TargetTalk

I'm thinking about getting some shooting glasses.

I am also nearsighted so I wear glasses all the time. Is there a clip on system as opposed to the regular shooting glasses?

I was thinking about ordering a set of lenses and just attatching them to my glasses somehow.

I think the big issue would be "attaching them to my glasses somehow."

What Champion, Knobloch, etc offer is finely adjustable mounting to locate the optical axis of the lens directly on and normal to your sight line, and a more precise fit of the frame to your head to keep the lens exactly where you want it.

The lenses are round which demands additional attention to lens alignment for the astigmatic user, are considerably smaller than common specs and downright tiny compared to the usual shooter's safety glasses.

I use my Champions for AP and FP but don't think much of their protection from flying brass, so revert to my "regular"computer prescription glasses for SP and CF.

David

James wrote:I'm thinking about getting some shooting glasses.

I am also nearsighted so I wear glasses all the time. Is there a clip on system as opposed to the regular shooting glasses?

I was thinking about ordering a set of lenses and just attatching them to my glasses somehow.

I tried the clip on approach and cannot recommend it -
I found a lot of annoying reflections from the two additional glass surfaces.
It was difficult to adjust the lens position so that the optical centers of both lenses lined up properly with my eye.
Can't use an adjustable iris with this setup.

For more info on clip ons, see http://www.targettalk.org/viewtopic.php ... highlight=

For AP/FP I use Varga shooting glasses with my distance prescription + 0.75 diopter. Also had the same presciption made up in pale yellow. The only real disadvantage to the Varga/Knobloch/Champion approach is that they offer minimal eye protection. I use a pair of Decot frames with appropriate lenses when I shoot calibers larger than 22.

Fred

Champion's Choice sells clip-ons in +1.00 and +1.50 powers. These are relatively inexpensive and plastic - basically clip-on drug-store reading glasses - so optically you get what you pay for. That said, I have found the +1.00 sample quite usable. I put a small piece of translucent Post-It note on the left lens to occude the sights and target, and the set-up is very convenient. Down you have "complete" shooting glasses; just flip them up to see normally. And you have the eye protection of your regular glasses, plus an additional layer of plastic. They come in large and small sizes, to fit most prescription glasses.

FredB

rather than doing that you might want to try this. find a old pair and make lenses of the proper power and replace it.

alternatively, you could do the same for your current pair and just swap it when you shoot. however this could cause wearing out of the small screw and thread. i tried this before using proper shooting glasses and within a year the screw thread came off.

I saw the champion's choice clip on's, the lowest power is +1.00 though.

How do you determine what magnification to use? I'm relativly young (17) but I find that sometimes, especially in dim ranges, that the frontsight is fuzzy no matter what.

I tried some 1.25 reading glasses I found, but they focus about 8-10 inches short of the front sight.

For nearsighted, the glasses doesn't help to see beyond their limits, but place an image of the far objects closer than the limit.

Choosing the right lens for shooting is somehow tricky. If, for example, your lens diopter is -2.0, that means your limit is 1/(2.0)= 0.5 meter (barely the rear sight).

The everyday glasses "place" both the target and the sights very close to the eye, making it hard to focus on the sights. Choosing a weaker lens for shooting, -1.5 or -1.75, will disable you from focus on the target, yet enable clear view of the front sights - Bingo!

G.

James wrote:I tried some 1.25 reading glasses.

If you are not farsighted, why using reading glasses??
You need a lens with negative diopter, not positive.

What do the negative diopter lenses do? Where can you get them?

http://www.starreloaders.com/edhall/nwongarts.html

I use the Champion Olympics frames with a +0.25 diopter lens (also my astigmatism Rx numbers are in there). I also have been using the adjustable iris, but mostly for head positioning.

Actually I adapted a Knobloch lens holder to the Champion Olympic frames because I liked the Knobloch iris better than the Champion. The adjustable Olympic frames are by far my favorite. I got them from ISS.

The basic lens criteria is the same as if you were getting a reading prescription set for the eye to front sight distance. Some shooters I believe get the lens set to just inside that distance if they need to clear up the rear sight some.

I can't be the only near sighted pistol shooter. What do other nearsighted shooters use?

Slavochk, Since I wear glasses, my vision is supposed to be near 20/20 so I think I would need postive diopter lenses

im short sighted too.

perscription -1.00 and my shooting glasses are fitted with a -0.75. i find thats its not enough so i intend to grind another piece of -0.50.

im using knobloch now with the lens made at a normal optical shop i had a hard time convincing them that i do not need the lens at perscription power lol. i also had to leave the lens holder with them.

James wrote: How do you determine what magnification to use? I'm relativly young (17) but I find that sometimes, especially in dim ranges, that the frontsight is fuzzy no matter what.

Go to an opticians / optometrists. Explain what you need and if possible mock up a foresight / rearsight set up so as to mimic a gun (safer than taking in the real thing ;-) ).

