Diopters? Likes, dislikes?

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Hey all. I've got a 6.2 and I love it. I wear glasses and the adjustable diopter on the 6.2 (-2/+2) isn't strong enough to correct for my vision. I'd LIKE to be able to shoot without my glasses because a) I can get in closer to the viewfinder, enlarging and brightening the viewfinder image and b) I can use an eyecup to eliminate distractions, and focus purely on my VF.

So I wonder if anyone has experience with this. Does it work well? How do you know which diopter you need? And do the static diopters (non-adjustable) add to or replace the adjustable one?

It's not really a big deal, because I can work just great without it. But it seems like it could be nice. Perhaps I should avail myself of this resource. What do you think?

-- Ramy Sadek (rsadek@cs.oberlin.edu), March 12, 2002

Answers

Just because nobody else has responded so far.... The reason I've never seen 'eye to eye' with the R's pre-R8 is precisely that I don't find the v/fs very comfortable with my glasses - having to force your eye up to the camera results in smears on glasses and an uncomfortable proximity between glass and hard plastic/metal. Maybe the rubber eye cup would help - so long as that wasn't too smeary itself, of course. As for not wearing glasses but using a dioptre - well, I guess it depends what kind of stuff you're doing. If you're photographing moving scenes where action develops rapidly, using a dioptre is a pain. I once tried to do this at a dancing school and it really didn't work out at all: I needed my glasses to see what was going on to spot a potential shot and then tried to take them off to take the shot (even when I had them tied up so they could be left round my neck) - it was too slow and clumsy. If your eyes are tolerant, I imagine disposable contact lenses would be better.

-- Steve Jones (stephenjjones@btopenworld.com), March 13, 2002.

The diopter you need is the closest to your Rx, which you can ask your optician or any optical store can check your glasses (the eye you view through)and tell you. If you have astigmatism (they'll know by checking your glasses)you need to ask for the "spherical equivalent" (they'll understand the term).

I agree that using diopters for other than tripod shooting landscapes or in the studio, is a PITA unless you are presbyopic (far-sighted). If you need a strong (stronger than the -2 in the R6.2) for seeing distance, you will need to keep pulling your glasses up and down from your head. For farsightedness it isn't too bad with the R6.2 because you can see the shutter speed and aperture in the viewfinder. With an M it's still maddening.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), March 13, 2002.


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