Age, Focus and Loupes

[Richard K.]

In her effort to depress me even more, mother nature made a rather startling (to me) revelation in my darkroom the other night. I was looking at some beautiful 7x11 Pyro negs on my light table with a loupe and thought that they weren't quite sharp. I was ready to fault the taking lens when I just for the fun of it looked at the negs again but this time with my other (left) eye. Well!! This time they were eye-etching sharp. This is not a matter of adjusting focus of the loupe; in both cases the loupe was optimally focused. So, it seems that one eye has much higher resolution than the other even though both can recognize optimal focus. Not sure why this bothers me - I guess I worry that I won't be able to see as sharply as possible one day. I hate this getting old(er) *hit... Any idea if this difference in resolution carries over to life size objects (I haven't noticed that it does!) and whether the poor eye can be corrected with another lens to improve resolution through the loupe? I pretty well get as much enjoyment from processing and viewing negs as from my Pt prints, so this is an issue for me! Comiseration welcome!!

[Bruce Watson]

Not sure why this bothers me - I guess I worry that I won't be able to see as sharply as possible one day.

You have no idea.

[Jon Wilson]

It won't help with the focusing, but you sure will feel better....pour yourself that sipping bourbon and enjoy!

[Peter K]

Any idea if this difference in resolution carries over to life size objects (I haven't noticed that it does!) and whether the poor eye can be corrected with another lens to improve resolution through the loupe?

Ask an - your (?) - ophtalmologist.

If it's astigmatism only with one eye it can be corrected with a monocle, two eyes with a lorgnette.

Peter

[William Whitaker]

The best recommendation is to see your doctor to determine what the problem really is. My own eyes vary over the course of the day and I've found that for me evening is when they're tired and at their worst. But go see a doc. Your eyes are the most important piece of equipment you own.

[Gudmundur Ingolfsson]

When a man grows old two organ groups go soft on him. The eyes belong to one group......
There are remedies though.

[Bob Kerner]

I'm experiencing the same thing: one eye is good at a certain distance and the other...not so much! As others have stated the safest/best thing to do is visit the eye doc. I'm snobbish on this, I mean an ophthalmologist, not the dude at the local eyeglass store. There are a couple of oddball neuro things that can cause this, and you want to make sure it's aging, not something compressing a blood vessel or nerve.

Having said that, I find the matter worse when I'm tired. Looking at a computer screen all day seems to aggravate it. And I found that focusing with both eyes open tends to mitigate the problem a little. It's amazing how using two eyes at the same time helps the brain process stuff correctly.

My eye doc's suggestion was to get a pair of cheap magnifiers and use them in situations where I have problems. Nevertheless, I get my peepers checked yearly. Finally, my understanding is that as we age it is UNcommon for both eyes to perform the same; usually, one is a little different.

[Frank Petronio]

Why do you think all these old farts are driving the prices of brass portrait lenses up? Learn to embrace the blur....

[Richard K.]

When a man grows old two organ groups go soft on him. The eyes belong to one group......
There are remedies though.

There are Viagra Eye Drops?!?!?!

[Richard K.]

My eye doc's suggestion was to get a pair of cheap magnifiers and use them in situations where I have problems.

But I thought the point of a loupe was that it IS adjustable to best focus (just like a magnifier!). My concern is that looking through the loupe, one eye has way more resolution (I can see much more finer detail). Has anyone noticed this SPECIFIC problem? Is there a doctor (opthamologist) in the house? OK, back to my 25-year-old Glen Morangie...sigh...OK I lied, its just the 18-year-old...