Shooting Film Whilst Wearing Glasses

Hi all,

Just before Christmas I did a shot on a SR3 and during the prep discovered to my horror that I could focus on the viewfinder without my glasses, not even the diopter would pull it in. A quick trip to the Opticians revealed that the astigmatism in my eye right eye has got a lot worse. As I didn't have time to do much about it last time I ended up operating from the 1st's video monitor off the tap but that wasn't ideal.

So, my question :

A) Other than contact lenses (which I don't get on with) is there another technical solution to my problem?

B) I've been told shooting with glasses on isn't as a big a no-no as I thought it was, this would help a lot but don't want to run the risk of fogging the film. We're be in a studio behind the lights for most parts so no direct sunshine or such like down the v/f.

Any thoughts anyone.

Many thanks

Michael Sanders
Website & CV at : www.glowstars.demon.co.uk

Sorry all, must have been a bit loopy when I wrote that:

>Just before Christmas I did a shot on a SR3 and during the prep >discovered to my horror that I could focus on the viewfinder without my >glasses, not even the diopter would pull it in. A quick trip to the >Opticians revealed

It should read :

Just before Christmas I did a shoot on a SR3 and during the prep discovered to my horror that I could not focus on the viewfinder without my glasses on, not even the diopter would pull it in.

Sorry,

I'll get it right next time!

Michael Sanders

Michael Sanders wrote:

>B) I've been told shooting with glasses on isn't as a big a no-no as I >thought it was, this would help a lot but don't want to run the risk of >fogging the film. We're be in a studio behind the lights for most parts so >no direct sunshine or such like down the v/f.

1/. Have a corrected diopter installed in your finder, made for your eye.

2/. Get an i-cuff hood for the eyepiece and keep your glasses on (usual disclaimer.)

Wade K. Ramsey, DP
Dept. of Cinema & Video Production
Bob Jones University
Greenville, SC 29614

You can always use a "cloak" or "hood" over your head and the eyepiece much in the same way it was (and still is) used when shooting large format stills for shadowing the ground glass while framing and focusing. That should be enough for avoiding any potential eyepiece fogging.

Arturo Briones-Carcaré
Filmmaker
Madrid (Imperial - but recivilising - Spain)

>You can always use a "cloak" or "hood" over your head and the >eyepiece much in the same way it was (and still is) used when shooting >large format stills for shadowing the ground glass while framing and >focusing.

I believe many operators have a similar issue and a good solution is to have a custom eyecup or eyecup insert that has a correcting optic built in. If you took your current prescription glass and had it ground down (edged to size) so it could snap in and out. If you work on an SR3 mostly perhaps buy the eyecup to start.

Greg DeFoe
Design Engineer
San Bruno CA

I wear contacts but have shot w/ glasses before. Use the chamois on the finder and press hard - I've had no fogging but perhaps you should try for yourself, shoot a test, perhaps w/short ends.

John Babl

As a person who is nearsighted and a chicken-shit about Lasik [even though my wife LOVES it], I carry several custom made prescription eyepieces.

For 16mm work using a small Arri eyepiece, I had several small inserts cut by my optician and glued into those rubber Arri eyecups.

For 35mm work, using Panavision, Arri or Moviecam larger eyecups, I carry a 'monocle' made by my optician which is attached to a strap from an old contrast glass.

I brought in an Arri and Moviecam eyepiece to my optician several years ago and he made the measurements. He uses the smallest round 'blanks' to cut these pieces [ones actually designed for children’s' 'granny-style' glasses] and then he polishes the edges.

I think I paid maybe $60 a piece for them and have had them for years...even though my eye prescription has gradually changed, the eyepieces seem to work great.

Make darn sure you remove them when ever the director or agency wants to look through the camera ... and with the smaller 16mm sized eyepiece, it keeps any contagious 'pink-eye' from getting anywhere close to you!

Cheers,

Jeff Barklage, s.o.c.
US based DP
www.barklage.com
view reel : www.reelsondemand.com

I've worn specs for 43 years, operated a film camera for 30 of those and never had any fogging problems because I wear specs.

And if you think anyone is coming near my eyes with a laser.......

Cheers

Geoff Boyle FBKS
Director of Photography
EU Based
www.cinematography.net

Jeff Barklage wrote :

>As a person who is nearsighted and a chicken-shit about Lasik [even >though my wife LOVES it], I carry several custom made prescription >eyepieces.

