Shooting glasses, which frames to put prescriptions in?

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RDavies
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Shooting glasses, which frames to put prescriptions in?

#1 Postby RDavies » Tue May 16, 2017 11:40 am

I am looking into getting some new shooting glasses since someone needed my previous ones more than I did. I have a very slight correction in my glasses so will be looking into getting some shooting glass frames which I can get prescription lenses put into. My last ones were a bit to wide on the side so I couldn't get my eyes close to the spotting scope. Has anyone here got any ideas on what shooting glass frames are available in OZ and which are suitable for scopes/spotting scopes?

scott/r
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Re: Shooting glasses, which frames to put prescriptions in?

#2 Postby scott/r » Tue May 16, 2017 5:04 pm

That depends, Rod. Are you chasing the proper shooting frames or the reading glasses type of frame?
I got my shooting frames from the q store, but a mate got his glasses frames from his optometrist straight out of their sporting frames catalogue.

DenisA
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Re: Shooting glasses, which frames to put prescriptions in?

#3 Postby DenisA » Tue May 16, 2017 6:00 pm

From what I've seen, typically protective shooting glasses wrap around like safety glasses or sunnies. I've seen that these types of glasses are available to suit prescription lenses. Lots of bike riders wear a similar thing.
I have a pair of enclosed prescription sunglasses where the lenses have a similar, heavy curve in them. Looking straight through them is OK, but when I start looking to the sides of the lenses the prescription can't be correct and it strains my eyes if done for extended periods. Even if I wear them for a while, general looking around strains my eyes.
Prescription lens' are generally designed to be the correct prescription right in front of your eye, for when your looking straight ahead.

I have a concern with prescription glasses of that style for shooting. Most shooters lay on an angle and therefore don't end up looking through the centre of a lens, where the prescription is close to perfect. So I wonder, does that cause some optical error? Does that contribute to tiring someone out though the course of a days shoot, since the eye ball muscles are working overtime trying to squeeze and focus your eyes?

This is one of the reasons that I chose my awkward shooting position. My eyes are pretty poor and my glasses increase my NF Comp to 95x. My position allows me to look through the centre of my lens.

This is where contact lenses are so good. It doesn't matter where you look, your always looking through the centre of the lens. If I were able to wear them, I'd choose disposable contact lenses and non-prescription shooting glasses. Disposable contacts are cheap.

RDavies
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Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2006 7:23 pm
Location: Singleton NSW

Re: Shooting glasses, which frames to put prescriptions in?

#4 Postby RDavies » Tue May 16, 2017 7:49 pm

scott/r wrote:That depends, Rod. Are you chasing the proper shooting frames or the reading glasses type of frame?
I got my shooting frames from the q store, but a mate got his glasses frames from his optometrist straight out of their sporting frames catalogue.

Apparently proper shooting glasses sit higher up, or adjustable for height but from what I have seen, not all are like this so, it might pay for me to look around at the optometrists and try some on.

RDavies
Posts: 2318
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2006 7:23 pm
Location: Singleton NSW

Re: Shooting glasses, which frames to put prescriptions in?

#5 Postby RDavies » Tue May 16, 2017 7:57 pm

DenisA wrote:From what I've seen, typically protective shooting glasses wrap around like safety glasses or sunnies. I've seen that these types of glasses are available to suit prescription lenses. Lots of bike riders wear a similar thing.
I have a pair of enclosed prescription sunglasses where the lenses have a similar, heavy curve in them. Looking straight through them is OK, but when I start looking to the sides of the lenses the prescription can't be correct and it strains my eyes if done for extended periods. Even if I wear them for a while, general looking around strains my eyes.
Prescription lens' are generally designed to be the correct prescription right in front of your eye, for when your looking straight ahead.

I have a concern with prescription glasses of that style for shooting. Most shooters lay on an angle and therefore don't end up looking through the centre of a lens, where the prescription is close to perfect. So I wonder, does that cause some optical error? Does that contribute to tiring someone out though the course of a days shoot, since the eye ball muscles are working overtime trying to squeeze and focus your eyes?

