How to help new, unhappy, DSLR owner with poor vision?

[andrewdryburgh]

<p>Here's the dillema: My far-sighted (very poor vision at 1 meter and closer) father in-law recieved a nikon d60 during this past holiday season. He used to be quite the photography enthusiast many years ago, so his wife went out and purchased this for him as a surprise (she didn't get any input from him). He had expressed some interest in exploring what the digital SLR's had to offer, but he didn't let her know that HE wanted to decide what camera until after it was already purchased and passed the return-by date (which is far-gone by now). So now he is not happy with (and not using) the camera due to the fact that he has a lot of trouble viewing the LCD screen which shows the settings. He <em>does</em> own glasses (which unfortunately bring the foreground into focus and blur the background, vision-speaking), but he rarely has them with him. He also finds it to be a hassle to put his glasses on to fool with the camera settings and then take them off to look through the view finder, and repeat for multiple shots. I know one of the main reasons he is unhappy is that he is comparing this camera to his old Minolta SLR (unknown model) which he didn't have to look at, he just knew the settings by touch alone.</p>

<p>I'm looking for advice/tips from anyone who finds themselves in a similar boat. Also, although he may be reluctant to trade in an expensive gift from his well-meaning wife, can anyone suggest a DSLR that can accomodate his needs, such as in being able to control the majority of the functions with buttons and dials and not relying to heavily on the reading of small text on the LCD screen? </p>

[phule]

<p>[[He also finds it to be a hassle to put his glasses on to fool with the camera settings and then take them off to look through the view finder,]]</p>

<p>Why is he changing the settings so frequently? What settings are changing? As he learns to use the camera will he need to look at the LCD so often?</p>

<p>That being said, this might be a solution. It has a diopter adjustment.<br>

http://www.hoodmanusa.com/products.asp?dept=1017</p>

<p> </p>

[matthew_newton]

<p>Get the poor man a glasses strap. Its not terribly difficult to put your glasses on to see the LCD display and then to drop them to your chest to shot, or lift them up to your forehead to shoot. Many an older person has to use reading glasses to see the LCD and I would think they would be in a similar situation.</p>

[robbie_robertson]

<p>Wow, I'm really interested in a good answer for this question: When I wear contacts (I'm near sighted) I find myself taking my readers off and chewing on them when I'm not reading the LCD for settings. If I'm wearing my glasses, I find myself taking them off and chewing on them as I read the LCD. I'm ruining the ear guards! Of course, my physical limitations can be overcome, and I'm not about to refuse to use my expensive DSLR because of these limitations. At 53 I'm not totally crotchety yet... Anyway, I hope somebody has a brilliant solution for us geezers. :-)</p>

[andrewdryburgh]

<p>Rob - thanks for the link to that little gadget. It just might be useful!</p>

[hjoseph7]

<p>Not sure if this might solve the problem, but they have glasses now with what they call progressive lenses. These lenses are like the old bi-focals except you don't actually see a line of demarcation on the glass.<br>

I shoot with my progressive glasses all the time and the only problem I have is that the little nose guards keep breaking off, because the camera is being constantly squezzed against the glasses.<br>

Also, most DSLR come with vision <strong>Diopters</strong> that let you adjust what you see inside the viewfinder. Your father-in-law can just look inside the viewfinder to find what the settings are, instead of looking at the LCD.<br>

Me myself, I hardly ever look at the LCD panel when I'm busy taking pictures. I set the camera and see what settings changed inside the view-finder. I hope this helps. </p>

[sarah_fox]

<p>How about a monocle? It's small and light, and he can peer through it to adjust camera settings or view his shots. Then he can have the diopter adjustment set as necessary for gazing through the viewfinder. Monocles are scarce, but I bet they can be found through a google search.</p>

[jim_momary]

<p>I wear glasses, and I'm going on 58. I've worn them since 2nd grade. I now have bifiocals. All he needs is a pair of those with 'clear glass' tops (distance) and his prescription for the reading lower part. Dilemma over. He then has unaltered distance vision and corrected close up vision, viola! No on-off-on-off issues either.</p>

<p>Now, most data displays in a viewfinder are set to appear at about a virtual distance of a meter or so. Does he have difficulty with those? Then it's time to add on diopter corrections for the camera eyepiece.</p>

<p>No two ways around it, glasses stink. But we can adapt and work aound most issues.</p>

<p>Jim 'blind as an old bat' M.</p>

[andrewdryburgh]

