PhotosByCat Loc: Baltimore, OH

Instead of using your hand to cover you eye, just close the one eye. I was born with only being able to use one eye at a time. In order to use my non dominant eye, I just close the other.

BlueMorel Loc: Southwest Michigan

As someone who has worn glasses since age 6, I'd say get the glasses recommended by your eye doctor. Bifocals took me about a week to get used to, but it's so much better than having to squint or change glasses for reading. I now have trifocals for mid-distance focusing. Husband recently got bifocals after years of complaining about doing close-up work under the car and wishes he'd gotten them before. Having avoided glasses by wearing contacts for so long, it may take a bit to get used to wearing them, but it's definitely worth it. No problem at all with camera focusing, and I'd feel comfortable getting any camera I choose to.

charlienow Loc: Hershey, PA

i have the d5500 and love it. seriously thinking of upgrading to the d7200.

anyway it has a diopter correcter on the eyepiece. if you use the screen then you could us cheaters to see close and see the controls.

remember in most situations the camera does most of the work.

photography is a great hobby. don't hesitate to get started. when you have the camera you will adjust to it.

i had cataract surgery a few years ago and no longer need glasses. but before that i had progressive lenses. they worked pretty good for me

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

If you can see near, you can see the images on your camera's LCD. Use live view for composition. You will also be able to work with your computer monitor for post processing.
I deal with AMD and am legally blind. As long as I can point the camera in the right direction, I trust that camera to get the shot. Yes it takes getting to know what you can and can't do but you can still be involved with photography. (getting to places with out being allowed to drive takes developing your sales and diplomacy skills though)
Go to your local store and try looking through the view finder to find out just how much you can or can't do. Talk to the sales staff. With out actual hands on experience this is all speculation.

Bill_de Loc: US

What you are looking at when you view through the prism is the image projected on the focusing screen. As the light travels through the prism it affects the apparent distance. Years back it was one of the specs that was commonly given with SLRs. IIRC a lot of cameras showed 12 - 14 inches as the apparent distance.

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DaveC1 Loc: South East US

No disrespect meant, but that's just not what my eyes tell me. I cannot focus on an object at 12 to 14 inches away without reading glasses. I can use my prism viewfinder without any glasses and manual focus a lens just fine at near infinity, or a macro lens at 12 to 14 inches for that matter without those readers, and my diopter is set squarely in the middle of its range

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

I wear glasses with progressive lenses.

bpulv Loc: Buena Park, CA

I don't know about Sony cameras, but all Nikon cameras have an adjustable diopter built into the viewfinder that allows you to compensate for any visual deficiencies. All you do is look through the viewfinder and focus the camera or have someone focus it for you, rotate a small knob until the image is clear for you and set the locking device. Once it is set, you will always be able to view your subject clearly.

Nikon even offered diopters going back to the original Nikon F in the 1950's. In those days, the diopter was an attachment that slid over groves that surrounded the viewfinder's parameter.

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

That's exactly what I experience. Without my progressives, everything from about 36" in is blurry, at best, and small print is unreadable. When I take them off, I can't read the print I am typing at this very moment. I had the same problem when I attempted to use a mirrorless viewfinder model in a camera store, and I need my specs to use my old Rolleiflex or any other Fresnel screen or groundglass.

But, with the diopter setting on my SLRs, old or new, I don't need the glasses at all, and can even read information within the viewfinder. My wife has the opposite problem, her distance vision is poor, and she wears her glasses to look through the viewfinder on her SLRs.

I'm no scientist, but I've been both shooting photos and wearing glasses for many years, and this has been my experience.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

The later Sony Alphas use an electronic viewfinder that will zoom in to allow fine tuning of focus - so that would work for distant IF you can see close up what the viewfinder is offering you....(It then takes the image 'where' you originally set it.) no doubt other cameras do similar things if they have an electronic viewfinder from the sensor rather than a 'through the mirror' type.
That or two sets of glasses ( I have driving and reading glasses) Hell if I can't see it - I can't photograph it!!!!

Photocraig

Hi Pam,
First, Zone Focusing is a term where the photographer uses a relatively small (higher number like 8 or 11) aperture to allow for a deeper area of "apparent focus" in the photograph. Some new and all old lenses had a depth of field (means depth of apparent focus) scales on them. I have never heard of a zone focusing camera. I have used that function with lenses with a scale on them or used a depth of field chart. It is a simple concept buries with confusing terms. Some you tube time will clear it up for you.

For your other question, There IS ONLY ONE PLANE of focus for a given Scene and Camera and lens focal length at any one time. Including the two inside your head. Your near far eyesight issues stem from the fact that you have the world's fastest computer correcting your vision and focusing your eyes (auto focus zoom lenses they are) so you aren't aware when they zoom and re-focus. So in actuality you never are seeing near and far at the VERY SAME time. Your equipment is adjusting so fast and seamlessly that it just seems like it.

When I wore contacts at age 45 or so, I had a set of glasses with a bi-focal reading correction and later a tri focal correction for mid distance and the top part was clear. Since I was a life long eyeglasses wearer it wasn't a problem for me and I never was with out my readers.

Bring your camera or get the store (or someone) to lend you one for your appointment with your eye doctor and 'splain what you trying to do. Believe me, if this near far thing wasn't conquerable, the UHH forum would be the iphonography forum and most of us would be even crusty-er than we are without our cameras to love.

I'm not as familiar with electronic viewfinders on the mirror Less cameras like Sony, Panasonic, Olympus, but folks who use them here usually rave about how well they can see their image and displays. USe the search function at the top of the page and search electronic viewfinders and, perhaps vision correction.

Don't despair, If I can do it, there's a solution for you, too.
C

Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

I need distance glasses for TV and reading glasses for the computer or reading. I use reading glassses if using live view. I use no glasses, just the diopter adjustment near the viewfinder to see clearly through the viewfinder.

tinplater Loc: Scottsdale, AZ

That is also my experience...wore contacts for last 30 years, then like a miracle after cataract surgery I can see from infinity to about 18 inches without any glasses at all. In the viewfinder I see the focused image perfectly from infinity to just a few inches. I never take my readers with me anywhere now. Just leave a pair in the car and some at home for fine print reading. My only regret is that I didn't get the cataracts done years ago.

jcboy3

Get the Sony. Mirrorless cameras have electronic view finders and lcd screens; you switch between them easily and the functionality is the same. Then, wear glasses and use the LCD. You might also see if the diopter adjustment of the view finder lets you use it without glasses or with your contacts. If you need to use the LCD, then you can get a shade that allows use in bright sun (although the LCD is pretty bright as is).

The point is that, with mirrorless, all operations are near viewing, because they don't have optical viewfinders.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

At one time I had a near and a far contact, the brain adjusts, remarkable!!!

Near/Far: For fun, check out split field filter. Half of the filter is nothing, the other half is a closeup lens.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2N3wlpmxIQ