EMERGENCY. Attention, glasses wearers. Advice needed

[nicks90]

Look at it a different way.

We spend loads of hard earned cash on quality eye pieces with exceptional coatings, light transmission, minimal light scatter etc - but some of you observe with a pair of spectacles on?

most specs now have anti scratch coatings, anti glare coatings, reacta-light coatings on them that will do god knows what to light transmission. They arent edge blackened, in fact most have shiny metal frames! They are made from plastic and not BAK7 japanese ED glass etc........

oh, and most peoples glasses (certainly mine!) are usually quite dirty and scratched. No way I would want to look through them when observing! We all recommend that a good upgrade from a standard plossl bundled with a scope is to spend £50 on a BGO or TMB plossl due to better glass and coatings and design, but then potentially ruin it by squinting through a bit of cheap plastic from specsavers.

[Moonshane]

might be a daft/irrelevant suggestion but I made the move from glasses to contacts and have never looked back. I use the 'put them in your eyes for a month, sleep in them etc and then throw them away for £16 per month' kind of lenses as I cannot be bothered with all the messing about. they are very good.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Look at it a different way.

We spend loads of hard earned cash on quality eye pieces with exceptional coatings, light transmission, minimal light scatter etc - but some of you observe with a pair of spectacles on?

most specs now have anti scratch coatings, anti glare coatings, reacta-light coatings on them that will do god knows what to light transmission. They arent edge blackened, in fact most have shiny metal frames! They are made from plastic and not BAK7 japanese ED glass etc........

oh, and most peoples glasses (certainly mine!) are usually quite dirty and scratched. No way I would want to look through them when observing! We all recommend that a good upgrade from a standard plossl bundled with a scope is to spend £50 on a BGO or TMB plossl due to better glass and coatings and design, but then potentially ruin it by squinting through a bit of cheap plastic from specsavers.

The lenses in my glasses are made by Zeiss, are anti-reflection coated (just like the ones in the EP) and hardened against scratches (which does not hamper anti-reflection) which reduces the number of scratches they receive. Before viewing I routinely clean them (Baader wonder fluid), and the lens edges are so far from the optical path that blackening is pointless. Any aberration introduced by these lenses pales in comparison to the astigmatism (cylindrical) not wearing them would introduce over the entire FOV. The comment about plastic is somewhat off the mark, as you seem to be equating optical grade, high-refractive-index, low dispersion polycarbonate or Trivex with the plastic lenses found in horrible cheap EPs supplied with horrible cheap scopes. They are worlds apart.

[Iddy]

Have to agree with Moonshane above.

If contacts are possible for you, go for them. I've found them much easier for sunglasses, diving, and general outdoor activities. My eyes are a bit weird, so they are very sensitive. After a lot of trial and error, I now have contacts that are 100% oxygen permeable. ie ; normal contacts dont give oxygen to your eyes, so you need to blink to bring oxygen under them for your eye. Can be annoying when looking through EP's where you focus quite a bit. With mine, because of the oxygen permeability, i dont have to blink so often ( just as often now as "normal, non contact wearing people " )

I would highly recommend those, since they changed my world. Where before I had different glasses for different things ( normal glasses, sunglasses, diving facemask) all on prescription, now i just have my monthly contacts, and can swap out for new things very easy.

Hope it helps,

Michiel

[cotterless45]

Have always observed without glasses, just stick them up in the head thatch. Then they're on for the Telrad / finder scope / anything beyond arm's reach !

Going to dig out an old spare pair and mono lens them,

Nick.

[nicks90]

The lenses in my glasses are made by Zeiss, are anti-reflection coated (just like the ones in the EP) and hardened against scratches (which does not hamper anti-reflection) which reduces the number of scratches they receive. Before viewing I routinely clean them (Baader wonder fluid), and the lens edges are so far from the optical path that blackening is pointless. Any aberration introduced by these lenses pales in comparison to the astigmatism (cylindrical) not wearing them would introduce over the entire FOV. The comment about plastic is somewhat off the mark, as you seem to be equating optical grade, high-refractive-index, low dispersion polycarbonate or Trivex with the plastic lenses found in horrible cheap EPs supplied with horrible cheap scopes. They are worlds apart.

my glasses certainly aint made with Zeiss lenses... cheapo specsaver specials.

