cataract and cameras

<p>Okay, I've done a search and found some information about shooting post-cataract surgery, but not my specific question. <br>

I've worn glasses pretty much all my life. I have never focused a camera without a pair of glasses or contacts. So, if I get cataract surgery with the standard lens, it will correct my distance vision to 20/20. But I will still need glasses for close up and mid-range vision. I've been told that my eye muscles are not strong enough for me to benefit from the multi-focal lenses such as Crystalens. <br>

My question is, what will appear clearly in the viewfinder? My assumption is that I will be able to see clearly to focus the image, but will I also be able to see the f-stop/shutter speed, etc., information clearly? <br>

Thanks for your help. </p>

 

<p>Better to discuss your optical requirements with your ophthalmologist/optician, post operative.<br>

You won't know your short distance vision until then.</p>

<p>Most camera companies make corrective diopter lenses for their camera's viewfinders, and your doctor will be able to tell you which one you'll need within a couple months of the surgery.<br>

If you used eye glasses with your cameras in the past, then reading glasses may be an option for focusing in the future.</p>

<p>I use drugstore cheaters, IIRC about +2.25 to +2.75, but that is for ground glass focusing of medium and large format view finders. My digital has variable correction built in, and am usually able to use the top portion of my prescription trifocals along with a bit of correction from the camera.</p>

<p>The information and screen on a DSLR or SLR are on the same optical plane. If you can find a correction for one, you will have it for the other.</p>

<p>I don't have cataracts but age has taken away my eyes' ability to change focus. I set the diopter on the camera viewfinder so I can use a distance prescription on eyeglasses. That way I can see what I want to shoot without the camera on my face, and then look through the viewfinder without removing my eyeglasses. To see the data on the LCD panels of my camera, I use bifocals, with the lower portion of the eyeglasses set for short distance. You may be able to do something similar. Alternatively, if you can see distance and the viewfinder without correction, you might want to explore eyeglass frames, advertised for photographers, which allow the wearer to flip the corrective lens out of the way. You could use lenses only for short distance viewing of the camera's LCD panels.</p>

<p>If it helps, I had cataract surgery to my "good" eye - the one I use for looking through a camera finder- five years ago and outside of the fact that I can see better than in the months before the operation it hasn't affected my ability to see through the finder or the information in it at all. You might find that your vision is slightly bluer in the affected eye but its not a big thing and indeed I think that the colour rendition in the affected eye is probably truer than the slightly warm cast in the other eye. Certainly whites are a lot cleaner.</p>

<p>Couple of things though-</p>

<p> I don't think that all lenses installed in cataract surgery ar set for distance. I seem to recall a discussion with my consultant about choices here and that I opted for a mid- range lens .</p>

<p>The thing I do notice since the operation is the relative inflexibility of the lenses by comparison to your original. If I spend a few hours or days behind a computer my distance vision isn't good and i need to wear specs. If otoh I've been out shooting landscapes for a few days my distance vision is great even uncorrected but the closer stuff is worse.</p>

<p>Finally whilst the subject you are viewing through your camera's finder might be a long way away, what you see in the finder isn't. For example I'm sure that the Bronica I used for years was set to produce a viewfinder image that was effectively 26" away. I'm sure that the dioptre adjustment in most cameras will help you here. </p>

<p>I think you do need to explain all this to your surgeon before the event to make sure you have the right choices.</p>

<p>That's interesting, because I have had distance glasses all my life, but contrary to the views above, I always take the glasses OFF to use the camera viewfinder on my D200 (on which I have set the correct diopter adjustment).<br>

It seems everyone else keeps their glasses on, but doesn't the additional distance imposed between the eye and the viewfinder then affect the focus ?<br>

p.s. I hardly ever use manual focus as I trust the camera more than my eyesight !</p>

<p>I had cataract surgery and implants to rid my 60 years of wearing glasses. I now have no trouble focussing any of my many cameras (rfdr, SLR, digital, Medium format). However, I now need readers for close up like seeing the f stops and speeds on my film cameras (anything closer than 2 feet).</p>

