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Bad birthday present
Jun 14, 2019 16:45:15   #
planepics Loc: St. Louis burbs, but originally Chicago burbs
 
Tomorrow is my birthday but today I had an eye exam (renewed my license yesterday). The doc prescribed bi-focals :(. After going 50+ years w/o any glasses to 2 progressively stronger reading glasses to THIS!!! I'm feeling older than my 55 yrs, 364 days. How do I cope with taking pics? Do I leave my glasses on, leave them off and adjust the diopter? I hope I don't have to wear them all the time or get headaches from using them. Whether it's age-related or diabetes-related I don't care...I don't have to like it. How do y'all cope? I've never used my glasses before when taking pics (I use the viewfinder rather than the LCD screen).

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Jun 14, 2019 16:56:13   #
John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN
 
Are you diabetic, if yes then your eyes are at risk. You should have at least annual retina and general eye exams. Are your bifocals continuous or the old fashioned kind. The former take practice to get used to. Good luck.

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Jun 14, 2019 17:02:28   #
luvmypets Loc: Born & raised Texan living in Fayetteville NC
 
I wear glasses for distance and my reading sight is fine but when I went to contacts I couldn't read. The doctor told me that I could use readers from the drug store to compensate. I can't dial in the diopter on the camera to work without glasses and so I dialed in to work with my glasses. If I feel it might be off I hit the back button focus and most times it doesn't change much. You're just going to have to play around using the diopter adjustment to see whether you can see better with it adjusted for the top part of the lens or the bottom. If you can't get it to work you might also want to talk to your eye doctor and see if he can set up a prescription to work when you are using your camera. I have a pair of glasses for that I use just for working on the computer.

I turn 60 next month and have been wearing glasses since I was 12. Contacts are awesome if you can wear them but my eye doctor advised against bi-focal contacts because the wouldn't give me the clarity for distance that I want.

Best wishes and don't give up. There is a solution.

Dodie

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Jun 14, 2019 17:03:18   #
Shellback Loc: North of Cheyenne Bottoms Wetlands - Kansas
 
If you can adjust your viewfinder for the clear image - then slip your glasses out of the way - I have a string attached to my glasses and let them hang around my neck with shooting... I too have bifocals (non-progressive type) and can focus through the viewfinder with them, just find it easier to shoot without them...

A friend of mine cannot adjust the viewfinder for a clear image and wears glasses when focusing and taking the shot - said it didn't take long to get used to it...

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Jun 14, 2019 17:19:02   #
planepics Loc: St. Louis burbs, but originally Chicago burbs
 
John_F wrote:
Are you diabetic, if yes then your eyes are at risk. You should have at least annual retina and general eye exams. Are your bifocals continuous or the old fashioned kind. The former take practice to get used to. Good luck.


I've been diabetic for a few decades or so and it runs in the family. I've been on pills forever and started taking insulin a few years ago. Whatever kind of bifocals Medicaid pays for is what I'm getting. I'm scheduled for a dilation in about 2 wks...had a few of them so far. A year or two ago the Crown Vision optometrist had said I had NPDR, but an ophthalmologist at different facility some time later said I don't. I guess I'll get a 3rd opinion in a couple weeks (new doc at Crown).

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Jun 14, 2019 17:36:08   #
Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States
 
I'm far-sighted. I just adjust the diopter in the camera.
I can read most of the stuff on the camera, but I carry "Clic" cheaters around my neck just in case.

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Jun 14, 2019 17:52:45   #
DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA
 
I'm nearsighted and I take my glasses off to see through the viewfinder. For driving I have bifocals so I can see both the road and the dashboard. For TV viewing I have straight glasses for distance.

Have had bifocals for probably 15 years. The graded bifocals took a couple weeks to get used to but not that bad. My prescription is not extreme so that might have helped me.

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Jun 14, 2019 22:23:40   #
robertjerl Loc: Corona, California
 
planepics wrote:
Tomorrow is my birthday but today I had an eye exam (renewed my license yesterday). The doc prescribed bi-focals :(. After going 50+ years w/o any glasses to 2 progressively stronger reading glasses to THIS!!! I'm feeling older than my 55 yrs, 364 days. How do I cope with taking pics? Do I leave my glasses on, leave them off and adjust the diopter? I hope I don't have to wear them all the time or get headaches from using them. Whether it's age-related or diabetes-related I don't care...I don't have to like it. How do y'all cope? I've never used my glasses before when taking pics (I use the viewfinder rather than the LCD screen).
Tomorrow is my birthday but today I had an eye exa... (show quote)


A. Happy Birthday congrats on making it to 56
B. I feel for you, not!
C. I was born very near sighted in my right eye and by the time I was in 6th grade the left eye went near sighted from strain. At least when I found out at the first eye exam of my life that year it explained why I loved binoculars, telescopes, microscopes and magnifying glasses so much. And why I made dumb mistakes when copying things off the board that year. Grades 1-5 my teachers put the best students up front - I could read the board. The 6th grade teacher put the good students in the back and the bad ones up front where she could watch them. I started making dumb mistakes because I couldn't see the board. Got my first eye exam, and first glasses. My eyes kept getting worse until the right eye reached 20/600+ in my 30s and stayed there. Until 50 when I started getting the normal "middle age far sighted". My Optometrist and I would get a laugh out of the calculation at age 60 that if I could make it to aprx 150 I would have 20/20 vision.
And my eyesight almost got me out of the Army. 2 1/2 years of my 3 year Regular Army enlistment and at clinic in Nam I had to see an Air Force doctor because all the Army docs were booked up (tropical fungus infection in my ear). He took a look at my records, my glasses, asked about my allergies and said "They should have never allowed you to enlist, let along go on active duty and into a combat zone! I can get you an honorable medical discharge in 30-60 days." My answer "I only have 5+ months to go, forget it, I'll stay in." Oh, it didn't keep me from the Expert Medal for shooting - only guy in the company who scored higher was an 18 yr old alcoholic from the Ozarks.
And my wife who is farsighted gets upset when I take my glasses off and read the small print on labels.

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Jun 15, 2019 08:41:58   #
jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana
 
Adjust the diopter--you’ll be fine.

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