Arguably off topic, but: how *is* the state of laser eye surgery today?

Jeff -- of all people, I think cinematographers have every right to be 'chicken-shit' about such potentially disastrous procedures... Is it true about what happened to the great Douglas Slocombe?

Paolo A. Dy
Director | Cinematographer | Screenwriter
Manila, Philippines
View my work portfolio : http://www.paolody.com

Geoff Boyle writes:

> And if you think anyone is coming near my eyes with a laser...

There was an article in the NYTimes a few weeks ago, which I saved, but of course cannot find now, that discussed laser surgery as a cure for presbyopia -- the need for reading glasses as one ages.

An eye surgeon wrote that he was very concerned about the number of people rushing to get this corrective surgery for cosmetic reasons, or for reasons of convenience, since the long term effects of the process were completely unknown.

Another reader wrote to say that she wore a single corrective contact lens in one eye so that one eye worked for close up and the other for distant vision and that the brain was able to combine or separate the two as needed.

The result was that she had near perfect close and distant vision.

I'm with Geoff on nixing the Lasers.

Brian Heller
IA 600 DP

Geoff wrote:

>I've worn specs for 43 years, operated a film camera for 30 of those and >never had any fogging problems because I wear specs....

What precautions do you take in bright ambient light, as when filming outdoors with the sun behind you? Just a chamois cup?

Wade K. Ramsey, DP
Dept. of Cinema & Video Production
Bob Jones University
Greenville, SC 29614

Hi,

I have mild astigmatism (left eye, thankfully) and I can't even afford to get it corrected with specs, let alone some custom eyepiece insert!

What does all this cost?

Phil Rhodes
Video camera/edit
London

Hi,

>Another reader wrote to say that she wore a single corrective contact >lens in one eye so that one eye worked for close up and the other for >distant vision and that the brain was able to combine or separate the >two as needed.

If that worked, my left-eye astigmatism wouldn't bother me. As it is, it puts a vertically elongated star flare around bright light sources, which is mildly irritating.

Phil Rhodes
Video camera/edit
London

Phil Rhodes writes

> What does all this cost?

Shouldn't this be directed to cml-philosophy?

Lasik in the US is advertised at $1500.

Brian Heller
IA 600 DP

Paolo Dy wrote :

>Is it true about what happened to the great Douglas Slocombe?

What happened? I am also in the "not with my eyes you don't" category. I have been wearing glasses since 3rd grade. Oh the horror...

Tom McDonnell
DP/Operator
New Orleans, La

Brian Heller wrote :

> Lasik in the US is advertised at $1500.

I love it when they advertise $699 per eye! As if...I feel the whole Lasik thing falls into quack territory. My eyes are my career.

Tom McDonnell
DP/Operator
New Orleans, La

Phil Rhodes writes:

>If that worked, my left-eye astigmatism wouldn't bother me. As it is, it >puts a vertically elongated star flare around bright light sources, which >is mildly irritating.

Is consulting an ophthalmologist an option?

Brian Heller
IA 600 DP

Brian Heller wrote :

>...Another reader wrote to say that she wore a single corrective contact >lens in one eye so that one eye worked for close up and the other for >distant vision and that the brain was able to combine or separate the >two as needed.

Many people have taken that route, but I don't know any photographers or film makers who have. I experimented a bit with it by using one lens from my eyeglasses on one eye. It bothered me, although I know I'd get accustomed to it. I just don't like not having full depth perception.

A son-in-law went the Lasik route and is very pleased. He went from coke bottle bottoms to about 20/30 and wears some weak reading glasses for extensive reading. He admitted when I quizzed him that he gets some flare around bright light sources at night. That's the sort of thing I would expect and another good reason not to do it.

Wade K. Ramsey, DP
Dept. of Cinema & Video Production
Bob Jones University
Greenville, SC 29614

>Another reader wrote to say that she wore a single corrective contact >lens in one eye so that one eye worked for close up and the other for >distant

My brother-in-law, who is an Optometrist, had a dual prescription (near sightedness and far sighted) and had Lasik on one eye for the near Rx and one eye for the far Rx. He claims that his brain adjusted and now he perceives perfect vision and can alternate between focusing on close and far objects.

I don't know how his depth perception is, didn't ask.

