A7RV -- Diopter not strong enough

Hi everyone!

I'm a family portrait photographer. And I'm nearsighted, so I wear glasses for distance But I don't like wearing glasses when I'm shooting and I can't wear contact lenses.

I previously shot with the A7III and then the A7IV (and before that Canon), and I was able to use the diopter wheel on the eyepieces of those cameras and turn it all the way to -4 and it would match my glasses prescription. It was great!


But with the A7RV, when I turn the diopter wheel all the way to -4 my view through the viewfinder is too blurry. I went to B&H and tried out two other A7RV bodies and those had the same issue.

I contacted Sony support and the person I spoke with didn't have a solution. But they were able to identify that the eye point on the A7R5 is 25mm, whereas the eye point on the A7III and A7IV is 23mm. I'm pretty sure that this small difference in eye point distance is the issue.

When I shot with Canon cameras years ago, Canon made accessory diopters that I could attach to the eye piece of the camera, so if the camera's own diopter range was insufficient, I could just add on accessory diopter. Unfortunately Sony doesn't offer this.

Just wondering if anyone knows of a solution? I've already tried the following:

--I've searched extensively for third party diopters that fit the Sony. While there are magnifiers, specifically for macro shooters, there are no diopter accessories that go to negative numbers.

-I've tried shooting with my glasses on, using the new "zoom out" feature on the A7RV that is specifically for glasses wearers. I DON'T like shooting with my glasses on, so this really isn't as solution for me.

-I realize I can shoot just staring at the screen on the back of the camera. But this isn't really workable for shooting outdoors or when it's bright.

-I have an old Canon diopter accessory that is -2. When I hold it up to my viewfinder and set the diopter to about -3, what I see is tack sharp. But this diopter doesn't fit on my Sony. I'd have to glue it to the eyepiece. I guess this is a solution, but I don't love the idea of doing this to my new $4k cameras. I at least wanted to check with others first.

My searching around on this issue and finding nothing makes me feel like it's kind of an obscure problem. But surely there are other nearsighted photographers with prescriptions that are stronger than the diopter can accommodate who also don't like shooting with glasses. Right?
Thanks for reading! Any suggestions appreciated.

I wonder whether a Nikon corrective eyepiece could be kludged together with a Sony eyecup. Don't know, just a suggestion.

I wear high prescription glasses too.

Took old prescription glasses to Lenscrafter and ask them to cut into the shape of my the eyepiece. They did for free. I snuggly fit it inside the eyecup. Works pretty well.

Wow! Nice idea.

I'm going to take a look. Thanks for the suggestion.

Wow -- I didn't know they could custom cut lenses like that! I may try this.

Jennifer Young said:

Hi everyone!

I'm a family portrait photographer. And I'm nearsighted, so I wear glasses for distance But I don't like wearing glasses when I'm shooting and I can't wear contact lenses.

I previously shot with the A7III and then the A7IV (and before that Canon), and I was able to use the diopter wheel on the eyepieces of those cameras and turn it all the way to -4 and it would match my glasses prescription. It was great!

But with the A7RV, when I turn the diopter wheel all the way to -4 my view through the viewfinder is too blurry. I went to B&H and tried out two other A7RV bodies and those had the same issue.

I contacted Sony support and the person I spoke with didn't have a solution. But they were able to identify that the eye point on the A7R5 is 25mm, whereas the eye point on the A7III and A7IV is 23mm. I'm pretty sure that this small difference in eye point distance is the issue.

Click to expand...

I do not know exactly how eye point is measured, but would you get closer by removing the eye piece?

Jennifer Young said:

When I shot with Canon cameras years ago, Canon made accessory diopters that I could attach to the eye piece of the camera, so if the camera's own diopter range was insufficient, I could just add on accessory diopter. Unfortunately Sony doesn't offer this.

Just wondering if anyone knows of a solution? I've already tried the following:

Click to expand...

I tried that but I still can't get close enough.

I have a shoot tomorrow so I just ended up gluing on the canon diopter.

Are you also a bass player? Or not that Jennifer Young?

Nope. No musical talent at all I'm afraid!

Out of curiosity, how do you switch between shooting and observing? Where are your glasses while you shoot?

I am very near-sighted (-7) and while there are drawbacks to photographing with my glasses on, I have never experienced photography any other way so I can't tell whether I'd like it better without glasses.

I can't see a thing without my glasses and would need to have them instantly on the moment I remove my eye from the viewfinder.

Just a thought and perhaps way off target but I recently read an article where the idea of doing early cataract surgery for young nearsighted asians was broached. My wife just recently had cataract surgery and her everyday vision is vastly improved over what she has live with her entire life. She now uses reading glasses +3 diopters where she formerly had signifcantly worse distance vision she now no longer wears glasses except for reading.

