Dear birding-aus glasses wearers,
Numerous headaches later (especially following birding outings!), I have now been told I need glasses, not uncommon in those approaching 40 apparently!).
I’m interested in hearing what set-up birders prefer. (I have bins with screw down eye cups).
Are multifocals good for birders? (and what its it like to use the fitover glasses whilst birding?) What would you go for?
Thanks in advance,
Arwen
………………………………….. Arwen Blackwood Ximenes arwenbx@hotmail.com
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I have been wearing frameless glasses for many years (saves having to carry jeweler’s screwdrivers!). Before my cataracts were removed they were bifocal – distance and computer, and I read at close range without them. Optometrist’s chain or cord type retainers were useless, so I use builder’s line at about $4 per reel.
The lenses are plastic and scratch resistant, which adds a lot to the price. With the titanium temple pieces they are extremely light. 50+ years ago I had a toughened lens broken when playing hockey – plastic doesn’t break!
Post cataract I went to multifocal – the inserted lenses give me a degree of short sight – and $20 pairs of reading glasses which are scattered around the house. My present pair is bifocal – driving and reading, and I don’t wear them around the house. For both photography and binoculars I push them up to the top of my head.
Brian Fleming ===============================
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Hi Arwen,
I have been wearing glasses to bird for ages and long ago got used to not lifting them up on top of my head before looking through the bins. But there are some situations that having to wear them drives me to distraction – fogging up in hot, humid rainforest, salt spray on pelagics being two of the worst things about birding with glasses.
I tried contact lenses (which as Rob suggests can be a great alternative) but for many of us, wearing contacts means that we then have to wear reading glasses to check field guides, GPS reading etc. That drives me nuts too!
I was explaining this to my optometrist and he suggested wearing one contact lens in my dominant eye. A quick test revealed this to be my left astigmatism affected eye. I was thus very dubious. Happy to say it works a treat! Initially you do notice a slight aberation, but your brain quickly adapts. Obviously this only works until you HAVE to wear reading glasses, but if you are not in that boat yet it may be worth a try.
Regards
Judith
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I use glass lenses too – cheaper, thinner, and more scratch resistant. But there’s a great danger they’ll shatter if they fall to the ground, leaving one to make one’s way home half blind.
I tried lifting mine to use binoculars, but decided there was too much risk of pulling them off if I caught the eyecups on them.
As for achieving a full high quality field of vision, I don’t think it’s achievable even with plain lenses, let alone multifocals. I think all you can do is find an optometrist who understands what you want, who knows how to get the best compromise, and isn’t biased towards the most expensive designs.
I’ve had conflicting advice about what aspheric lenses do for you. Some say they give better sharpness at the edges than spherical lenses, others say they just allow the lenses to be thinner at the edges without losing too much sharpness there. Ie they look better but give a worse view. There’s no doubt they cost heaps more.
Peter Shute
The main problem with glasses is if the relief isn’t enough. Can you see the whole field of view with your reading glasses on?
Adding sunglass lenses on top will require a little more relief, so you’ll have to try that. I’ve tried two types – the generic ones that physically clip onto the glasses lenses, and magnetic ones. The former only come in a limited range of sizes (big and gigantic) and I think they look stupid, plus they seem to be able to move out of place easily.
I opted for glasses that come with sunglass lenses that clip on with little magnets. These can only be obtained from the manufacturer because the design of the magnetic clips is proprietary (I assume). Try to get a spare set when you get the glasses if you get this type, or at least write down enough information to let you order more. The manufacturer name wore off my glasses, and it took a bit of effort to work out what to order.
Mine (sunglass lenses) seem to work ok with my binoculars, but I’ve been avoiding using them because I feel they’re too dark, and if I want to take them off it’s a pest to find somewhere safe to put them. But I use them for driving, and they’re quite good for that.
I haven’t tried multifocals yet, but will have to soon. I’m short sighted, so I can read the field guide by holding it a few inches from my eyes with glasses off, or by pushing my glasses to the tip of my nose to reduce their power.
I would have thought multifocals might cause a reduction in image quality if the binoculars are held over the transition part of the lenses. The results might therefore depend where the transition is, and the difference in power between the top and bottom. I.e you might just have to try it to see how it’ll work for you. I suspect that the degradation wouldn’t be that bad, but it might be annoying if a bird is far away.