<p>I had the new type of lenses put in that allow close-up <em>and</em> far vision. I still use reading glasses so that I can hold things farther <em>away</em> from my eyes (books and monitors-- the close-up is really fairly close up), but I can read when I'm away from home without glasses. Anyhow, the result is that I don't wear any glasses when I go out to shoot my cameras.<br>

I get some van Gogh-like 'starry night' effect from overhead street lights, but once I adjusted, I don't have any flare with on-coming car lights and the like. It did take some time to settle down, however, and I had to have some post-new lens laser trimming to get rid of some astigmatism.</p>

<p>In general, my eyes were better after the lens replacement than they had been in years. I shifted from near-sightedness to far-sightedness as I got older.</p>

<p>I had cataract surgery over four years ago. My Olympus digital cameras have adjustable correction built in, but on my Leica M3 I have fitted a small lens which my optician made for me. It is +1 or +1.5. I need reading glasses and, for computer use, another pair not as strong.</p>

<p> You may still need to have diopter correction on your camera. I believe there are two types of lenses used mostly in cataract surgery. The first is a monfocal lens which will provide you with a fixed focus for distance. This is the most common type and you would need to wear reading glasses. The second type that a person may choose which cost's more is the multifocal lens which allow focus at more then one point. You should be able to read without reading glasses or with a low power reading glass. However if you have specific vision choices concerning photography to make you should certainly talk about it with your Doctor. If I needed cataract surgery I would opt for the multifocal lens. I believe one lens of this type is called, "Re-stor lens". I do not have cataracts myself, however I do use a diopter correction in my cameras. I would not want to own a camera that I could not correct.</p>

<p>Thanks for the replies, a big "Doooh!" for me, I forgot about the diopter adjustment on the camera. <br>

My doctor specifically said that the Restore lens would not be a good choice for a photographer due to it being a "refractor" type lens. He said the image would never be sharp. Crystalens is the one he suggests, but as I mentioned, my eyes don't have enough muscle movement left to make it all that worthwhile for me. I could pay the $5000 for the lenses and then find out that, in effect, I would still have the monofocal lens. That lens is available on my insurance for free. </p>

<p>Thansks all!</p>

<p>I've had no problem with the Restore™ lens in photography. From the starry night effect (concentric circles), I take it that it is something like a fresnel lens, but the mind seems quite capable of finding focus either close up or at infinity. Before I had another problem (retina separation from a fall) , I was at 20/20 and better in both eyes. It was incredibly better than with the cataracts. They ain't perfect, but for me it beats carrying around specs all the time.</p>

<p>The "refractor" lingo sounds like something has got jumbled up somewhere. Far as I know, the original equipment lens could be called that?</p>

<p>The image in the viewfinder is best read by your distance-corrected vision. Likewise, the additional information in the viewfinder (aperture, ISO, shutter speed, frames left, etc.) A far-sighted person or a person with natural 20/20 vision should be able to see the viewfinder image (and info) without any additional correction (whether in the camera or with glasses or contacts). A near-sighted person needs correction to see the viewfinder image.</p>

<p>If vision problems are mild, the camera's diopter adjustment can compensate. However, if your prescription is at a higher diopter (e.g. -5), this is beyond the range of in-camera diopter adjustments. People with bad eyesight should set the camera's diopter adjustment to zero and use their corrective lenses when looking into the viewfinder.</p>

<p>The tricky thing is that everything else on your camera (including LCD screens, menus, and labels for all switches and buttons) is visible only by your CLOSE-focus ability. For people over forty, that means that you need a different optical correction for this other information than the correction that you use to look into the viewfinder. For instance, I wear contact lenses to correct my distance vision, so I look into the viewfinder with my contact-corrected eyes. But I need to put on reading glasses to see the LCD screen. I'm constantly putting my reading glasses on and taking them back off when I use a camera, and when I use Live View for critical focusing, I'm looking through two separate sets of corrective lenses (my reading glasses and my contact lenses).</p>

<p>In the immortal words of Mick Jagger: "What a drag it is getting old!"</p>