This is one of the reasons that I chose my awkward shooting position. My eyes are pretty poor and my glasses increase my NF Comp to 95x. My position allows me to look through the centre of my lens.

This is where contact lenses are so good. It doesn't matter where you look, your always looking through the centre of the lens. If I were able to wear them, I'd choose disposable contact lenses and non-prescription shooting glasses. Disposable contacts are cheap.

You raise a good point, when we look through our glasses, many of us are not looking straight through the centre. I might have a word to my optometrist about whether the prescription can be angled differently or changed so that it is correct in the actual shotting position. I have been looking at a few different shooting glasses and they usually seem to cater to shooters standing up, or otherwise are too wide to get close to spotting scopes. (or are those weird looking Knobloch things with a million adjustments to their little round lenses with minimal eye protection).

scott/r
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Re: Shooting glasses, which frames to put prescriptions in?

#6 Postby scott/r » Wed May 17, 2017 5:02 am

That's the good part of the shooting frame from knoblock and champion. You can fully adjust where you want your lense. And you don't have to have anything over your spotting scope eye so you can stick your eyeball on it if you like.

RDavies
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Location: Singleton NSW

Re: Shooting glasses, which frames to put prescriptions in?

#7 Postby RDavies » Wed May 17, 2017 8:14 am

scott/r wrote:That's the good part of the shooting frame from knoblock and champion. You can fully adjust where you want your lense. And you don't have to have anything over your spotting scope eye so you can stick your eyeball on it if you like.

Only problem with the Knoblock style is lack of protection.

Barry Davies
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Re: Shooting glasses, which frames to put prescriptions in?

#8 Postby Barry Davies » Wed May 17, 2017 8:28 am

Hi Rod,
My two bob's worth.
Adjustable shooting frames are a PITA --never seem to be able to get them in the correct position, and you need further correction for the distance they sit from your eye.
Most, if not all optometrists will only correct to 1/4 dioptre where us shooters are able to differentiate down to 1/8 dipotre and less. However if you are willing to pay some 30% extra you can get " High Definition lenses " which can be corrected to 0.01 Dioptre.
Fixed frames are best and your optometrist can have the optical centre ground wherever you want it. In your case where the correction is small, slight errors in positioning will go unnoticed. I am talking about corrections of up to 1/4 dioptre.
I personally wear " High Riser " frames which are adjustable vertically about 10 mm -- ideal for that head down position behind a scope, and with my reading prescription ground into the bottom half I have no problem reading the scope scale.

RDavies
Posts: 2318
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2006 7:23 pm
Location: Singleton NSW

Re: Shooting glasses, which frames to put prescriptions in?

#9 Postby RDavies » Wed May 17, 2017 9:46 am

Barry Davies wrote:Hi Rod,
My two bob's worth.
Adjustable shooting frames are a PITA --never seem to be able to get them in the correct position, and you need further correction for the distance they sit from your eye.
Most, if not all optometrists will only correct to 1/4 dioptre where us shooters are able to differentiate down to 1/8 dipotre and less. However if you are willing to pay some 30% extra you can get " High Definition lenses " which can be corrected to 0.01 Dioptre.
Fixed frames are best and your optometrist can have the optical centre ground wherever you want it. In your case where the correction is small, slight errors in positioning will go unnoticed. I am talking about corrections of up to 1/4 dioptre.
I personally wear " High Riser " frames which are adjustable vertically about 10 mm -- ideal for that head down position behind a scope, and with my reading prescription ground into the bottom half I have no problem reading the scope scale.

Yes, I will be going for the Trivex material for the lenses. It would be a great disservice to use cheap plastic safety glass lenses behind an optically brilliant Nightforce Comp scope.
I can get all sorts of safety glasses free from work and while they look perfectly clear to look through at work, they really degrade the image when looking through a top shelf scope on 55x


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