Randy "for what it's worth" Miller, DP in LA

I've been shooting a Sony PD-150 very happily with glasses... using the larger of the two rubber eyecups supplied with the camera. The cup wraps around the top, bottom and side of my glasses lens, and is very comfortable because it contacts the brow area above the glasses, so no pressure is put on the glasses themselves. One of these days I'll add a chamois thingy around it to minimize fogging.

If the iCuff doesn't work for you, you might try something like this rubber cup, if one can be adapted to the SR.

Dan Drasin
Producer/DP
Marin County, CA

>I've been shooting a Sony PD-150 very happily with glasses...

Ah, do you have the 16mm or 35mm PD-150?

(I believe the subject line said FILM!)

Jeff Kreines

>I've worn specs for 43 years, operated a film camera for 30 of those and >never had any fogging problems because I wear specs.

So Geoff, you regularly wear your specs while operating?

I always do with TV cameras (and I second Wade's i-cuff recommendation, they work particularly well with glasses) but I've never felt comfortable doing it with film cameras. Maybe I should give it a try and see if it's something that just takes getting used to...

George Hupka
Director/DP
Downstream Pictures
Saskatoon, Canada

>>So Geoff, you regularly wear your specs while operating?

Almost never don't.

The end of the range of correction on the 435 eyepiece is just about enough at the start of a shooting day but isn't by the end.

All I can say is that I've never had a problem, small specs, push hard against the eyepiece.

Cheers

Geoff Boyle FBKS
Director of Photography
EU Based
www.cinematography.net

>>All I can say is that I've never had a problem, small specs, push hard >against the eyepiece.

I've got astigmatism in both eyes so there's never enough correction for me. My left eye is stronger than my right and usually does a pretty good job but by the end of the day it's iffy as well.

I've thought about getting contacts but the optometrist says I won't see nearly as sharply. (My glasses are a bit over-corrected. I like them that way.)

I've been working in the digital world a lot lately so it hasn't been an issue. When I shoot film... I end up with a nose pad imprint on my nose at the end of the day, which in the grand scheme of things isn't so bad.

On a different note... does anyone have any difficulty switching eyes when operating? I find that when I use my left eye my brain shifts gears a bit. It's a very different experience than using my right eye. It's like the wiring isn't exactly the same (which, I suppose, is true).

Art Adams, DP [film|hdtv|sdtv]
San Francisco Bay Area - "Silicon Valley"
http://www.artadams.net/
Local resources : http://www.artadams.net/localcrew

Thanks all for all the input,

I had heard that it was OK to shoot with glasses but its good to her it from someone as note worthy as Geoff and who's actually done it in practice.

Michael Sanders

I wrote :

>>I've been shooting a Sony PD-150 very happily with glasses...

Jeff Kreines wrote :

>>Ah, do you have the 16mm or 35mm PD-150? (I believe the subject >line said FILM!)

My PD-150 uses 1/4-inch film with metal-particle emulsion, which comes conveniently pre-loaded in small plastic mags. It has an effective ASA of about 320, but you can push-process it up to 18dB. It also records digital magstripe audio right in the camera. It's a pretty advanced rig.

In any case, if you'll go back and read my message, I suggested adapting the Sony eyecup -- which works phenomenally well with glasses -- to the Arri SR.

Dan "shoots coated plastic" Drasin
Producer/DP
Marin County, CA

If you wear contact lenses, ask your optometrist to prescribe lenses that have a larger "sweet spot", which will make a big difference in dim light, when your iris needs to open wide. Also, high quality "daily wear" lenses (the kind that need daily cleaning) are usually better optical quality than "disposable" lenses.

John Pytlak
EI Customer Technical Services
Eastman Kodak Company
http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

I generally prefer to wear contacts s I can get my eye much further into the eyepiece and more comfortably see the whole frame.

If you consider contacts it is important to not that Gas-permeable ("Hard") lenses are MUCH better optically than Soft or disposable lenses. This is all the more true the heavier the prescription. I tried a pair of soft contacts one in my prescription and couldn't believe people would walk around that way, but then again I can't believe hoe some people have their TVs tuned in their homes.

I've been "blessed" with extra-large pupils which requires me to wear some fairly big contact lenses, but I don't particularly mind and they do help me see well even in very low light conditions.

I see markedly better with my contacts than with my glasses, and I know my prescription is current.

Mitch Gross
NYC DP