Shooting With Contacts?

[vlad khavin]

I am nearsighted... therefore I wear glasses. When I shoot, I take my glasses

off, and use the diopter correction on my 30D. (I just ordered an additional

diopter adjustment lens for the viewfinder, since the built-in one is ALMOST

there... I could use a few more clicks to the - side.) The trouble is, when I

take my glasses off, things are blurry enough that if I want to read a sign from

more than 10-15 yards away... I need to focus on it with my camera, and read it

in the viewfinder. This was rather comical on a trip to the zoo. At least...

my wife thought it was comical. I was rather annoyed.

 

This makes me a bit nervous about doing any sort of event work, which I will do

at some point, once I learn what I'm doing. If I can't see sharply without my

camera, I will likely miss a whole lot of those tiny little details that would

make for great shots. I don't like to miss shots, though I know that it will

happen regardless. But if it's something that can be corrected, I would like to

correct it rather than kick myself for it. So the question is... those with

less-than-perfect natural vision; do you shoot with contact lenses? Are there

any problems associated with long periods of time spent with a contact lens in

your eye, and your eye in the viewfinder? Or do you just take off your glasses,

shoot, and then put the glasses back on?

 

I personally find the whole removing glasses, putting them back on, removing

them process to be a bit annoying since while something is happening, I am

fumbling with my glasses. Again... missed shots. But then, it may be that I

need to better anticipate, which will come with practice.

 

Anyhow. Any insight is much appreciated.

 

Vlad

[bdp]

Do what I do.. either wear my contacts, or glasses.

<BR><BR>

My near-sighted vision is not Diopter correctable (-9.0 and -10.0)

[leya216]

I wear contacts for at least 12 hours a day and take alot of photos. I can't even imagine taking photos without contacts. contacts, chocolate, and canon are my friends.

[mendel_leisk]

I wear both contacts and glasses, and shoot with both, never with neither. No problems with viewfinders with either glasses or contacts, quite used to it. I'm extremely near-sighted, and moderately long-sighted, being in mid-50's. I am sure there is no way I would be able to see anything with just the camera's diopter adjustment. I've never even thought about trying that.

[picturesque]

I shoot with contacts and glasses. Contacts to correct nearsightedness and glasses for the presbyopia (old age reading glasses). When I shot with contacts only, I sometimes had problems with them popping out if I hit my eye with the camera eye cup. Happened once or twice. Other than that, no problems, but I've been wearing contacts for a long, long time. With glasses on over the contacts, the only problem I have is getting a smeary spot on the glass where I press my eye to the viewfinder. I don't go back and forth--I would find that too distracting. I would suggest go one way or the other. And bring back up glasses on events.

[david_bain1]

I have a dioptre adjustment on my viewfinder which makes it match my distance glasses so I can keep them on. Could that be the answer for you?

 

My digital's screen is more of a problem as I have to wear my reading glasses to see it. Luckily the distance glasses have only a small correction so I can see distance reasonably well over the top of the readers without them. If that wasn't the case I'd have double the trouble!

[vlad khavin]

Wow... thanks, folks!

 

I tried shooting with my glasses on, and it seemed like I had a real hard time seeing the viewfinder, since my eye was not pressed to the rubber cushion. It was rather odd, but I guess I could try it again and see if I can't get used to it. Heh. The other thing I'm a bit nervous about is attempting manual focus if I can't be sure that my viewfinder is sharp. The camera tells me when it thinks the focus is on, but... if I'm manual focusing, there's probably a reason, so I guess I shouldn't trust the camera to tell me when I'm on.

 

I think I'll see about contacts and try that as well. I've never worn them, but... it's worth a shot. And Nadine, thanks for the tip about them popping out. I'll make sure to watch for that!

[pavelp]

I shoot with glasses and uncorrected viewfinders (my main eye problem is astigmatism and a simple diopter won't correct that). I had to change some eye cups to see from corner to corner and I also have dedicated shooting glasses so if I manage to scratch them against the viewfinder, I still can get home. I also buy scratch-resistant lenses for my glasses and exercise the terms of warranty :-)

[vlad khavin]

Pavel, what eyecup do you use? I have the one that came with the camera, and I also have the eyepiece extender, which I don't actually use, since it shrinks the viewfinder. Though... *scratches head* maybe if I try with the extender and the glasses? Hrm.

