[interested_observer]

Over the weekend I received an email and a voice message that my new glasses were in, so come on by and pick them up. I've been wearing glasses since I was 6 months old. Now, I'm pushing 70 in a few months, I have always been very appreciative of glasses, but this pair that I just acquired is really special.

For the last 10 years, I've gone through about 8+ pairs of prescription sunglasses, none of which have been quite right - especially when driving and trying to read the street signs. Good, but just not as good as my regular set of glasses - just ever so slightly off. So for the last 10 years, I've not been willing to get a new regular prescription set until I knew what was going on. My Ophthalmologist and I have been trying to figure this out - and finally he figured out that it was the type of optical glass my (now very old) clear set of glasses were made of. A Zeiss high index optical glass formula that is no longer available.

One day, I just let google do the searching, picked up the phone and called Zeiss Vision, USA to find out how much a special run of this particular old optical glass formulation would cost me. I was to the point of just about willing to pay anything for a new set of glasses that would perform as expected. Zeiss over in La Jolla, CA - told me that they keep a small batch of the "special stuff" on hand, just for folks like myself (I was not the only one, and they field similar calls all the time), My Ophthalmologist just needs to specifically designate the optical glass type and direct the optical lab to special order it from them - and they will deliver.

With this new set of glasses, I now see different colors, clean, clear, brighter - more saturated. The whites are whiter, the blacks are blacker, the reds are more saturated, and the blues are bluer. Comparing the new set to the old set - my wife tells me that the old lenses are yellowed, scratched, coatings worn off, dirty - impossible to clean or keep clean. The change is profound - I would not have guessed that the difference in views between these two sets of glasses would be so great. And the difference in prescription is essentially null - no real change, just a very slight, very minor fine tune - essentially no change.

Now my wife adds (who is short in height, Italian and from the Bronx) - perhaps your photography will improve now that you can actually see.

[AggieDad]

How great for you!

[monochrome]

Now my wife adds (who is short in height, Italian and from the Bronx) - perhaps your photography will improve now that you can actually see.

Classic!

[Paul the Sunman]

Now you can live up to your PF name.

[mkgd1]

Coincidently, over the weekend, my dog was so happy to see me, he knocked off my sunglasses and cracked one of the lens. I have been using my old ones with a 10 year old prescription for the last couple of days, but they are not right. I will have to get off my but and get new ones. I hope my experience is as positive as yours was. It might even help my photography too.

[beachgardener]

The challenge now might be to pair the new glasses with Zeiss lenses on the camera

[wrench.doozer]

nice. My perscription safety glasses are Pentax (branded Hoya but PTX molded in). My sunglass lenses are Zeiss, ordered replacements after I ruined the originals. Good to see Zeiss still makes glasses, mine are just asia optical with generic Japan frames.

[c.a.m]

With this new set of glasses, I now see different colors, clean, clear, brighter - more saturated. The whites are whiter, the blacks are blacker, the reds are more saturated, and the blues are bluer.

Excellent! Sounds like Zeiss took good care of you.

Last year I ordered new lenses for my regular glasses and also lenses for my prescription sunglasses. Previously, I had been wearing progressive lenses from a 'second-tier' manufacturer. They were ok, but I was never totally happy with them. I tried a new optician, who provided excellent service. Selected top-end Nikon lenses. Wow -- there is less geometric distortion and less aberration and they're a bit 'brighter'. The focus zones are better suited to my general-purpose usage. And, they're very easy to keep clean.

Edit: I might add that the optician was a bit surprised when I started asking about refraction, chromatic aberrations, focal points, polarization stress points, multi-layer coatings, etc. She seemed happy to get into technical details, which definitely helped me to understand the technologies and options.

Oh, and my Nikon eyeglass lenses seem to play nice with my Pentax camera viewfinder and lenses.

- Craig

[Apet-Sure]

What a cool story! In spite of all the thought effort I've put into considering different camera lenses, I've never given one thought to the type of glass used in eyeglasses. I've never had an optometrist give me the choice between two grades of glass, standard and high-end. I've always been reasonably happy with the eyeglasses I've had, but it's nice to know their are options.