<p>Sarah - I know you comment is valid, but it has me cracking up! I just keep picturing Mr Peanut. I'm sorry, but I think that somewhere there is law stating that you must wear at least a top hat and use a cane when wearing a monocle. Thanks for the chuckle.</p>

[steve m smith]

<blockquote>

<p>He also finds it to be a hassle to put his glasses on to fool with the camera settings and then take them off to look through the view finder</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>If his close up vision is poor but is corrected with glasses he should be wearing the glasses to look through the viewfinder. He isn't viewing the subject in the distance, rather he's looking at the image of the subject formed on the ground glass screen about 5" away via the pentaprism.<br>

It's certainly worth a try that way.</p>

<p> </p>

[Hector Javkin]

<p>I was helped very much by (lined) bifocals once I lost the ability to adjust well for distance. "Progressive" lenses would help too. However, for someone who is far-sighted and prefers to look in the distance withough eyeglasses, there may be a better solution -- half-frame eyeglasses. They are essentially bifocals without the top part. Your father would be able to see the world unobstructed, and possibly look through the viewfinder unobstructed, by wearing them so they stay below the viewfinder. He would be able to look at the controls through the half-frames. The viewfinder diopter control could of course be adjusted to optimize his view.</p>

<p>Before settling on bifocals, I also explored adapting a pair of the kind of sunglasses that baseball players sometimes use, on a frame that allows the lenses to be out of the way except when needed. I found bifocals to be the solution before finding a good pair of baseball sunglasses, and they worked so well that I stopped looking.</p>

[elliot1]

<p>Tell him to put the camera on the green fully automatic setting and the camera will take care of the rest - and he will get results better than he got with his film camera. The D60 really produces stunning results without any fuss.</p>

[walter_degroot]

<p>I have little sympathy for the critics here.<br>

but others are helpful<br>

my situation is even worse a bad spot in one eye and poor vision, not entirely correctable in BOTH,<br>

I can see to frame and guess at the focus ( fairly close) I have considered cutting a piece from old glasses to help see thru a slr.<br>

I have a couple of AF P&S cameras. these have a MODE dial that require glasses.<br>

I have given up with japanese car radios as everything is black with tiny letters.<br>

Mf film slrs are pretty self evident. the flash dial is lighted.<br>

My wifes Olympus C750 uz ( FORGET THE DIAL) has a diopter adjustment in the electronic viewfinder.<br>

some of my match pointer slr's have LEDS and not a lollypop and stick-- there are some small gaps in vision..<br>

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DON'T THINK THIS IS A REAL PROBLEM. jut wait<br>

if you survive that long it will get you.</p>

[sarah_fox]

<p>"Sarah - I know you comment is valid, but it has me cracking up! I just keep picturing Mr Peanut. I'm sorry, but I think that somewhere there is law stating that you must wear at least a top hat and use a cane when wearing a monocle."<br>

Not a bad idea. The top hat can be used for toting a telephoto lens, and the cane can telescope to serve as a monopod. Now THAT would be a classy outfit! ;-)</p>

[www.philwinterphotography.]

<p>I use the reading glasses on a string around my neck. Shoot, put 'em on, chimp, take 'em off, shoot. I hate it, but it's just part of getting older. Once (only once!) I was going to change a Custom Function setting, but being lazy, I didn't stick my reading glasses on my face. Instead of landing on the "Custom Function" menu, I landed on the "Format" menu, and reformatted my CF card. I want to know the name of the moron at Canon that put "Format" next to "Custom Function" in the menu list. The Hoodman sounds like a good idea, but I've never tried one. Perhaps a film camera would be a better fit. </p>

[saskphotog]

<p>I just want to say that getting old ain't for sissies.</p>

<p>I own and use glasses for computer screen viewing that are designed for perfect field of view at about arms length, reading glasses for reading, contacts for outdoor distance vision, glasses for closer vision when I'm wearing my contacts, glasses with progressive lenses so I can avoid changing them when I must switch often from distance to reading (like watching TV and marking papers), and glasses for driving which are distance corrected and darken in bright light.</p>

<p>I sympathise with difficult vision as one ages; I have no sympathy for refusing to just get the technology to fix it when there are so many choices. It's a pain, and my wife says I spend one quarter of my life backtracking through it to find the last pair of glasses I lost, but at least I can see everything I want.</p>

 

[steve m smith]

