wearing glasses while framing the subject.

dean messenger

dean messenger

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I wear glasses.. have done since the age of 3. so ive always taken photos while wearing them.

its not something ive really thought of much in the past but noticed it more and more when ive been out and about with other photographers, watched videos on youtube and seen "selfie" shots"

And that is how you hold your camera.

FOr me i have very poor vision in my right eye. to the point that its pretty much impossible to look through the viewfinder with it.

that means essentially im having to use my left eye which results in my nose being pressed up against the LCD screen and giving me Zero view of the surroundings while the camera is raised to the eye.

this makes things especially awkward when shooting action or wildlife shots , or sports shots as your field of vision is strictly limited to what can be seen in the viewfinder and see nothing of what may or may not be going on outside of that frame.

ive never seen a camera that is adapted for left hand right eye shooting with the controls and shutter on the right and the eye piece mounted left sided.

ive tried shooting using my bad lright eye but even with dioopter adjustment i just get blurriness and watering eye.
I could use the LCD screen but even that doesnt really work and ive never been a fan of shooting in live view anyway and while your looking at the screen your not seeing the surroundings.

I dont suppose theres any answer to this or a solution but would be interested to hear if other people who suffer from poor ( or even zero sight ) in the right eye deal with this.
 
I have the same problem - my right eye isn't too good at all. I can see with it, but I struggle, and some days my vision in the right eye is very very blurred......yet I instinctively hold the camera viewfinder to my right eye, I've tried using my left eye, but it doesn't 'feel' right, even before I think about where the controls are.

You don't say what camera you use - I upgraded from an entry level D3100, where I really couldn't see much in the viewfinder, to a D7000 - the viewfinder is so much bigger and difference is amazing - I can now see to focus and read the display as well. However, it wwasn't exactly a cheap option ;-) - and it wasn't the only reason for the upgrade.

For Nikons at least (and probably for most othercameras) you can buy diopter correction eyepieces - it could be worth looking into that as well

Good luck!
 
i use a canon 60D , and the diopter control pretty much covers about plus or minus 1- 1.5 and my eyesight is longsighted at around 5.5 . even with glasses my good left eye wants to take control and makes it almost impossible to focus using the right eye unless i actually close the left eye which wouldnt really help the situation.
guess i'll have to continue steaming up the lcd with nose breath!
 
How about trying a Fuji XE 1 or 2?
Eyepiece on the extreme left and shutter on the right.

Not so good for me having a crap left eye, but might solve your problem
 
Okay, this may sound a little daft but have you tried holding your camera upside down?

A couple of years ago I picked up an eye infection in my right eye where for about a week it was absolutely streaming. Using a grip and turning my camera upside down meant I could still take some shots. I appreciate that the shutter release is going to be in completely the wrong place on an ungripped body so would suggest you could maybe tape a remote release on the bottom left of the camera - so top right when its right way up?
 
Can you use contacts?

Otherwise, the main manufacturers normally have a range of -4 to +3 for diopter correction eyepieces, which with the stack effect gives you a range of -5.5 to +4.5~ roughly.
There may be some third party diopter correction lenses available.

But I reckon you are best to discuss your problem with an optician. Maybe they can fix something up for you?
If you don't ask...
 
try shooting with both eyes open, it works a treat. cheers mike.
 
dinorock said:
try shooting with both eyes open, it works a treat. cheers mike.
Click to expand...

He is, the problem is that using the good left eye on the vf means the camera body blocks out the not so good right eye.
 
indeed.. and my eyes are around +5.5 / + 6 ( or -5.5 / -6 can never remember which way round )

As for the Fuji X-E1 i had one of those... its actually even worse being an EVF which has a flicker rate and is even harder to see for me. and i need eyepiece on the extreme right to be able to use the good left eye and not have the field of vision blocked.
Cant wear contacts ( tried them but have very sensitive eyes and end up looking like a zombie ( total bloodshot and streaming )
i guess its very much the same for left handed people in that respect, as i have never seen a left handed camera with the shutter button on the left side and viewfinder on the far right.

not sure i could manage shooting with camera upside down.. i use a battery grip so it would probably just get in the way.. the only option i can think of that may work is using some kind of prism based mount that slots over the eyepiece. i know you can get these if you want to shoot with the camera low down and you look down into them but would need an extension of that ( almost periscope style that comes up from the original eyepeice and then turns horizontal giving a raised viewfinder above the camera body.
so it would essentially be a dual angled extension .

much like this but then turning 90 degrees again zigzag fashion

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/183200-REG/Canon_2882A001_Angle_Finder_C.html/prm/alsVwDtl

not cheap as you would need some top quality optics so as not to lose clarity
 
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Or you could take up fishing :)
I use contacts for photography. Took a bit of getting used to, but persistence paid off.
There are right angle finders available. There was a thread in the 'Film' section earlier this year for Contax cameras.
I don't know what diopter adjustment there was with them. I think it was ChrisR who was looking for one and Amazon springs to mind for third party items.

