WOW! 28 posts in less than 3 hours. Just goes to show what's REALLY important to us.
Now you know why Edward Weston wore those sissy-looking Pince-Nez glasses when he shot with his 4x5 Graflex. There's not room inside the hood to wear a pair of real reading glasses.
Wilhelm (Sarasota)
I'm 50 and I just went through the same thing.
It seems like no matter how many pairs of cheaters I have around, I find myself glassless at times. I finally bought a magnifying card at my local photo store. It is basically a fresnel lens and is the size of a credit card. I keep it in my walet as a back up to glasses. Works great for reading menus in dark restaurants and for setting the f-stop on my LF lens, especially when I don't want to walk back to the car to get my glasses.
58 same problem. I use 3.0 reading glasses but I have a 3x pair of filp downs I got a Cabelas. They let me get with in 4 inches of the GG for fine focusing. Cost about 10 bucks.
Just past 74 now and still blessed with good close-up vision, so my bifocals are made for distance & mid-range (finger tips outstretched). I could read all day without glasses (but would likely fall asleep from inactivity). But a few years ago my ophthalmologist said he can no longer get my right eye corrected to 20/20. I told him I noticed recently that, depending on the distance of what I’m looking at, one eye is fuzzy and the other is sharp – then for a different distance the one eye is sharp and the other is fuzzy. He said “that’s good because the brain will begin to recognize which eye to use!” I envisioned getting slapped for winking at a hottie, but it hasn’t happened yet (actually they just laugh!).
On a possibly more helpful note, here’s one I remember from my younger heavy backpacking days:
My 4x5 backpacking buddy had been noticing the sharpness of his images faltering and continually blamed his lenses and would NOT accept the thought that he might need glasses. He was driving, I was about to nap, on the way to the Colorado Rockies for a two-week traverse. He wanted his sunglasses but they had been put in his pack in the back of the station wagon. I told him to try mine (prescription) while I dozed. He put them on and was aghast … “My Gawd Almighty, look how SHAAP (from Boston way back) the trees are on that ridge!!! My Gawd Almighty!!!” After the trip, he immediately had his eyes checked and needed bifocals, but not the usual bifocals … he ordered the close-up correction to be placed at the top of the glasses so that when he’s under the darkcloth leaning forward toward the groundglass (necessitated by a tripod that was too short … but lightweight!) he would not have to crank his neck backward to focus. To my knowledge he never used a loupe … unbelievable to me … I’ve always used one.
Finally, I’ve heard that there are three ways to tell when you’re actually getting OLD; the first is that your memory starts to go, and I can’t remember the other two.
Oh, yeah. One of the other two is when you stoop to pick up a film holder, you look around to see what else you can do while you’re down there.
Hang in there,
Jerry
Great perspective Jerry.
My father had a similar awakening recently after cataract surgery.
Apparently he'd forgotten what a colorful and contrasty world we live in.
OK I'll quit my bellyaching :-) Send me your leftover Viagra and Prep H though.
What is the point of those Clic reading glasses? You put the eyepieces together with a magnet in the middle rather than pulling them on and off? Why are they somehow better?
I just got home from a visit to the eye doc and now have cataract surgery scheduled for March 23. I am very hopeful that I will be able to again appreciate, clearly, color and contrast as I once did. I am told that the cloud that is now blurring my vision will be gone with the lens replacement. No grumbling here, just relief that something can help.
Ben
Ben, you are going to be amazed. I had both of my eyes done about 2 years ago and my vision is now like I was 25, I'm 62. The surgery took 11 minutes on each eye, they were done one week apart, it is easier than having you teeth cleaned. My vision in low light really improved. Good luck.
Your experience is encouraging Alan and pretty much mirrors what my Ophthalmologist explained to me this morning. He said the actual surgery would take 15 minutes or less and that my vision would be much improved. I have been putting off looking into cataract surgery (BIG CHICKEN), but now that I have I am anxious to get it done.
I feel for Frank and anyone else experiencing changes for the worse in their vision. There is nothing more precious than being able to see clearly.
Ben
Originally Posted by Alan Curtis
Makes me want to have cataracts IF my vision ever goes to pot.
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