Research Subject

[da]

On Tuesday, I went for my 2nd of five visits to the optometrist as part of a research project on eyestrain. They gave me my new glasses, which initially made me a bit... alarmed... because the effect of turning my head was a bit like... that Hitchcock depth-of-field movie effect? You know the one I mean? Anyway, they did funky things to these glasses. I think it's a bit like progressive-lens bifocals, or maybe they're n-focals since it also does something odd side-to-side.

The research student tells me my eyes will figure out where to focus for close-up and distance work, which is slightly worrying, but the fact that I'm essentially adjusted to them this morning is at least promising.

Comments

[dcseain.livejournal.com]

I've worn bifocals for 23 years now, and progressives for the last 12. The side-to-side distortion/weirdness is not uncomen with multi-vision progressives, and is more pronounced with some lens shapes than others.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

...once I thought about it, that made perfect sense, to me as well. Of course bifocals aren't just up/down. If they've got three (?) zones, one's usually (?) the center of the bottom...

I can't wait for the study to be over for them to tell me exactly what they did to these lenses. ;)

[dcseain.livejournal.com]

I had one pair of 'progressive bifocals' in which i could pick out 7 different viewing regions. A well-designed progressive lens has an optically infinite number of zones which are a straight line in the vertical centre of the lens, with each zone above and below that point being more bell-curve shaped, within the limits of lens shape.

They all come together in the horizontal centre of the lens, at each side. You should notice less distortion that way if you look up or down to the side through the lens.

Though, lens tech has come a long way. I have curved-lens sunglasses, the wrap toward my temples, which have my full astigmatism/presbyobia bifocal in them. Oddly, there's no distortion in the peripheral vision zones of the lens.

[dcseain.livejournal.com]

Oh, and on a completely other topic, some friends and i went to the AFI Silver Theater on Sunday. We opted to see Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, or properly, Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios, only to discover that this was the first of 7 Almodóvar films showing in the coming weeks as part of the Viva Pedro! festival. El mambo taxi is just as fabulous as ever.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

Awesome!

melted_snowball and I are thinking of renting all of his films in series as well; we haven't gotten around to starting yet.

I'd go every week for a festival, though.