I'll have a look.
 
Nikon and Canon finders are about £160+.
Seagull are about £30, but the top diopter correction is +3.0

I would seriously think about talking to an optician.
 
the diopter isnt a problem. i wear glasses and have done since i was 3 and now wear varifocals. the simple fact is my eyesight in my right eye is to poor to use through any kind of viewfinder.
the only solution would be a periscope style double angled finder but hunting around i cant fine one anywhere
 
the problem is that wouldnt work because you are looking down. which counteracts what im trying to achieve which is to see the surroundings while shooting if that makes sense.
for me to use my left eye through a viewfinder while still seeing what is happening in the wider field of view the eyepiece extension would need to be like this
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-OUTDO...Outdoor_Play_Equipment_LE&hash=item1c2a5084b5

( of course mush smaller and with the quality optics required.)

this would essntially put your nose about level with the top of the camera and allow you to use either left or right eye without view being blocked.
 
Some of the finders are adjustable from 0 to 90 degrees. You could look horizontally through the finder.
Edit- or maybe not. Wishful thinking!
They all attach to the eyepiece and you can still use the diopter.

How about an LCD loupe? Attaches to the screen?

http://www.cowboystudio.com/product_p/seagull lcd vf.htm
 
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kendo1 said:
Some of the finders are adjustable from 0 to 90 degrees. You could look horizontally through the finder.
They all attach to the eyepiece and you can still use the diopter.
Click to expand...

sorry but i think your missing the point, Diopter control is not the issue, its your field of vision outside of the eyepieces range.
ok easy way to explain as an example. .. your watching motor racing. in my current situation i can only see whats going on , on the track through the viewfinder unless i take my eye away from the camera . this means i have to choose what car i track and could miss something going on 1,2 or 3 cars behind.
for normal vision you would have your right eye at the viewfinder and your left eye can see "beyond" the range and whats going on around whats in the viewfinder.
for me having to use my left eye means my right eye is blocked by the camera body so cannot see the surrounding action.
and angled viewfinder or top down one would either take my field of view 90 degrees sideways or i would be looking at the ground, neither of which are any better.
a periscope style finder would raise my viewing ABOVE the camera allowing me to still look horizontally forwards using my good left eye in the viewfinder and my poorer right eye having an unobstructed view above the camera body.

hope that makes more sense now.
 
ive looked at that but though it may help a tiny amount due to the nature of my buggered up eyes the strong left eye always "takes control" so even with something like that if i tried using my right eye on the viewfinder i end up with double vision as my dominant left eye effectively overrides the right eye rendering the viewfinder pretty much out of action without forcing and straining to see through it.
the only way around it is to be able to use my left eye in a viewfinder that leaves me right eye unobstructed while retaining forward viewing.
of course i could just use the articulated lcd screen but when out and about in daylight its a rigt royal pain to see the shot clearly being of the old school and brought up on old fashioned split image viewfinders ive always found the lcd screen a rather poor second over a viewwfinder.
may have to see what i can do with some stickyback plastic and mirrors ALA blue peter style !
 
theres really nothing to discuss. having been under eye specialists since age 3, and with family history of macular degeneration, cataracts and inherent eye problems my eyesight in my right eye has gotten increasingly worse with age and will most likely end up at some point being designated as pretty much zero vision .
my 16 year old daughter is already + 8.5. they classify severely impaired vision/blindness as being around +9 and above. Mine has gone from +/- 2 to around 6 .surgery isnt an option so im fated to pretty much have vision limited to one eye at some point.

and i doubt an opometrist can do much about the build and shape of a cameras design :P
 
My thought about an optometrist was that they could make a lens to compensate for your vision that would fit like an accessory diopter. They cut lenses to fit frames.
 
I have good vision, but I am a leftie. Because of this my instinct is to put my left eye to the viewfinder. I am getting better at using either eye, but when using my left I tend to just tilt my head and look over the top of the camera that way. Even with my head almost level I find I can still see plenty of my surroundings.
 
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