Mike

Sundre said:

Out of curiosity, how do you switch between shooting and observing? Where are your glasses while you shoot?

I am very near-sighted (-7) and while there are drawbacks to photographing with my glasses on, I have never experienced photography any other way so I can't tell whether I'd like it better without glasses.

I can't see a thing without my glasses and would need to have them instantly on the moment I remove my eye from the viewfinder.

Click to expand...

Without glasses looking through the viewfinder is like watching an immerse movie in a dark theater.

Wearing glasses looking through the viewfinder is like watching the movie outside theater through a window.

Was in a Leica shop once and tried to explain this to the sales person. He kept insisting I'm doing it wrong and need to press hard my face, with glasses, into the viewfinder...

c0nfund0 said:

Sundre said:

Out of curiosity, how do you switch between shooting and observing? Where are your glasses while you shoot?

I am very near-sighted (-7) and while there are drawbacks to photographing with my glasses on, I have never experienced photography any other way so I can't tell whether I'd like it better without glasses.

I can't see a thing without my glasses and would need to have them instantly on the moment I remove my eye from the viewfinder.

Click to expand...

Without glasses looking through the viewfinder is like watching an immerse movie in a dark theater.

Wearing glasses looking through the viewfinder is like watching the movie outside theater through a window.

Was in a Leica shop once and tried to explain this to the sales person. He kept insisting I'm doing it wrong and need to press hard my face, with glasses, into the viewfinder...

Click to expand...

It's a lot nicer to be able to see the viewfinder properly no doubt.

I just wonder how a glass-wearer goes from there to seeing their environment when they are not shooting. Where do your glasses go while shooting and how do you get them quickly back on.

Sundre said:

c0nfund0 said:

Sundre said:

Out of curiosity, how do you switch between shooting and observing? Where are your glasses while you shoot?

I am very near-sighted (-7) and while there are drawbacks to photographing with my glasses on, I have never experienced photography any other way so I can't tell whether I'd like it better without glasses.

I can't see a thing without my glasses and would need to have them instantly on the moment I remove my eye from the viewfinder.

Click to expand...

Without glasses looking through the viewfinder is like watching an immerse movie in a dark theater.

Wearing glasses looking through the viewfinder is like watching the movie outside theater through a window.

Was in a Leica shop once and tried to explain this to the sales person. He kept insisting I'm doing it wrong and need to press hard my face, with glasses, into the viewfinder...

Click to expand...

It's a lot nicer to be able to see the viewfinder properly no doubt.

I just wonder how a glass-wearer goes from there to seeing their environment when they are not shooting. Where do your glasses go while shooting and how do you get them quickly back on.

Click to expand...

Lift up my glasses over my eyebrow, look in the view finder, glasses rests on top, when I pull away it drops back down.

SQLGuy said:

Are you also a bass player? Or not that Jennifer Young?

Click to expand...

Probably not. There are four or five Jennifer Youngs. ;-)

docmaas said:

Just a thought and perhaps way off target but I recently read an article where the idea of doing early cataract surgery for young nearsighted asians was broached. My wife just recently had cataract surgery and her everyday vision is vastly improved over what she has live with her entire life. She now uses reading glasses +3 diopters where she formerly had signifcantly worse distance vision she now no longer wears glasses except for reading.

Mike

Click to expand...

I had cataract surgery 4-5 years ago. I went from being near-sighted to far sighted which has been a hassle as I still need a little bit of correction for distance and the correction for close up has not been adequate in a trifocal solution. So, I have a three glasses system at the moment. One for distance which is a trifocal but the area on the lens for close up is so small it is too annoying to use, the second for computer calibrated for about 18" (the most often used throughout the day) but with some distance and a pair of readers I use when I am reading printed documents or labels on foods or medicines. I did not opt in for the better permanent lens correction as I did not have an extra $5k at the time of the surgery and my insurance was cr@p.

The good thing about the cataract surgery was being able to see true color again.

I would encourage you to try the Nikon corrective eye-pieces. There are cheap adapters for sale on eBay (may take a few weeks shipping) costing less than $5 for various cameras. I am using the Nikon DK-19 (soft and round, my favorite) to my A7r3 and it works flawlessly.

The package contains a bunch of adapters, one of them oughta fit.

Sundre said:

...It's a lot nicer to be able to see the viewfinder properly no doubt.

I just wonder how a glass-wearer goes from there to seeing their environment when they are not shooting. Where do your glasses go while shooting and how do you get them quickly back on.

Click to expand...

On top of my head, hooked over shirt collar or into shirt pocket, or held in my hand. In the latter case you have to watch out for the arms o the glasses getting into shot.

After 30+ years shooting while wearing glasses, this is what I have settled on.

As it goes, I've only ever had this dioptre problem with one Panasonic camera, which I fairly quickly sold. That too claimed to go down to -4 dioptres. It's interesting to know about the eyepoint.