Wearing spectacles whilst viewing

[nicks90]

i'm blind as a bat without my glasses on and also I hate wearing them at the ep - but thats what the focus wheel is for!

Luckily i dont suffer from any strange eye maladies, just straight forward short sightedness, so not wearing them doesnt make a difference to my observing. The only difficulty it provides is when i am doing some observing with my daughter, as the scope needs refocussing whenever she looks through it.

I also hang my specs off one of the truss tube locks - holds them secure, easily to hand and i dont lose them!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I must say that with long-eye-relief EPs I can readily handle even 82 deg FOV provided the eye relief is really long. The Nagler T4s fit that bill, as do the longest T5s (I have used both the 26T5 and 31T5), and I can see the entire FOV comfortably. The XW, Delos, Radian. XF, (N)LV but even the cheaper planetary EPs all fit the bill of comfortable views with glasses.

[wxsatuser]

I have to take my specs off, never liked looking with them on.

[LukeSkywatcher]

brilliant idea. Now you can go and buy a range of Delos, Pentax, Vixen LVW EP, s to replace the existing set as they all have great eye relief as you need for glasses and also not feel guilty as its on the advice of your optician ;-)

I'd have to sell my 8SE to fund the purchase of those LVW's. I do LOVE Vixen EP's, but they are too rich for me.

[kerrylewis]

Interesting thread - there's another on the go regarding varifocals.

I have astigmatism which is considerably worse in the right eye so I always use the left at the scope. Old age has added myopia hence the varifocals.

I had come to the conclusion that I just couldn't get on with glasses at the eyepiece and therefore have the good old neck cord. However reading this I've resolved to do some comparisons when observing next to see if I can see any difference. Perhaps I should also try the astro monkey suggestion.

However, just to add to the debate- I did read on this forum somewhere that with short focal length eyepieces astigmatism made little difference. As I use these for detailed planetary viewing that gave me some comfort and I thought that it confirmed my choice not to wear glasses for observing.

Any comments?

[LukeSkywatcher]

Ive never really understood "eye relief" in EP's. Is it the distance you hold your eye away from the EP so you can see?. Or is it with the rubber flip up thingie's if you wear glasses? If i wear glasses, should the rubber thing be up,or down?

If i do decide to wear glasses while observing, should my glasses lens be in contact with the rubber flip up thing or not.

I only ask because i have worn glasses for the last 6-7 yrs, yet never observed while wearing them.............and am thinking about starting.

Thanks in advance.

p.s.~~~i have no astigmatism etc in either of my eyes. I really just need them for driving,tv,computer,reading.

Ive been suffering from a chronic case of "dry eye" for the last 3 days. I went to the doctor today and she gave me a small bottle of lubricant gel to help things. 

[cantab]

Yes, eye relief is the distance your eye should be from the eyepiece. Too far away, and the field of view you can see will be reduced. Too close, and problems can also be cause (though I don't recall what).

For eyepieces with eyeguards, generally they need lowering to use them with glasses, so you can get the glasses lens and thus your eye close enough. When observing without glasses, having the eyeguards up helps position the eye and keep out stray light, though it's optional.

[x6gas]

I have to admit that I have boat loads of astingmatism, but the solution for me is... contact lenses. OK so I have to have custom made toric lenses but it has made all the difference to me at the eyepiece.  And I have toasted a very expensive pair of glasses by sitting on them... banged against the (no long eye relief) finder scope a zillion times... so for me a good investment!

[Timbo32]

i am always puting my specs up on my head and when i take them off end up ripping loads of hair out which gets caught up in the rubbery bits that sit on your nose which starts to tickle and make me sneeze! lol +1 for glasses off i also suffer from astigmatism but find the view better with the glasses off?

Clear Skies Tim:)

[LukeSkywatcher]

Yes, eye relief is the distance your eye should be from the eyepiece. Too far away, and the field of view you can see will be reduced. Too close, and problems can also be cause (though I don't recall what).

For eyepieces with eyeguards, generally they need lowering to use them with glasses, so you can get the glasses lens and thus your eye close enough. When observing without glasses, having the eyeguards up helps position the eye and keep out stray light, though it's optional.

Thanks for that. I thought it was the other way round.

[Fahndar]

I have severe astigmatism in the left eye plus long sightedness, the right eye is -5 near sightedness. Still I cannot make my glasses work with binoculars for several reasons. One reason is the stray light from security lights and passing cars gets between my eyes and the EP. W/o glasses my eyes are protected by the rubber on the EP. Another reason: even with long eye relief EPs when I use glasses the picture "hangs" in front of my eye and I don't have that "one with the universe" feeling the binoculars provide. The biggest problem in winter is the glasses fog up almost immediately when cold from the body heat. I am looking for a solution to this problem. Maybe a hair drier to warm the glasses and EPs?

[x6gas]

I have severe astigmatism in the left eye plus long sightedness, the right eye is -5 near sightedness. Still I cannot make my glasses work with binoculars for several reasons. One reason is the stray light from security lights and passing cars gets between my eyes and the EP. W/o glasses my eyes are protected by the rubber on the EP. Another reason: even with long eye relief EPs when I use glasses the picture "hangs" in front of my eye and I don't have that "one with the universe" feeling the binoculars provide. The biggest problem in winter is the glasses fog up almost immediately when cold from the body heat. I am looking for a solution to this problem. Maybe a hair drier to warm the glasses and EPs?

Talk to your optician to see if soft contact lenses might be an option.  As I say above, mine have to be custom made so I get a new pair every few months but they were transformative for visual astronomy for me (and golf!)

[Kirscovitch]

I have worn glasses for almost 30 years. Back in high school I ended up getting contacts and wore them all the time and kept my glasses as backups. As I got older the contacts seemed more of a hassle than anything else so I just wore the specs.

This last summer at an eye exam they offered me a trial pair of contacts and I took them. 99% of the time I stick with just wearing the glasses but on a rare occasion I will put the contacts in.

I put them in the other night just to see how they worked while looking through the EP and I was pretty impressed. Eye relief wasn't a problem anymore and I didn't have to worry about the glasses fogging up from my breath. One problem I did encounter was with the cold and the slight wind my eyes watered more than usual. 

My experiment is not over. I will keep viewing with the contacts as spring approaches and see what I can see. (no pun intended)