# Senior vision photography



## mcasan (Aug 18, 2018)

This week I had cataract surgery on right eye and will have it on the left eye in 2 weeks. I am going with what is called mini-monovision. That technique is set one eye for near vision and the other for distance. This is applicable for us old farts who have presbyopia. That condition is where the lens in your eye gets old and stop flexing (accommodating) when the ciliary muscle ring in your eye ties to get the lens to flex to better focus. From what I have read and seen, there are accommodating replacement lens; however, they do not have the range of our original lens. My doctor does not recommend them. Hence the mini-monovision approach.

The doctor said normally the dominate eye (for most folks the right eye) is usually set to far vision. But as a photographer I want the right eye to see close for the camera controls, the LCD screen, and EVF. I can see the LCD clearly from around 1' away and just adjusted the EVL diopter for very clear views of it.

My point is think about how you will operate a camera once it is time for glasses/contacts, with presbyopia correction, and cataract correction (which usually means surgery). Remember that if you live long enough, you will likely have to deal with all those types of vision correction.....while enjoying photography.


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## davidedric (Aug 18, 2018)

That's interesting.  I've also had both eyes "done".
From what I can gather, the practice of setting the two eyes at different distances is more prevalent in the USA, whereas in the UK it's more common to have booth set the same (I'd be interested in others' experience).
If you go the "UK route" the assumption is that you will supplement the surgery with varifocal glasses, which is what I have.
In any event, good luck! It made an immediate and dramatic  improvement in my vision - I'd forgotten what it was like.

Dave


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## clee01l (Aug 20, 2018)

mcasan said:


> This week I had cataract surgery on right eye and will have it on the left eye in 2 weeks. I am going with what is called mini-monovision. That technique is set one eye for near vision and the other for distance. This is applicable for us old farts who have presbyopia. That condition is where the lens in your eye gets old and stop flexing (accommodating) when the ciliary muscle ring in your eye ties to get the lens to flex to better focus. From what I have read and seen, there are accommodating replacement lens; however, they do not have the range of our original lens. My doctor does not recommend them. Hence the mini-monovision approach.
> 
> The doctor said normally the dominate eye (for most folks the right eye) is usually set to far vision. But as a photographer I want the right eye to see close for the camera controls, the LCD screen, and EVF. I can see the LCD clearly from around 1' away and just adjusted the EVL diopter for very clear views of it.
> 
> My point is think about how you will operate a camera once it is time for glasses/contacts, with presbyopia correction, and cataract correction (which usually means surgery). Remember that if you live long enough, you will likely have to deal with all those types of vision correction.....while enjoying photography.


If you have a DSLR or a Mirrorless with an EVF, The focused object in the viewfinder is the distant object.   This is what you want to have the eye focus on.  The control settings inside the viewfinder and  around the view  screen can be corrected for any near vision issues .     You want the right eye  (dominant eye) to be corrected for far vision.   You can prove this to yourself by placing a mirror  (eyeglasses mounted bicycle mirror) and viewing a distant object over your shoulder.   The close parts of the mirror frame will be out of focus when the distant object behind you (over your shoulder) is in focus.


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## Linwood Ferguson (Aug 20, 2018)

Any viewfinder I've ever seen is matched to distance, not close.  Now the LCD on the back, controls, etc. are near as mentioned. 

The diopter will allow some significant adjustment on the viewfinder, but as someone very nearsighted, it does not have nearly enough adjustment to let me see clearly without glasses.  I think you can buy, for some cameras, corrective lenses with more power, but know nothing about them.

But don't start with the assumption that close vision is the right answer for a view finder, I think that's backwards.


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## mcasan (Aug 22, 2018)

Now that my right eye is stable and healed, I got my camera bodies out to see it changes my photography.   With my right eye set to near vision, I can very clearly see the camera body controls and labels plus the LCD on the back from 12-24+".    I used the diopter on the EVF to get the EVF very crisp.   So this is all going as planned.    My eye focuses on the EVL screen.   It does know or care about how far the subject is from the front of camera's lens.   It only has to focus on the camera while the camera and its lens focus on the subject.

Can't wait for the left eye surgery next week to sort out the distance vision.


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## PhilBurton (Aug 22, 2018)

Mcasan,

I'm old enough that I need glasses and sometimes the prescription changes when I get my yearly eye exam so I really am enjoying this thread.  Lately I've noticed that the image in theoptical viewfinder in my Nikon D3 is no longer sharp.  I ended up adjusting the built-in viewfinder focus setting,  and now the viewfinder image is crisp again.

For my 1970s vintage Nikon F2, there were screwin diopter lenses to improve viewfinder sharpness.  The next time I am shooting film, I might need a new diopter lens (if I can find it).

Phil Burton


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## mcasan (Aug 30, 2018)

Got the left eye fixed on Tuesday.   That took a torx lens to get rid of the astigmatism.    Can now see around 20/20 in it for distance.   Works well with the right eye which is set for near vision.   So far so good.   What I like about mini-monovision is I get a good range of vision without glasses.   And there is none of the halos or glare others have reported trying multifocal lenses.    I try to use the KISS method as I get older.


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## clee01l (Aug 30, 2018)

I am going to be very interested in the full result and how that works out with your camera viewfinder.   Somewhere in the very near future, I will be following you in the cataract procedure and will need a similar solution.   Currently I have a -6.50  (+1.25) presbyopia contact lens for my left (distance) eye. And an Asthmatism correction for my right eye with the  worst cataract.   I don't use reading glasses with the presbyopia contact lens and I am not getting much benefit from the right lens. for reading or distance.


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## mcasan (Aug 31, 2018)

I shoot with the camera EVF at my right eye.   That is why I went with the right eye for "near" vision.   I see 20/20 with it now from around 12" -36" from my face.   So I can clearly see the camera buttons, dials, and the LCD with the right eye.   I have already setup the EVL diopter for the small amount of diopter corrected needed to see the EVL a inch or so from my right eye.  Also the screen of my 5K 27" iMac is now razor sharp at 3200x1800.   And now while is really white.   With both cataracts it was likely having the entire world color graded with a light tan color.


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## CrabbyGuy (Oct 19, 2018)

I don't know if my cataract surgery was the reason, but my purchase of a couple of Fujifilm mirrorless cameras (and several lenses) was not successful. I took them on a trip to China and found that my ability to perform manual focusing was poor.  I went back to Nikon DSLRs and all was well again (except for my wallet, of course).


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