Focusing hasselblad after cateract surgery

[marti_thurman]

I recently had cateract eye surgery & now can't see through the

lense to focus my Hasselblad. The lenses they placed in my eyes are

counteracting with the lense in the camera. Does anyone have any

suggestions or do I need to switch to all auto-focus?

[kelly_flanigan1]

Carry your camera to you eye doctor. Have him fit you with a glasses that work with the closeup distance to focus on the blad's screen.

[david_littleboy__tokyo__ja]

Assuming you are using the waist level finder...

 

I have varifocal glasses. When I use my Rolleiflex TLR with the magnifier up, I look through the distance viewing part of the lens, and when I look at the screen without the magnifier I use the reading part of the glasses. You may also need either varifocals or bifocals.

 

Take your camera to your local glasses store and get them to patch together various diopters and see what works. Again, the answer _should_ be different for with and without the magnifier. If you don't need any correction for distant vision, then half-reading glasses might be worth trying.

[simonpg]

Agree with David. An optometrist (spectacles maker) will do the calculations for you. You show them how you use the gear and they will work it out. I find (wear multi-focal spectacles) the same difference with the standard view and the pop-up magnifier, like David said.

 

But having said that, using the Hassey does not often involve the need for "fast focusing" (I never fast focus work with my Hassey); if you are wanting to resume true "fast" focusing capability (I had this problem in 35mm but not due to cateracts) AF is a great help.

 

In 35mm SLR stuff I had to sell out of my Olympus OM4 kit and took up EOS AF gear and have no trouble afterwards.

 

But, amazingly I found, Leica-M rangefinders are great manual focusing even when needing "fast focusing". i now use this more than the EOS.

 

Although you can deal with you sight issues like the others said, if you want true "fast focusing" with your MF, you may need to move to an H1 (or similar) for AF but will still need diopter work done. But, start with the opotometrist and your current kit rather than leap into more complex changes.

[rich_deferrari1]

Due to my "bad" eyes I stopped focusing years ago and now rely on zone focusing. There is so much depth of field available at F8 or 11. Haven't had an out of focus pix in years! Try it -it works great. Best regards -RichD

At weddings I also leave my camera prefocused at 10 feet -this helps capture good candids.

[roger_shrader]

Marti,

 

I too have an eye disorder that can be a major difficulty when trying to focus (I have keratoconus). I have done three things to help alleviate some of my issues.

 

Firat, I have no idea what model Hasselblad you are using, but if it has an older screen, replace it with a newer Acute Matte D screen. This made a major difference for me.

 

Secondly, due to the nature of my condition, I am now required to wear RGP contact lenses. If you are having difficulties, perhaps you will need to be fitted for contacts? If that is out of the question, then, yes, take your camera to your eye doctor and get them to figure out what diopter you will need to properly focus your camera.

 

Third, even with contacts, I find focussing with the WLF finder to be near impossible unless I always check my focus with magniying pop up thingy. A prism has solved that issue.

[chris_henry1]

Marti:

 

Have you had your eyeglasses re-fitted since your surgery? If so, and if you are using the

reading segments to focus the viewfinder image, the working distance for your reading

segment may be too close for unfogged viewing at the viewfinder image plane. You may

only need to have the add of the reading segment dropped a little bit to get an

appropriate magnification for your viewfinder plane distance. If it is not too much trouble,

you should bring the camera with you when you are having your refraction and ask your

ophthalmologist to place your spectacle correction in a set of trial frames. Have him (her!)

adjust the spectacle power while you are looking through the viewfinder at a well-focused

target. This shouldn't take too much time to do, and will be a lot cheaper than switching

systems.

[h._p.]

Thanks to David and Simon for a really usefull tip. I wear varifocals and hadn't made the connection about how to use them with my Rolleiflex and Hasselblad.

[Rob F.]

Marti, you didn't say which Hassie finder you use. However, I use the waist-level with pop-up magnifier, the chimney finder, and the 45 degree PME finder. With all three finders, I need to look through the distance part of my eyeglasses to focus properly.

 

In other words, if you eyes are corrected, by your new implant lenses, for distance vision, you should have no trouble using the finder in the Hasselblad, or any other. On the other hand, if your vision has been corrected for some closer distance, then you are going to see a blurry image through the viewing system, and you would need a corrective (negative) lens added to compensate.

 

At what distance do you see clearly? Can you see the groundglass sharply, when you are not using a focusing aid?