Diopter setting: I am currently recovering from a cataract operation. Now my preferred focusing eye has taken a back step.Any suggestions please on how to set up the diopter for...

Valenta Loc: Top of NZ

I am currently recovering from a cataract operation. Now my preferred focusing eye has taken a back step.Any suggestions please on how to set up the diopter for focusing again please. It has been several years since my last time.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Is there a little dial at/on the eyepiece?
Turn it while looking through the viewfinder to get the best focus.

therwol Loc: USA

Longshadow wrote:

Is there a little dial at/on the eyepiece?
Turn it while looking through the viewfinder to get the best focus.

That's how my camera works. If you can't find it, tell us which camera you're using and someone will research it.

johnblenko Loc: Pittsburgh

I’m going through the same thing after cataracts and corneal transplants. On Nikons, the diopter knob is (gently) pulled out of the side of the camera and then can be turned plus or minus until the settings as displayed in the viewfinder are sharp again.

Congratulations on your surgery. It’s great to be able to see clearly again.

Valenta Loc: Top of NZ

You can say that again. The subsequent medicine (whisky -no -e) worked a treat and I had a goiod night's after many sleepless ones.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

You did not say which camera... and people are answering!! Longshadow's answer is probably a good one to cover most cameras.

Not yet, but someday, cataract lenses via " Neuralink's brain implants will 'save' memories like photos" so says Elon Musk. I always complain... as the old cartoon series said "Born 30 years too soon."

traderjohn Loc: New York City

therwol wrote:

That's how my camera works. If you can't find it, tell us which camera you're using and someone will research it.

Sidwalkastronomy Loc: New Jersey Shore

I look at the letters inside the view finder not through the finder. Rebel T7i, 77D rebel. Spin dial on side

yssirk123 Loc: New Jersey

Valenta - here is an image showing a typical diopter adjustment on a Nikon camera, but they work similarly on most brands. Just turn the dial plus or minus until what you see in the viewfinder is sharp.

Congratulations on your successful cataract surgery.

(Download)

whatdat Loc: Del Valle, Tx.

johnblenko wrote:

I’m going through the same thing after cataracts and corneal transplants. On Nikons, the diopter knob is (gently) pulled out of the side of the camera and then can be turned plus or minus until the settings as displayed in the viewfinder are sharp again.

Congratulations on your surgery. It’s great to be able to see clearly again.

I have 5 Nikon cameras & all diopter adjustment disks are st the eyepiece, is that what you mean?

GLSmith Loc: Tampa, Fl

You could always check your owners manual or look the manual up online. If your camera is a Nikon, they make a range of diopters, so if the existing diopter cant be set clearly, you can buy the next step up

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I was nearsighted before my cataract operation. I adjusted my camera so that I could shoot without glasses because I could see all the controls and look at the monitor. After my operation I need to wear reading glasses to see things up close (like the monitor). I tried the adjustment for the glasses and without the glasses. With the glasses I can see all the controls and the monitor well. Without the glasses I can see the subject well and the glasses don't interfere with the viewfinder.

Eventually I settled on using the camera without the glasses, so I adjusted the viewfinder for that mode. I'm pretty well used to the camera bodies I use so I don't really have to look for a particular control, and without my glasses I can see the monitor well enough to tell if the exposure is OK or way off. A little off, I can correct in post at my computer (while wearing my glasses).

I was left eyed, and I'm still left eyed. Probably because I've been left eyed for 83 years and it's more what I'm used to now than an actual difference in the eyes.

photoman43

Valenta wrote:

I am currently recovering from a cataract operation. Now my preferred focusing eye has taken a back step.Any suggestions please on how to set up the diopter for focusing again please. It has been several years since my last time.

How to set the diopter may depend on your specific camera. On my Nikons, I make sure the viewfinder grid is turned on. That means I have a black line to get in focus when I turn the diopter when next to the viewfinders prism. I usually point the camera at a blue sky or a white wall when I adjust the diopter. I have my glasses on when I do this.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

DirtFarmer wrote:

I was left eyed, and I'm still left eyed. Probably because I've been left eyed for 83 years and it's more what I'm used to now than an actual difference in the eyes.

Being left eyed is wired in your brain, just like being right or left handed. I'm left eyed too. Using the other eye with the camera just doesn't feel right. And shooting a rifle with a scope, I have to use that left eye on that too.

Many right handed major league baseball players that bat left handed are left eyed. I started out in little league batting right handed because just about everybody batted right handed. But eventually discovered that batting left handed worked better. And that's how I batted some years later when I played high school baseball. I think it has to do with having the dominent eye closest to the plate when batting.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

JimH123 wrote:

Being left eyed is wired in your brain, just like being right or left handed...

So it's good to know that at my age the brain is still working like it used to.