Your optometrist might be able to rig something up so you can try your binoculars in the shop, and might be able to adjust the location of the transition a bit.
Let us know how you go, I’ll need to know for myself soon.
Peter Shute
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Hi Arwen,
I worn multifocal specs for years, while birding. They were a bit of a hassle at first, but I soon worked out a technique which works well.
I use Pentax bins (10×50, 8×40 & 8×33) because of their long eye relief, essential if you wear specs. The eye reliefs of my Pentax are 22mm for the 8×40 & 10×50 and 20mm for the 8×33.
Cheers,
Carl Clifford
Sent from my iPad
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Hi all,
thanks so much for these … insights… (sorry).
Very interesting to hear people’s experiences, would be glad to hear more. Especially good to know about the issue with the multifocals’ gradation, Greg, thanks, glad they work better for you now. Rob and Dave – contact lenses – yes, I had wondered about those but thought maybe try glasses first – but if it makes such a difference in terms of ease of use maybe it’s worth more consideration. I haven’t looked into cost of contacts – the multifocals are expensive and I already have reading glasses so I could just change the lenses on those if I got contacts or single focus and I think it would be a lot cheaper. Bill, I have astigmatism too, and glare makes it worse, hence the need for sunglasses in the field (or anywhere) – I thought the fitover ones would be good but it’s probably more cumbersome taking them off to look through the bins, though I won’t be able to buy prescription ones for a while either.
I’m still thinking multifocals sound like the way to go, I’m just baulking at the price tag.
sounds like having glasses is going to be very annoying, but if they get rid of the headaches I’ll put up with them.
thanks, Arwen ………………………………….. Arwen Blackwood Ximenes arwenbx@hotmail.com
Hi Arwen
I’ve used contact lenses – now for 20 years. Never had a problem with them apart from a dusty dry trip around India, and my eye sight is near perfect with them.
I have used glasses successfully but it is an issue in hot and wet climates & on pelagics if there is spray (rain, condensation etc.) and in very sunny conditions you inevitably get light coming in between your glasses and eyes.
When I have used bins with glasses (Zeiss, Leice and Swarovski)- I can use them interchangeably with the eye-cups down.
I once got at eye infection birding on a long trip to India (so the contact lenses were a no go) and after a while glasses with bins just become second nature and you barely notice.
That said, contact lenses are a lot better in general.
Cheers
Rob Morris
Brisbane, Australia
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I use multi-focals with Swarovski 8×30 without any problems. Years ago, I used a small, relatively cheap pair of Nikons without any problems. It saved a lot of taking binos off and on after Alan Morris took pity on me and folded the rubbers down. Bev uses hers in the same way with her Zeiss 8×30 without any problem.
Peter and Bev Morgan
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Hi Arwen
I’ve used contact lenses – now for 20 years. Never had a problem with them apart from a dusty dry trip around India, and my eye sight is near perfect with them.
I have used glasses successfully but it is an issue in hot and wet climates & on pelagics if there is spray (rain, condensation etc.) and in very sunny conditions you inevitably get light coming in between your glasses and eyes.
When I have used bins with glasses (Zeiss, Leice and Swarovski)- I can use them interchangeably with the eye-cups down.
I once got at eye infection birding on a long trip to India (so the contact lenses were a no go) and after a while glasses with bins just become second nature and you barely notice.
That said, contact lenses are a lot better in general.
Cheers
Rob Morris
Brisbane, Australia
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I managed to use contact lenses when I first took up birding but after a year or so my eyes rejected them so back to glasses – anything with a good eye-relief is fine and of course you will not be constantly changing the mechanism. I use multi-focals and they work fine – I also got a pair of cheap single focus for birding but too much effort to keep swapping them!
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Arwen
I use glasses with my Nikon Monarch 8×56. These (heavy) binoculars have a pretty deep eye relief, and also have screw-down eye cups, so I never screw them out, just leave them where they are. This way I can hold the bins to my glasses, and the deep eye relief allows me to still see the whole field. After a day’s birding my bins get pretty grotty though, with lots of cup-prints on them.
It depends on what your eye problem is, though. Many people with simple long- or short-sight can take off their glasses when viewing through bins, and adjust the focus accordingly. If you’re like me, and have a pretty bad astigmatism, that’s not an option, as you can’t correct for that in the bins.
I wouldn’t think that multifocals would be any good while using bins.
Bill
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