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04-19-2020, 06:34 PM - 2 Likes   #1
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Does your eye sight and lens expectations correlate?

I am curious how our daily perception of the world influences how exacting we want our lenses.

I wear glasses and contacts and on a very good day that gives me 20/20 vision. 20/40 is closer to the truth. My preference for sharp glass seems on par with that. It is probably because how I "believe" the image looks in reality is much the same.
Do you eagle eyed people care more? Do you blind people care less? Do tell and lets see if any patterns emerge. (Hopefuly not moire)

04-19-2020, 07:04 PM   #2
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I wear contacts and the vision is pretty good with them, I do want the photos sharp (doesn't mean they always are), but I'm disappointed in some lenses that seem to be soft.
04-19-2020, 07:10 PM - 1 Like   #3
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QuoteOriginally posted by swanlefitte Quote
I am curious how our daily perception of the world influences how exacting we want our lenses.

I wear glasses and contacts and on a very good day that gives me 20/20 vision. 20/40 is closer to the truth. My preference for sharp glass seems on par with that. It is probably because how I "believe" the image looks in reality is much the same.
Do you eagle eyed people care more? Do you blind people care less? Do tell and lets see if any patterns emerge. (Hopefuly not moire)
In my youth my distance vision was 20/15. Now it is 20/25 corrected, and optimized for 20” by tri-focals. Nothing is sharp enough any more - but I’m happy to perceive relative sharpness transitions in an image.
04-19-2020, 08:04 PM - 2 Likes   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by monochrome Quote
Nothing is sharp enough any more - but I’m happy to perceive relative sharpness transitions in an image.
So for you, I have never known sharp. As a kid whose eye sight faded over years i was amazed that xmas tree lights were not suppose to be airy discs. The xmas lights stand out because they only come out once a year so all my memories were a year of sight degrading.

04-19-2020, 08:49 PM   #5
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I wear contact lenses too. Mine are corrected more to the long end so that driving is safe, so I now have to wear glasses for reading (and close up stuff ).
So in order for me to see what a fly or a little spider really looks like, I have to take a macro photograph of it !!
So yes, for me sharpness is VERY important. I believe most of us with a vision impairment would also think that sharp lenses are important.
It gives us a taste of what normal visioned people might take for granted.
04-19-2020, 08:58 PM - 3 Likes   #6
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As a kid, I had no idea that I couldn't see well. How did I know what vision was like? In retrospect, I was sitting closer and closer to the TV from about 3rd grade on. A coach in 7th grade basketball noticed that I squinted really hard when I was shooting a basket. He talked to my parents. Glasses followed soon after. My grades and basketball both improved (not that great, I was still clumsy having grown a foot in a year...)

My ophthalmologist and I became good friends, having seen each other for over 20 years. We retired the same year too. After awhile, I told him, "I think I'm having trouble with my yellows when playing with post-processing for my photos." (He's a Nikon guy, but still a decent person).

He said, "You've always known when something wasn't right. You might be too perceptive for your own good. Be sure to bother your new ophthalmologist about yellowing lenses and cataracts as time goes on."

So, yeah. With contacts, I usually need sunglasses. With vari-focal lens in my glasses, photography is a chore. Glasses make using the viewfinder complicated in either case. And either way, focus is an endeavor. I'm not sure I have a point or an answer, other than, "You're not the only one."

I'm always impressed by those who get super sharp focus and love seeing those photos. One of these days, I'd like a couple days instruction from someone who can do that, so that I know what I'm not doing right. But I do try.

I used to do pretty well with an Olympus or Yashica rangefinder on film. Rangefinder focusing has always been easier for me -- lining up the bright double images -- even though I've had a Pentax SLR of one sort or another for over 40 years. I tried a Katzeye split image screen on my K200D, but there was still the glasses thing with the viewfinder.
04-19-2020, 09:08 PM - 2 Likes   #7
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@yucatanPentax. I shoot manual focus lenses quite a lot on K-1 right-eye without glasses. I set the diopter so the LCD numbers are as sharp as they can be; then I bring the view into near-focus and jog the helicoid back and forth to find the sharp margins and center between them. I usually get a sharp image when combined with accepting f/5.6. For narrow DoF shots I use LV magnified while wearing glasses.

Sure, there are certain things like Action or Manual focus for things that move, but then we have AF lenses for that. I’m just grateful I can use my K series lenses at all.

04-20-2020, 01:38 AM - 2 Likes   #8
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I've needed reading glasses for the past fifteen years, but it's only over the last year or so that I've starting noticing a loss of sharpness in my distance vision. In the past I always sharpened photos so that what I saw on screen with my reading glasses was as close as possible to what I saw with my own eyes in the real world, but now that's complicated by the fact that my unaided real-world eyes aren't so reliable any more.

I've used manual focus lenses all my life and always considered autofocus an unnecessary frippery, but nowadays I get frustrated that manual focusing is a challenge in a way that it never used to be, and I'm becoming more and more dependent on autofocus. It's not that I can't hit manual focus any more, it's just that it's not easy now. For four decades of photography I've been able to do it without even thinking about it, but now I can't, and I resent that fact so much that I've stopped using my manual lenses for now. I know that's childish, but then what's the point of being middle aged if you can't use it as an excuse to act childishly?

