Presbyopia and focusing the view camera

In using my 4 X 5, I find I have trouble accurately focusing. At age 36, I have slight prebyopia and I find I have to move my head away from the ground glass more than I'd like to be able to see it clearly. But when I do that, it's hard to see the fine detail, and the darkcloth sags.

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I assume some kind of reading glasses are in order, but which are best? I recall hearing something about a jeweler's eyeglass and of course there are also plain reading glasses. Do either of these improve the situation significantly?

I'm sure reading glasses might be in order for everyday stuff. But

using a loupe on the ground glass of your 4x5 might be more

practical. Hint: I found that my Nikon 50mm lens (off my 35mm kit)

works great as a loupe.

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Regards

Lloyd: I'm a little older than you and have fairly substantial

presbyopia. I wear good quality "reading glasses" all the time at

work, but I find they don't work well with groundglass focusing.

Reading glasses are optimized for, you know, a foot and a half or

whatever. So, anyhow, I just wear a loupe around my neck and pop it

in my right (strong) eye when I'm ready for fine focusing. I use my

reading glasses up to that point. It's all a bit awkward, but as you

suggest large format photography isn't "opimized" for people with

eyesight problems. -jb

I had my optometrist write me a prescription for special reading

glasses (for my presbyopia and astigmatism) for 6-inch viewing. He

was a little incredulous until I carefully explained how they were to

be used. He told me to make sure the optician accounted for some

parallax adjustment, since at 6 inches your eyes are not pointed "in

parallel". The glasses stay in my camera case and work well. They

are "half-glasses" so I can put them down low on my nose to look over

the top of them. You might give this a try.

Presbyopia? Does this afflict other denominations? Or does it

mainly afflict elected executive officers?

I posted this in a loupe thread, but it bears repeating here.

Those special prescription glasses are a stock item for

surgeons who need a mild degree of magnification when

working on something close. If you do a search on "surgical

loupes" you'll get lots of hits.

The solution to Presbyopia ("old eye vision") is reading glasses. So

called "Plus Spectacles" are, in my opinion one of the greatest

technical inventions of all time. They are so simple as to make

explanation difficult. Plainly put, the more the plus the closer you

can get to the thing you are seeing and be in focus. When looking at

a ground glass you are looking at the glass itself, not the object in

the picture. So the problem is exactly the same as in viewing fine

print.

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You can experiment with drug store spectacles available in up to plus

4 strengths. You can also add spectacles together (wear two at the

same time). If nothing else, this can help you let your optician

know what prescription you need for your use.

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There is no "wrong prescription" in reading glasses. The only

variable is the focusing distance from the object viewed. Reading

glasses will not "hurt your eyes"

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The special viewing devices used by surgeons are actually spectacle

mounted telescopes which are different from reading glasses (plus

spectacles) in that they magnify objects at a distance (in this case

about three or four feet) rather than allow you to get close to the

object viewed (and still be in focus) as with reading glasses or

ordinary jewellers loupes.

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SKG

Another possibility, alluded to in the initial question, is a clip-on

jeweler's loupe. These can be attached to the wearer's eyeglass

frame, and flipped down in front of one eye for magnification. This

alternative gives the advantage of a longer viewing distance for

general composition and a reduced viewing distance for critical

focus. Two disadvantages of a jeweler's loupe are: 1. Lesser

optical quality - they are typically not aspheric design. 2. As

compared to a typical photographic loupe, there is no stand to block

non-image light or provide optimal focal distance. One must move the

head toward and away from the groundglass until image focus is found.

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If you are so inclined, a jeweler's loupe should be relatively easily

available from a quality optician, hobby or low-vision supply house.

Look for a model with a sturdy mount, it will be bumped frequently by

your darkcloth.

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By the way, I am an optometrist, and disagree with the previous

contributor's suggestion that the power of the reading glasses is

unimportant. The wrong Rx may accelerate the development of focusing

problems, and/or exacerbate underlying eye teaming problems. See

your eye doctor for a prescription optimized for your needs and

visual status.

"Fortunate" that I am to be very myopic, there's one small

compensation as presbyopia develops. I only need slide regular

distance spectacles down my nose and look over them. Built-in 3.5X

magnifiers!

Steve, one pair of surgeon's loupes I have fits your description,

but the other is more like a ordinary pair of glasses. The lenses

combine a diopter for magnification and a shallow angle prism

to let you look about six inches in front of the tip of your nose

without crosseye strain. Unlike reading glasses they don't

occupy your whole field of view, so you can look past them to see

the whole composition.

