[Leica] Changing eyes, M focusing

[len-1 at comcast.net (Leonard Taupier)]

Hi Peter,

I'm on my 4th pair of progressives over the last 15 years. The 1st  
pair took me about two weeks to get used to and as my eyes changed  
over time and I needed new glasses, it would only take me a couple  
hours to adjust to the new prescription. I would never change. I  
picked up my latest new glasses today. The M8 or any other M camera  
is not a problem. I have to change the diopter setting on my SLR's  
though. My wife tried progressives and could never get used to it.  
She ended up with standard bifocals and another set just for the  
computer. I sympathize with you on this problem.

Good Luck,
Len


On Nov 7, 2007, at 3:08 PM, Peter Klein wrote:

> Up until recently, both my glasses and contacts prescriptions were  
> fine for focusing an M camera. When I got the M8, the smaller  
> magnification made focus a little more difficult, but still quite  
> doable.
>
> My latest prescription has changed all that. I can still focus the  
> M8 fine in bright sunlight. But in standard room lighting and  
> dimmer, I'm having difficulty focusing at about 2 meters and  
> closer. The viewfinder image is slightly blurry--just enough to  
> throw me off.  The issue is the same with both glasses and  
> contacts.  All this is after I looked at my optometrist's eye chart  
> through the M8 viewfinder with various corrections, and he adjusted  
> my prescription accordingly.
>
> My optometrist says my eyes are healthy, I'm just near-sighted and  
> middle-aged.  :-)
>
> It seems like a single screw-in diopter correction for the M bodies  
> is not the answer, as the viewfinder itself seems fine for 2 meters  
> and farther, but I need something different as I get closer.  A  
> couple of solutions come to mind:
>
> 1) Progressive lenses in my glasses
> 2) An adjustable diopter correction for the M8
>
> Progressive lenses might work. I guess you just hold the camera  
> lower on your glasses for focusing on nearby objects. Since I do  
> computer work, progressives might mean I could get by with only one  
> pair of glasses.
>
> Now, I tried progressives about 10 years ago. I used them for about  
> a month, but couldn't quite get used to them. I was perceiving  
> varying barrel distortion and other weird effects like the image  
> "following sligthtly behind" as I turned my head from side to side,  
> and it drove me nuts.  I much preferred ordinary bifocals, so I  
> ended up with them, plus a additional single vision pair of glasses  
> for computer work.  Maybe now that I've had the experience of  
> adjusting to monovision contacts, I might be more adaptable(?)
>
> The Megaperls magnifiers have an adjustable diopter correction.  
> Their 1.15x magnifier would bring the M8 image up from .68x to . 
> 78x, and I could probably just leve it on the camera for lenses  
> from 28mm to 90mm. It would give me a diopter adjustment I could  
> tweak between near and far. This would work with contacts as well  
> as glasses.
>
> So, calling all middle-aged dudes and dude-ettes with M cameras!   
> How have you coped with creeping presbyopia? Have you tried  
> progressive lenses, and how do they work for you, both with M  
> cameras, and in real life?  Have you adjusted well to them?  Do you  
> get a stiff neck from pitching your head up and down to "focus," or  
> is it pretty natural after a while?
>
> And does anyone have experience with the Megaperls magnifiers?  How  
> usable are they with glasses, and is the diopter adjustment useful  
> for dealing with near vs. far focusing?
>
> Thanks, all!
> --Peter
>
>
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