So there's an element of guesswork about sharpness in photos now that there never used to be. I've always preferred the look of slightly undersharpened rather than oversharpened, so I'm trying to err on the side of caution, but to be honest I really haven't got a clue at the moment how sharp or unsharp my photos might look to other eyes.

Last edited by Dartmoor Dave; 04-20-2020 at 01:47 AM.
04-20-2020, 02:47 AM   #9
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I wear multifocal prescription glasses. My eyes seem to need different amounts of diopter depending on the distance to what I am looking at. The glasses work very well.

With a DSLR, it becomes a challenge. Autofocus lenses are best left doing their automated thing, no problem. Manual focus is another one. I can set the diopter correction on the body and snap away without glasses. This does not work out well, sadly. When I focus something like a 50/1.4 at a close distance, errors creep in. The worst part is that I can't read the menu or view images on the camera without my glasses. So I have to fiddle around with my glasses.

A solution for manual focusing is to use live view. My K-x can do that but my K200D can not. Live view on the K-x is a bit fiddly and slow. So the best solution is to use a mirrorless body. I got myself a Samsung NX100 to test the mirrorless waters. I liked it so much that I got an NX1 as well. What really changed my photography was a cheap K to NX lens mount adapter. This gives me the best of both world - classic Pentax glass with modern focus aids. The mirrorless Pentax of my dreams seems to be stuck on the drawing board, but that is a different topic.

I know that a new Pentax KP or K1 will do all sorts of wonderful things for me in live view, but budgetary constraints rule that out for now. The Samsung NX1 is just wonderful and I want another one. An NX500 would be good as well - same sensor but no EVF. I really wish I can find another seller who realizes that a camera from a dead brand is not worth a lot. I have done it once, but have not been able to repeat that bit of luck yet.
04-20-2020, 03:07 AM   #10
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I was in my early 20's before I received my first eyeglasses. Imagine my surprise at discovering I had astigmatism! I am also near sighted, so the wide world might have a appeared a bit blurry, but up close I could see sharp details, and still can, so I guess that's how I expect my images to look.

Anyway, using my K-1's built in focusing assistance functions, as well as he built in diopter, I achieve sharp results with or without glasses most of the time.
Depending on circumstances, I will probably get Lasik surgery in the near future.

Last edited by robgski; 04-20-2020 at 03:21 AM.
04-20-2020, 03:26 AM   #11
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I cannot use my cameras with my glasses on*, I use the O-ME3 viewfinder magnifier which isn't very friendly to eyeglass wearers. But I have bigger problems: I shoot with rangefinders with my left eye, I shoot SLRs with my right - the problem is my eyes percieve colour differently, so there is a bit of a dillema when i'm shooting with my dominant right eye Vs my left eye.

"All photos are accurate, none of them is the truth."- Richard Avedon.

* I only wear them when working with computers to mitigate the effects of eye strain.
04-20-2020, 05:07 AM - 1 Like   #12
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There are more tricks that meet the eye

There is of course a bit more than just eyesight. That is about the plus and minus of your glasses and we are talking about sharpness. But there is also colour. I suffer (not really) from colour blindness, the red/ green variant. Do the lenses reproduce the colours as I experience them? And do the in camera settings for jpg the same? On top of that I wear glasses. With the correction my eyesight scores (relative to) 125%. Which means no picture is ever sharp enough. There is only one lens that reproduces the sharpness and colours I experience and that is the DA* F1.4/55mm. And a newer one that I bought about a month ago the DA 2.4/35mm, well it comes very close. And about sharpness alone the F F2.8 /28mm and the F F1.4/50mm. From these last to two I experience the colours as very pleasant and easily adjustable in PP. There are more tricks that meet the eye...

Last edited by Unregistered User; 04-20-2020 at 06:53 AM. Reason: correcting a typo? And another one after that...
04-24-2020, 04:18 AM   #13
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QuoteOriginally posted by swanlefitte Quote
I am curious how our daily perception of the world influences how exacting we want our lenses.

I wear glasses and contacts and on a very good day that gives me 20/20 vision. 20/40 is closer to the truth. My preference for sharp glass seems on par with that. It is probably because how I "believe" the image looks in reality is much the same.
Do you eagle eyed people care more? Do you blind people care less? Do tell and lets see if any patterns emerge. (Hopefuly not moire)
I wear glasses for distance and am corrected to something like 40/20 (ie better than average) I have expectations in my photos, not so much in the lenses, and what they resolve, but sadly in what they resolve that I subconsciously omit

Lenses are unforgiving, they were not supplied with the MINDREAD function that binocular vision permits to see around things.
04-24-2020, 11:13 AM   #14
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QuoteOriginally posted by Lowell Goudge Quote
I have expectations in my photos, not so much in the lenses, and what they resolve, but sadly in what they resolve that I subconsciously omit
You mean excellent eyesight won't prevent tree branch antlers showing up in a photo?
I could see having the ability to see high detail make you lose sight of the whole picture. If you can't focus on the detail it can't draw away your attention.
04-24-2020, 11:39 AM   #15
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QuoteOriginally posted by swanlefitte Quote
You mean excellent eyesight won't prevent tree branch antlers showing up in a photo?
I could see having the ability to see high detail make you lose sight of the whole picture. If you can't focus on the detail it can't draw away your attention.
you get the idea
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