How to determine the diopter strength I need?

I have a Nikon F that has no diopter. Did not need one when I bought it 30 years ago. I can set the correction needed with my Nikon D500, however, I have no clue how much or little it is correcting my vision. Is there a way to extract that information so I can find/buy the correct diopter needed for my Nikon F eyepiece? Thanks in advance for any and all advice.

Do you regularly use reading glasses? Does wearing them correct the view satisfactorily? If so, go with that strength of add on.

 

In the alternate, take your camera with you to the local drug store or other location that sells readers. Try on several strengths, starting with the lowest resolving power that they have. When you find a nice match through the viewfinder, note the strength. You might also consider buying them if you do not have a set of readers... :cool:

 

Armed with this info, you can then order a slip/clip on viewfinder correction lens.

Do you regularly use reading glasses? Does wearing them correct the view satisfactorily? If so, go with that strength of add on.

 

In the alternate, take your camera with you to the local drug store or other location that sells readers. Try on several strengths, starting with the lowest resolving power that they have. When you find a nice match through the viewfinder, note the strength. You might also consider buying them if you do not have a set of readers... :cool:

Thank you, PT. I actually have prescription glasses and "cheaters" about +1.75 I believe. Do you know of a source for the screw in diopters that are attached at the viewfinder? I really don't want to go the Ebay for such a thing. Maybe B&H carries them.

Too quick for me, Papa! I have several I don't need, Patrick. If it turns out I have the power you need, PM me and you can pay postage.

I tried eyepiece diopters, but they did not work, for me.

As soon as I move my head from the camera, I can't see, then have to put on my glasses.

This on/off/on back and forth with the glasses drove me nuts, so I gave up on the diopters.

Patrick you can go to a pharmacy and check out your reading glass diopter requirement by reading your drivers license with different cheap reading glasses. That should be good enough to determine your diopter needs. Even it an eye doctor determines your Rx precisely you will not find that level of precision from the diopter selection at B&H. Good hunting.

I'm in the same boat as Gary, but sometimes looking through the camera while wearing glasses doesn't work very well either. Usually you can't see the whole frame, and some older cameras (the Nikon S for example) have nasty metal eyepieces that scratch your glasses.

 

If you do resort to frequent donning and removal of spectacles, you can try hanging them around your neck with a cord, which can impart an intellectual and artistic air, as it does for this fellow.

 

[Edit: The words "this fellow" contain a hyperlink, which doesn't show up very well on my computer.]

I had PRK 12 years ago and it corrected my distant vision but made my presbyopia worse, which was no big deal since it was just a matter of time. I can take my eyes from the corrected eye piece and see distant 20/20 with 62 year old eyes but need to through on reading glasses to read camera controls or review images if I am not carrying my loupe. Getting old I guess.

You have to hold the readers in your hand when your talking to get maximum effect.

Here is an ancient post on diopters on Nikon:

Nikon finders are all set at -1, without any correction lens. Nikon correction lenses are not marked for their actual values, but actual values minus one, ie :

 

+1 is marked as 0

+1.5 is marked as 0.5

+2 is marked as +1

etc

 

There is no -1.

 

If you can clearly see with a +1.50 reading glasses without a dipoter, then the correction lens you need is +0.5.

 

You can also go to your local drug store to try different strength reading glasses with your camera, and check which strength is the best for you. I found that it's not the infinity I am having problems with, but the meter readings.

 

My prescription is -3.25 for distance and 0 for reading, and I found a 0 diopter is perfect for my DP-12.

 

by Sverwong at The Great Nikon F2 Diopter Correction Puzzle | Nikon F2 (Photomic S, SB, A, AS) | Flickr

 

 

Patrick -- went thru 2 boxes of Nikon bits and pieces all that remain are +3 and +4 and an extra plain. There is another box of Nikon stuff somewhere, If I unearth it and have something, I'll get back to you. Sorry!

Too quick for me, Papa! I have several I don't need, Patrick. If it turns out I have the power you need, PM me and you can pay postage.

Patrick you can go to a pharmacy and check out your reading glass diopter requirement by reading your drivers license with different cheap reading glasses. That should be good enough to determine your diopter needs. Even it an eye doctor determines your Rx precisely you will not find that level of precision from the diopter selection at B&H. Good hunting.

Patrick -- went thru 2 boxes of Nikon bits and pieces all that remain are +3 and +4 and an extra plain. There is another box of Nikon stuff somewhere, If I unearth it and have something, I'll get back to you. Sorry!

No worries, I appreciate the effort. This is something that I toy with as much as anything. Digital is where I make my money, the older gear is just a comfort thing for me.

Thanks, I will find something at some point.

Here is an ancient post on diopters on Nikon:

My cheater reading glasses are +1.75, hence, from this chart I am probably looking for a diopter +1.0 Thanks again.

I really appreciate all the responses. Thanks folks!

Here is an ancient post on diopters on Nikon:

According to this document, that information is wrong (the value printed on the diopter already incorporates the information that the viewfinder is at -1; if you need +1.75 the correct diopter to purchase is the one marked +2) : http://www.nikonusa.com/fileuploads/pdfs/EP_CompChart.pdf

 

I think the confusion arises from the fact that the diopter marked +2 is actually a +3, so when not on the camera's eyepiece, it doesn't work right.

 

I purchased one for my first camera (FM) in 1980, used it once and then took it off since the acrobatics with glasses on, glasses off was too much for me.

You would need to determine what kind of diopter lens you need to see well at 1 meter. So it's a bit weaker than your reading glasses.. After determined the diopter lens need to see at 1 meter subtract the number by 1 and buy the eyepiece of that strength. So yes you probably need a diopter of about +1 but Nikon would label it as 0. For Nikon the camera eyepiece is -1 standard.

I am guessing that Nikon chose a -1 for the eye lens to 'reduce' the image size a bit in order to allow a full view of the focusing screen area while giving a proper distance away from the lens for eye relief.

 

Otherwise, we could only assume that Nikon designed all of these cameras for mildly myopic photographers... :cool:

Hi Patrick -

I have a Nikon +/- 0 which I used on my FTn until I sold the body a few months ago I was going to sell on Ebay, but If interested, send me a note & I'll let you have it for the cost of postage. Can't send it though for another week, as I'm out of town until mid-next week. It is the round screw-in, box marked for FM3A/FM2/FA/FE - worked great on my FTn. I wet thru the diopter thing twice now, once back in the 1990s and last year when my eyes went from bad to worse. Recently changed my prescription and the shape of my glasses, so I no longer need to use diopters on my older bodies (I used to need them in addition to glasses).