[timberwulf]

I'm nearsighted enough I can't read words printed in a book from more than about 4 inches away. Driving a car would be impossible.

 

I've been wearing contacts exclusively for 16 years. Other than some risks if you wear them while you're sleeping (depending on the type of contacts you have), or have poor hygiene habits with them, they have been very safe for me and have allowed me to not worry about glasses on/off/etc.

 

As for wearing for extended periods, the usual issue I run into is that they may dry a bit, leaving vision a touch foggy unless you blink a lot. Extended periods for me are in excess of 18-20 hours straight. I use monthly disposables so that I have a nice clean contact to see through every month. :)

[denise_d]

I've worn soft contacts since high school (and I'm 43 now) and I've never had a problem with them. Trying to focus a camera lens while wearing glasses was one of the main reasons I switched to contacts in the first place.

 

The only downside for me is that they tend to dry out my eyes a bit when on long plane trips or if I'm in front of a computer monitor for too long, but there are eye drops to take care of that sort of thing, and you can always take out the contacts and switch back to glasses whenever you want.

 

I would highly recommend that you give them a try.

[pavelp]

Vlad, I do not have 30D so I cannot give you any advice on that. I just try different cups until I find one that fits the camera in question and let me get close enough so I can see the screen corner to corner. Check with Canon, I would surprised if they would not have an alternative eyecup for glassers.

[kari douma]

I used to wear contacts or glasses. I have switched to only glasses about 2 years ago. Before that I wore my contacts on a couple jobs, and vowed to never wear them again while shooting. At the time I was using a MF manual focus camera. My contacts were always floating in my eyes, and I couldn't manual focus well. That is when I started wearing my glasses more. Now I shoot with my glasses on, no adjustment on the camera. I do notice my glasses are a bit scratched where I press up to the eye cup. I am far sighted, so if I had to I could probably do it without. But, I'd probably have a hard time seeing the screen on my camera.

[Gary Naka]

Not wearing glasses/contacts and using the eyepiece diopter is NOT a good idea if you need lenses to see. This means you can't see w/o looking thru the camera. You have just lost situational awareness and reaction time.

 

IMHO, the diopters are fine for studio work or if you have a slight correction, not for active work.

 

Example, when shooting the processional, I shoot with my right eye looking thru the viewfinder and my left eye watching the couples coming down the aisle. Why, because the viewfinder has a tighter field of view and its harder to anticipate the couple approaching the predetermined "shoot point." Similar for the garter/bouqet toss the left eye can see things that are developing out of the viewfinders frame. Things develop fast and you have to be able to shoot w/o first removing your glasses, and putting them away, then lifing the camera...and as you said, you just missed the shot.

 

Either wear glasses or contacts and learn to shoot with them.

 

If you contantly remove them, you WILL one day drop them. And if you are lucky you can still use them, if not they could be destroyed...like when I sat on my wifes glasses :-(

 

Gary

[Jochen_S]

I can get no proper performance out of my right eye with anything but solid contacts.

 

With glasses I feel close to lost. In a damn bad emergency I'd use the DSLR relying on the AF or teethgrinding M3 with 90 and 4-P with 50mm because wider framelines seem unspottable to me. I maybe could focus a S/TLR with my left eye and glasses but am not used to do so.

 

Contacts don't work continously. There are moments when you need eyerubbing and rapidly blinking to get smear off of them. The solid ones might move away sometimes (1x/month?) and you'll need a mirror to relocate them. You might also catch dirt under your contacts (painful!), which knocks me out about 2 times / week for 10 minutes. But using the DSLR even with the left eye enables me to capture at least something.

 

Wearing periods: I need half an hour to get up and remove the contacts not before I come home. - I work triple-shifts if necessary. my regular job is eye dependant.

 

Bottom line: either try contacts or learn to shoot with glasses on. Some buddys of mine are blinder with contacts. - They wear soft ones (which I don't bash here!) and have eye surfaces better than mine. - Others just can't stand them. Find out what works for you. For me contacts are by far greater than sliced bread. -YMMV, but they are worth trying.

[cbender]

I shoot exclusively with my contacts. However, I do have problems shooting continuously. My correcition is astigmatism, and my contacts are torics (not spherically symetric, but instead tear drop shaped so they stay at a particular orientation angle). If I don't blink for a while, my eyes tear up and the lenses start to rotate away from the angle they should be at. This is mostly a problem with manual focus, and only when I'm taking a long time to zero in on the exact focus.