<blockquote>

<p>I own and use glasses for computer screen viewing that are designed for perfect field of view at about arms length, reading glasses for reading, contacts for outdoor distance vision, glasses for closer vision when I'm wearing my contacts, glasses with progressive lenses so I can avoid changing them when I must switch often from distance to reading (like watching TV and marking papers), and glasses for driving which are distance corrected and darken in bright light.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Reminds me of a cartoon I saw once with an elderly couple. The husband was asking his wife: <em>"Have you seen my looking for my glasses glasses?".</em></p>

[craig_gillette]

<p>Well, I've got "progressives" and while like regular bifocals, they allow me to read the back panel and controls, or see through the finder (esp. with diopter corrections as distance isn't a big issue for me), they aren't ideal as I still get problems with subject matter near the cross over area jumping in or out of view, especially when trying to find/track flying birds both eyes open. It's better than it was before I succumbed to wearing them all the time, because at that point, I was getting to where I couldn't read camera controls or see finders at arms length. I was asked several times by people to take their picture with their digicams and I wasn't even close to knowing how it turned out, just think I got the right shapes in the middle? </p>

<p>It might be worth spending some time with his glasses provider discussing uses and perhaps finding a better spot to change from distance to close, perhaps moving it down the lens a bit and tilting head up a bit more to do camera controls.</p>

[phyrpowr]

<p>Most drug stores and "Dollar Value" or "Dollar General" type stores sell reading glasses for minimal money, cheap enough to buy a pair to keep in the camera bag. Some are extremely small (narrow) and light, enough to wear and still bring the camera up to the eye over the rims while they're on.<br>

On sunglasses, there are some available with built in reading lenses, and also stick on reading "lenses"</p>

<p>I sympathize, used to have 20/400 plus distance vision, (20/10 at two inches or less) got Lasiked and cataracted (is that a word?) and now have 20/40 and 20/15 distance, but need the little reading glasses </p>

[joseph_wisniewski]

<blockquote>

<p>I think that somewhere there is law stating that you must wear at least a top hat and use a cane when wearing a monocle.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I thought the law required you to speak in a American TV style German accent when wearing a monocle, as in "Hogan's Heros" ;) ;) ;)</p>

[jpo3136b]

<p>I had a look at a website that reviewed that camera, and there is an adjustable diopter built-in. I don't know about that model, but I think the adjustment for it is probably that slider on the right side of the viewfinder eyecup. </p>

<p>website was: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond60/page2.asp It said that the adjustment was from -1.7 to +0.5m^-1 My guess is that won't be all the correction that he needs, but it will probably get him closer to what he wants.</p>

<p>I have worn glasses for most of my life, and I have long been in the habit of taking them off when I look through the viewfinder. Most of the time, you don't need to see in photography anyway. It's just a focus check. The rest is in the other stuff. </p>

<p>This is going to sound totally crazy, but if he uses a tripod, and is adamant about this; consider this: some kind of battery powered LCD monitor at his feet when the camera is on a tripod. I know that sounds totally crazy, and would probably be way too extravagant. But, I bet if you were a farsighted portraitist in a studio or something, one would love to just route the viewfinder through a large monitor instead. Something like that. Just spitballing. J.</p>

[andrewdryburgh]

<p>Thanks all for your comments and suggestions. I'll relay these to him and hopefully he'll see that there are some options (although he can be a bit stubborn at times, so we'll see). I'm going to push for the monocle and get him to work on his "American TV style German accent". He'll be a hit at all the parties!</p>

[charles_stobbs3]

<p>I used to go flying with a friend who used a cheap pair of reading glasses with one lens removed. He would look at the instruments with one eye and look for traffic, etc. with the other eye.</p>

[michaelyoung]

<p><em>I used to go flying with a friend who used a cheap pair of reading glasses with one lens removed. He would look at the instruments with one eye and look for traffic, etc. with the other eye.</em><br>

"Used to" <strong>?</strong><br>

:)<br>

JL</p>

<p>(sorry, couldn't resist)</p>

<p><em><br /> </em></p>

[railphotog]

<p>As has been suggested, a pair of dollar store reading glasses might be the idea. That's what I use. I have a pair of prescription reading glasses that I leave next to the computer for surfing and such, and many pairs of the dollar store one all over the place. I have a pair on my workbench, in the car, always in my shirt pocket, etc. When they get scratched I just toss them away and pick another pair. I too need the glasses to read the settings and view the images on my camera's LCD screen, not really a problem for me though with this method.</p>

<p> </p>