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They're the best thing I have ever used for looking at a ground

glass. I recently inherited a large collection of mapmaker's

loupes, jeweller's loupes, geologist's loupes and much else

besdes, and of all of them the wacky specs are the nicest to use.

My only worry is that they're a bit delicate for heavy field use.

Wow lots of answers, but here is my input.

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I am a sugeon and use surgical loupes. I would not suggest them

because their field of view is so small and they are desined for

looking down so that you would have to tilt your head back to see the

ground glass unless you had the telescope part mounted straight ahead.

Designs for Vision is the company that makes these and they are

Extremely expensive (~1000.00). They are also designed for focal

distances longer than you want.

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If you don't need glasses for any other reason besides close up work

(that is you are not far-sighted or near-sighted or have

astigmatism)then yes, you can go to the pharmacy with your camera and

dark cloth and set up. Then you can try out all the different diopter

choices until you get a strength that works for you at the distance

that you like to hold your head. Remember that the stronger the power

you get, the smaller the depth of field you get so that holding your

head at the right distance will become more critical.

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If you do have a need for prescription other than just close up work

and therefore normally wear glasses, then this option will not work

because you will have to wear the reading glasses OVER your normal

glasses which is a big hassel and does not fit well. There are clip on

jeweller's loupes to the side of the glasses, but these will not allow

seeing the whole ground glass at once. The is the "Optivisor" head

band type magnifier (flips up and down) which jewellers, hobbiests and

mineral people use, but the band is stiff and hot and tends to give a

headache and the view is not full.

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This puts you in the realm of prescription lenses.Bifocals are awful

for this because you have to tilt your head back to see the whole

image. I do know some people who compromise by simply taking their

hand and lifting up their glasses to see just through the reading

protion of the lens. Problem with this is that unless you use pretty

strong bifocals (and at your age you probably do not) then the reading

protion of the bifocal will probably not be strong enough anyway.

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This brings you to the option of dedicated closeup glasses in their

own frames. You can go to your opthamologist (MD) or optomotrist

(non-MD) and have them mock up for you in their adjustable glasses any

amount of personal prescription plus any amount of close up correstion

in jumps of 0.25 diopters. You again bring your tripod, camera, and

dark cloth and set up so you can look out a window and test all the

options. They love this when you do it because it is so interesting to

them to deal with this problem for photographers.

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This leaves two options for frames. If you do not have any

prescription needs other than just needing close up correction, then

simply get a single vision close up lens in a frame, hang it around

your neck with an eye glass lanyard, and take it on and off when

needed. IF HOWEVER you normally need glasses for non close up living

(ie far sighted, near sighted, astigmatism) then you are going to have

two pairs of glasses hanging around your neck or going bak and forth

into pockets. So here is a solution that I use.

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You may remember from the 60's that it was very common for baseball

players in the outfield to wear flip up and down sunglasses to keep

from being blinded by the sun. These type of frames are still sold.

You have to ask your optician to check through their catalogs for

"baseball" frames. The stationary frame holds your normal persription

and the flip up and down part hold your close up correction. Flip up,

and you can look all over the world with your regular prescription.

Flip down, and you have instant custom-chosen, close-up, full-view

vision for under the dark cloth. They are quick, easy, and need no

cord around your neck, or pockets to store them in. The only draw back

that I can even find is that they are moderately heavy since they have

four lenses and my nose gets tired if I try to wear them constantly.

So I only put them on when I am actively making a shot and switch back

to my untra light weights when I am walking around. Email me if you

have any questions!

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Scott

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As a Dentist I used Design for Vision glasses -they were wonderful

but as noted they aim down too much and they cost $$$-$750 20 yrs

ago. I use 4X reading 1/2 glasses that get my eyes about 6-7" away-

perfect for a 6x7. Then loupes for fine focus.

George

Thanks everyone for your input.

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I purchased a pair of 2 diopter reading glasses ($10, cheap to try)

which seems to help me focus more easily close up. I will try those

and see how they work.

I think Sean Yates (answer #4) is way off the mark. Presbyopia is

actually an intense fear of Presbyterians and the blurrier the better.

You can't fear what you can't se

I wear glasses and use a loup. But my response is about the dark cloth. I have a BTZS Focus Hood. It has a stretching plastic end that goes around the camera ground glass. The bottom has a velco that can be adjusted to fit around your head. There are hoods for

every format. I purchased my 4x5 size from www.viewcamerastore.com.

It is a JOY to use. It is the best money I have ever spent on photo equipment. I paid 54.95 for mine. Hope this helps

Joe