Last set of nice glasses i had got broken by my 3 year old when she accidentally sat on them. The ones before melted under attack from weld splatter. The ones before that from a slipped spanner smashing their way through. The ones before that from 'gravel rash' when i came off my bike....

i dont do well with glasses lasting long, they certainly dont last long in an unscratched and clean state - so i dont wear em when observing.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

BTW, if you have cylindrical astigmatism, lenses do not come cheap, and as they float on the film of liquid on the cornea, they can rotate when you put your head to one side, misaligning the axes of the cylindrical shape of the lenses and your eyes. This is why I do not use contacts.

[M4lcs67]

Cheers folks. Mine are supposed to come with scratch resistant Pentax lenses. Maybe i'll have a look at contacts. It may well solve the problem. I won't be selling my two pairs of Oakleys just yet then.

[Iddy]

BTW, if you have cylindrical astigmatism, lenses do not come cheap, and as they float on the film of liquid on the cornea, they can rotate when you put your head to one side, misaligning the axes of the cylindrical shape of the lenses and your eyes. This is why I do not use contacts.

Hi Michael,

I actually have cylindrical astigmatism in both eyes, and i pay about €165 per half year. I've never had issues with the axis shifting, but I did have this with my first pairs of contacts. According to my optician, this no longer seems to be an issue because of the way the contacts are shaped now a days... ( not an optician, so I trust what he says anyway )

anyway, thats my two cents

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Hi Michael,

I actually have cylindrical astigmatism in both eyes, and i pay about €165 per half year. I've never had issues with the axis shifting, but I did have this with my first pairs of contacts. According to my optician, this no longer seems to be an issue because of the way the contacts are shaped now a days... ( not an optician, so I trust what he says anyway )

anyway, thats my two cents

Thanks for that. My information has been overtaken by modern production techniques. Interesting to hear

[Eastridge]

If you haven't tried the 'reading glasses' with the Hyperions rubber 'eye cup' folded down suggest you try that.

In most cases that will get your eyeball just as close to the actual glass lens of the EP , unless your glasses have esp. thick lenses or a frame design such that they sit a long way from your eyeballs that may not work.

If you want to use the varifocals, good luck very few seem to be able to get on observing in them.

[steve_bham]

Look at it a different way.

We spend loads of hard earned cash on quality eye pieces with exceptional coatings, light transmission, minimal light scatter etc - but some of you observe with a pair of spectacles on?

most specs now have anti scratch coatings, anti glare coatings, reacta-light coatings on them that will do god knows what to light transmission. They arent edge blackened, in fact most have shiny metal frames! They are made from plastic and not BAK7 japanese ED glass etc........

oh, and most peoples glasses (certainly mine!) are usually quite dirty and scratched. No way I would want to look through them when observing! We all recommend that a good upgrade from a standard plossl bundled with a scope is to spend £50 on a BGO or TMB plossl due to better glass and coatings and design, but then potentially ruin it by squinting through a bit of cheap plastic from specsavers.

Because I wear glasses all the time I always keep mine spotless. Because of the quality of the lenses I have it makes no difference to the view through the eyepiece

I have ordered a contact lens trial. So will see how I get on with them.

[RikM]

The lenses in my glasses are made by Zeiss, are anti-reflection coated (just like the ones in the EP) and hardened against scratches (which does not hamper anti-reflection) which reduces the number of scratches they receive. Before viewing I routinely clean them (Baader wonder fluid), and the lens edges are so far from the optical path that blackening is pointless. Any aberration introduced by these lenses pales in comparison to the astigmatism (cylindrical) not wearing them would introduce over the entire FOV. The comment about plastic is somewhat off the mark, as you seem to be equating optical grade, high-refractive-index, low dispersion polycarbonate or Trivex with the plastic lenses found in horrible cheap EPs supplied with horrible cheap scopes. They are worlds apart.

I have Pentax glasses with the same anti-reflective FMC coating as my Pentax eyepieces, and look after them the same way

I used to wear contacts but had a problem with them and had to switch back to glasses shortly before buying my first real telescope.

[101nut]

I use varifocals for both telescope and binocular viewing. I hate the 'on-off' specs thing and refuse to stick specs anywhere near my hair, so I end up using glasses thus need the eye relief but I use Hyperion eyepieces in the scope fairly successfully.

I do not use the short or medium area of my specs for viewing. I find the top, 'infinite' distance section much better ... no idea why. I do feel I lose some field of view on occasion but it's not too bad.

I'm not sure the 'use one lens' suggestion would work - you may find it makes you feel odd and could give you both eyestrain and headaches when both eyes are in use - for instance looking at star maps. It may work if you can blank the unused eye with a patch (or close one eye) at the relevant times.

AndyG