Ask about "Monovision". I have one eye prescribed for reading and short distance, and the other set for distance. The brain sorts out the combination, and I don't need glasses at all!
I was 90 last October, works for me !

Shame about the verticals.

In my early days on film, using a Weston meter, and taking incident light readings, we always recommended opening up one stop more than the meter said, dark skins soak up the light, as of course also do dark furred animals.

Has any one on this forum tried High Dynamic Range photography, and what is their opinion of it, is it worth dabbling with ?

I still have a Vivitar 283 flash which I used professionally for many years in the film days, it cost £99.00 originally, then came down to £59.00 after some while, and when I changed to digital I used the Vivitar on a Canon 5D without even thinking about trigger voltages, and it worked fine, no probs.

The flash still works perfectly after all these years, but of course I now have the proper Canon 580EX11 flash, plus the 5D Mk.111 and use the Vivitar as a slave, or just back up.

You got a bargain !