Bifocals?

March 6, 2014 forum topics
I have a "@#%&*! I’m getting older" question.

My current main issue is that when I have my C300 mounted on my shoulder rig, the flip out viewfinder is a little too close for my eyes to focus well through my glasses. I can actually see better that close without glasses, but then my distance vision isn’t great, and my stigmatism (though mild) kicks in. When the camera is on the shoulder rig, its a little high so that I’m looking up slightly at it.

I was thinking about getting bifocals just for shooting with the "reading" part near the top. My opthamologist said that some times car mechanics have the close up "reading" portion put in both the top, and bottom of their glasses. That way they can see the car parts they are working on when the car is above them on the lift, but also look for tools and read the instructions when they look down.

The guy who actually makes the glasses wasn’t as enthusiastic. He said he once had a customer who was a pilot who wanted the "reading" portion on in the top side of the lenses so he could read the instruments that were on the ceiling of the cockpit. However, after wearing them for 10 minutes, he decided against it because they were too distracting to wear otherwise.

Right now I’m thinking I’ll just pull the glasses down my nose a bit and make do with my naked eyes when I look up at the viewfinder. I doubt that’s going to be optimal though.

Any insights or advice that you have would be welcome!