I'm very pleased to hear about your success story interested_observer. Maybe there's a way to include 'ZG' in your photo exif data, indicating you took it wearing your Zeiss glasses.

[interested_observer]

The challenge now might be to pair the new glasses with Zeiss lenses on the camera

While I was still working, I came up with a automatic method to convert written English (software requirements) to a running software program automagically. The company was going to patent it, but decided to keep it as a trade secret. Patent awards were $5K bonuses - so I did get an ILOP (In Lieu of Patent) award - at the same amount. Up to that time, I had come across a couple of old Contax Zeiss lenses (28/f2.8 Distagon and 85/f2.8 Sonnar) that I remounted to the K mount, but I did come across a Zeiss ZK 25/f2.8 that was on a closeout - since Zeiss had discontinued their K mount line. So, I do kind of have 3 Zeiss camera lenses, and all of them are really really nice. The only problem is that I need to start using them more often. Pretty hard with also having the DFA 15-30/f2.8, the 31/f1.8 Ltd, and the AutoTak 85/f1.8. I just need to try harder.

Excellent! Sounds like Zeiss took good care of you.

Last year I ordered new lenses for my regular glasses and also lenses for my prescription sunglasses. Previously, I had been wearing progressive lenses from a 'second-tier' manufacturer. They were ok, but I was never totally happy with them. I tried a new optician, who provided excellent service. Selected top-end Nikon lenses. Wow -- there is less geometric distortion and less aberration and they're a bit 'brighter'. The focus zones are better suited to my general-purpose usage. And, they're very easy to keep clean.

- Craig

I wear coke bottle bottoms - even have a "notch" in my nose. However, now with computer aided lens designs, the lenses have been getting progressively thinner - and lighter.

What a cool story! In spite of all the thought effort I've put into considering different camera lenses, I've never given one thought to the type of glass used in eyeglasses. I've never had an optometrist give me the choice between two grades of glass, standard and high-end. I've always been reasonably happy with the eyeglasses I've had, but it's nice to know their are options.

I'm very pleased to hear about your success story interested_observer. Maybe there's a way to include 'ZG' in your photo exif data, indicating you took it wearing your Zeiss glasses.

I like that - Vision by ZG....

[jeallen01]

Over the last year I've an "enlightening experience" with varifocal lenses!

To put this into perspective, I tried varifocal lenses in the early 1990's, and that failed "big time" because, on reflection, the prescription was incorrect and that type of lens was relatively early in its development cycle (but I did get a refund and a free frame out of the "experience" ).

Almost ever since then, I've used bifocals for most things + a PC-screen distance pair for that particular purpose.

However, early this year because of a "screw-up" by my opticians, I took a chance and got a "free" pair of varifocals for the "near" to the ""medium distance" range, and, frankly, it's been a revelation because (after a few "misunderstandings", should I say!) I now have another pair for the medium to distant range (for which I then did pay "big time"!), and with "transitions" lenses.

Most of the time I can use one or other pair according to the circumstances, but I still have to use my bifocals when I need to see both very close and quite distant (such as typing on this netbook and also watching the TV at the same time - as of right now).

What should we take from this?

Everyone is "different", and thus do "whatever works for you"

[PDL]

Under my medical plan I have had two major glass suppliers:
Zeiss and Hoya. A long time ago, before the turn of the Century, I even had a pair with Pentax glass.

I believe that the names are associated with just the glass suppliers not the "grinders".

[beachgardener]

have 3 Zeiss camera lenses, and all of them are really really nice

Lucky you, nice glass

[barondla]

Informative posts. Glases are such a crap shoot. I tend to wear a pair that works till they break.

Single vision glasses have pretty well reached the point of not offering enough correction. I need to choose between bifocals and varifocal. Is one better for using a dslr? I'm near sighted with slight astigmatism.

Thanks,
barondla

[Digitalis]

I have a pair of glasses I wear to reduce eye strain with close up subjects - my eyesight is generally excellent, however long periods of gazing at film developing in trays under dim safelights or reading music under dim stage lighting in an orchestra pit for hours at end has given me a propensity to develop headaches due to eye strain. Now I have glasses that reduce the eye strain considerably and now I no longer get the headaches, though I will mention my lenses are from Leica.