glasses

[Scott]

i'm not sure if this has been covered but i can't find it anywhere. i wear varifocal glasses but when i'm at the eyepiece i take them off. (i find them annoying when trying to position my eye for best views). am i right in thinking that i can use the focuser to get the best focus or should i leave the glasses on. it seems sharp to me but i was just wondering if it was a case of not knowing any better?

sorry if i haven't explained myself properly but i'm just after the best views possible and don't want them spoilt my my own stupidity.

[ronin]

If the glasses adjust for long or short sight only then you can readjust the focuser to suit your eyesight.

If you have astigmatism then the scope and eyepiece cannot correct for this.

It does depend on the degree of astigmatism, I have slight astigmatism and can use a scope with or without glasses. It makes no descernable difference.

Another factor is with glasses on you need long eye relief to account for the additional distance that the eye is from the eyepiece.

[Celtic Deacon]

I wear specs as well but tend to whip them off to view through eyepiece. Whether that's right or not is anyone's guess. I suppose it's whatever you're most comfortable with

[Scott]

thanks ronin. just long and short sighted (as far as i know) so i'll continue to use scope without glasses. it's so much easier although i do find myself tripping over things.lol

[hayju01]

I too remove my glasses when viewing thought the eyepiece but I need them to see the contents of my ep case or laptop screen and quite frankly it irritates the hxxx out of me having to but them off and on and usually just rest them on my forehead but then I find myself trying to balance them there with use of carefully timed eyebrow movements

[ronin]

If I take mine off I will either never find them again, or stand on them.

[Scott]

i think the general concensus here is that they're a pain in the neck but a necessary evil. oh why oh why did i have to get old.. haha

[Stu]

I always take mine off to view as I find it almost impossible to get a satisfactory view wearing them. I don't have astigmatism so have no problems.

I too am getting older I now need varifocals but am in denial about it:rolleyes:

Stu

[RikM]

I am shortsighted and keep my glasses on to observe. I bought long eye relief EP's to accommodate this. Everyone is different it seems. I like to sketch, so glass on - off - on - off again is just a massive pain. I just leave them on and feel I get better views this way as well.

[rblunden]

I take my glasses off, but have them on one of those cord thingys round my neck so they are to hand when I need them.

[coulthamst]

My experience is that I can get a sharper visual image from my telescope without glasses than with them. As I observe from an urban site, I often get passers-by who are sufficiently interested to ask if they can have a look. I then need to remember to re-focus with my glasses on so that they can have a (more or less) in-focus view!

As others have said, glasses on or off is down to the preference of the individual.

[iwatkins]

I am shortsighted, but keep them on to use the finder and then off to view though the eyepiece. Long eye relief or not, my glasses make actual viewing poor.

Cheers

Ian

[pajr777]

I take them off and lay them on the book/star map print I'm using, along with my red LED head torch which I also find a pain to keep on whilst at the EP.. I find being systematic with things in the near pitch black avoids loosing / standing on glasses, EPs, lens & eye piece covers etc

The absolute worst thing (for me) is collimation - I can't see well enough to slot the flat screwdriver into the secondary adjuster bolts without my specs on, and of course whip them off to look through the EP - at which point the dratted screwdriver will slip out of the dratted flat slotted bolt! Bob's Knobs may be my next purchase, when I can face the thought of removing and photographing the bolt to send to Bob and the subsequent dratted collimation!

[kharga]

I wear varifocals and leave them on when using scopes, binoculars and cameras. Just remember to turn/twist the eyecups down!!!

[Nibor]

I bought a cheap pair of bifocals from Specsavers.

I made sure that they were robust frames and as deep as they could be. The reading part "D" shape was the biggest they could produce. What all this means is that looking through the top part of the spex means that I can match up the target star on the red dot finder and using the lower reading portion I can easily read the star chart.

I take the spex off to view through the eyepiece and as they are on a cord I can quickly find them again.

They also seem to work quite well with my new GOTO mount as I need to read the handset as well as align the red dot and check out the section of sky I am looking at.

[kharga]

thanks ronin. just long and short sighted (as far as i know) so i'll continue to use scope without glasses. it's so much easier although i do find myself tripping over things.lol

Unless you have a large difference between your eyes, you cannot be long AND short sighted. As has already been said, astigmatism is the biggest problem, since if you're simply long OR short sighted, the focuser on your scope will compensate, but with astigmatism, you will only get a "circle of least confusion".

My hubby is a Dispensing Optician, and he is very critical of the majority of people's spectacles, because of the poor way in which they are fitted. For the best results from specs, they should fit as close as possible to the eyes, but next time you are in a group, have a look at those that wear specs and see how they fit. Most will be halfway down their noses (ignore reading only specs). In such cases, it will be impossible for them to get their eye close enough to the eyepiece to get a proper view.

[Scott]

, you cannot be long AND short sighted. .

i am not disputing this as i'm sure you would be more informed than me having a husband "in the trade" but i don't understand why i need one strength lens for distance (reading signs whilst driving) and another strength for reading. is this not long and short sighted. i would love an explination if you could.

[pajr777]

You can be short sighted from birth due to bad optics in the eye (distance from lens to retina too great) and also develop long sightedness with age > 40 (muscles in the eye can no longer flatten the lens as the lens gets harder with age). So yes you can be short and long sighted in the same eye.

[Jon Sales]

I have an astigmatism in both eyes, my right bring much worse than my left.

I use my left eye at the scope with no problem at all without my glasses on as you adjust the focusser to suit your eyesight.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I wear specs as well but tend to whip them off to view through eyepiece. Whether that's right or not is anyone's guess. I suppose it's whatever you're most comfortable with

Same here. I do know that when i take my glasses off that my eyes take a couple of hours to get back to their normal focus. I just take them off and observe and set the focus on my scope to one that makes everything shapr. I cant be waiting 2 hrs for my eyes to focus before starting to observe.