Rob.

I recently started using shooting frames and I wont go back. I selected Champion mainly because at the time I could get it sent to me from Switzerland directly and they were cheaper that way that going to a UK or German supplier.

Ok the advice from Champion and others is to start with you normal distance / driving etc prescription (Not your reading or computer screen prescription.) For rifle shooters you are done. For pistol shooters you need/can to add +0.25 or +0.50 to the prescription of your shooting eye. How much you add is a personal thing, some people add more but general adding more that +0.75 is not normally recommended. Personally I am using +.50 for 10M air pistol and +0.25 25M standard pistol. At 25M +0.50 blurs the target too much for my liking.

An optician will normal set up the lenses parallel to the frame in the belief that you are looking forward however when pistol shooting this is not the case your head is turned to one side. Champion offer a special device which clips to you frames and enables you to adjust the position so the when turned to your pistol you looking directly through the center of the lens. This takes some time to set up but is critical if you have any astigmatism that needs correcting.

The second issue with frames is they enable the use of a “blinder” for the non shooting eye. This device enable the non shooting eye to be completely relaxed during shooting and prevents the shooting eye squinting in sympathy is you are closing the other eye.

Lastly, I opted to add a lens for the non shooting eye. I noticed that with my right eye corrected and my left eye bare I had very unbalanced feeling. Particularly changing targets and loading. This also serves to add protection for my left eye, from flying brass etc. Pistol lenses are quite a bit bigger than rifle lenses 42mm compared to 25mm.

One thing about adding a left/non shooting lens; When you add the blinder the position of the mount needs to be screwed closer to your nose so you can see the sights. The lens is considerable larger that the blinder and in this position would touch you nose. So the lens needs to be mounted using a larger bar which is offset away from the nose.

My optician also placed engraved marks on the near the edge of the lens corresponding to the screw position of the holder. This mark can not bee seen when wearing the glasses but is essential to putting the round lens the right way to correct my astigmatism, any rotation and everything would be out of shape. He also added an L to the lens for my left eye. Finally he notched the rim of the lens with one notch for +0.25 and two notches for +0.50 this is not visible when the lens is in the frame.

you can see the pictures at http://www.julianyoung.com/?page_id=33

wow great website.

So it seems like the best method is to get perscription lenses with the added diopter fitted to the shooting frame.

What camera do you use? Your photography is excellent.

James wrote:wow great website.

Thanks, it s a slow on comming thing, dry fire has a higher priority ;)

James wrote:So it seems like the best method is to get perscription lenses with the added diopter fitted to the shooting frame.

Actualy I would disagree for two reasons I found the cost of having an extra lens made was about half the price of a champion +.25 filter ! Secondly light traveling air-lens-air always suffers some distortion. The problem is that light changes direction when changing medium however the diferent colors change by diferent rate ie the rainbow. So in theory air-lens-air-lens-air just worsens the effect. weather you can notice it or not i have no idear but you could measure it. It is a big issue however in camera lenses where this efect makes the lens less "sharp"

James wrote:What camera do you use? Your photography is excellent.

Nikon D70 - SB800 Flash bounced off the ceiling.

J

Yeah that's I meant, in one lense rather then two.

I also have a D70, It shows that the person behind the camera makes the good pictures, not the camera!

James wrote:Yeah that's I meant, in one lense rather then two.

sorry missunderstood

James wrote:What do the negative diopter lenses do?

Look at this ilustration form Vikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Lens4.svg

If the object is very far (infinite distance), the virtual image you will see seemed to be placed in the focus of the lens (f=1/Diopter).
As the object comes closer to the lens, the image comes closer to the lens.

Your everyday glasses should give you a clear view of everything - include the stars. The ideal shooting glasses should give you a clear view of the front sight, but not of the target. It doesn't mean you can't shoot with your regular glasses, but a weaker lens probably would make the shooting easier.

My everyday lens diopter is -0.75, and for shooting I use 2 lenses, depends on the light condition and the distance. For CF/Standard/FP, I use -0.5, for AP I use -0.25 or -0.5

Gilad.

Just found this forum again; it was lost amongst my many favourites!

I have been using +1 drugstore reading glasses for reading for 13 years now; fine for reading, but front sight too blurred and target almost greyed out. No glasses means front sight unclear.

Solution - got a mail order optical lab to make me a +0.5 lens to the shape of a sample lens of a spare pair of readers. The left lens is now painted white as a blinder.£10 or $18 and my sight picture is perfect. With the pistol, I find I am looking straight and square through the lens, but if you have astigmatism and need a full corrective lens, it is easy to mark the pupil centre on the sample lens with a marking pen. Result, about £75 or $130 saved on "proper" shooting glasses.

The mail order lab is also a good source for different lenses for shooting glasses, at a fraction of the cost of the official items.