm now wearing reverse-progressive Transitions lenses that get darker in the sunlight. They are similar to the Shamir lenses, but they have a more gradual shift of the focal point. I can leave them on and use my iPhone or do most tasks at any distance. They are fine for photography.

However, I've found that a simple pair of drugstore reading glasses works great for extended computer use and any close-up work above my head. I have 1.5x and 2x readers. The 1.5x are best for computer use, and the 2x are best for reading books or the iPhone. The other day, I saw a pair of sunglasses that have part of the lower 1/3 of the lens set for reading, and the rest uncorrected, for distance vision (bifocals). I'll probably get a pair of them at some point. Foster-Grant makes them in several styles.

Talk to your eye doctor and optometrist. Explain your needs thoroughly. The doctor knows what's available, and can give you an accurate prescription and description of each feature you might want. The optometrist can help you get the right blend of lenses, appearance, and extra features such as anti-reflective coatings or photochromic light reduction.

bigwolf40 Loc: Effort, Pa.

See if you can ware progressive glasses. It does take a little time to get use to it but it does work very good. I at one time used distance contact lens in my dominant eye and reading contact in the other eye. It takes a while to get use to both of these methods but they do work. As for the camera all you have to do is set the auto focus on and the camera will do just fine.....Rich