Adjust Your Camera to Your Eye

Photo Tip Tuesday - Adjust the camera view finder to your eye

Most people don’t have 20/20 vision. Well luckily there’s an easy fix for this on most DSLR cameras. It’s called the Dioptric Correction Adjustment. Look next to your view finder on your camera and you should see a little dial or perhaps a sliding adjustment. If you wear glasses and have troubles seeing through the view finder, this should change things for you.

Here’s what you need to do:
• Simply take off your glasses
• Hold the camera up to your dominant eye. Not sure? Find your dominant eye.
• Press half way down on the shutter release to auto focus the camera
• Adjust the dioptric correction dial until the image looks sharp, that’s it

It is important for a couple reasons to have the camera directly up to your eye while shooting. For one, the camera is more stable when it is rested against your eye (actually eyebrow). Secondly, it makes reading the in-viewfinder meter readings and other information along the viewfinder edge much easier than holding it away from you. You may consider a new or third party eye cup to make the viewfinder a bit more comfortable.

Also, I know of a couple people who have accidentally moved or adjusted their dioptric correction adjustment without knowing and couldn’t figure out why the view finder was blurry. Now you know.

Please send me a comment and let me know if you’ve used the dioptric correction adjustment before or not. And let me know if this post was helpful. I would be curious to know how many people have adjusted their camera to their eye.

Photo Tip Tuesday ~ If you have a photo tip or would like to have a photo question answered, send me an email. Also be sure to subscribe for free to this blog to receive ongoing great photo tips and inspiration!

by Kent Weakley

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50centlove

Yes, I discovered this when reading a book “for dummies” about my camera. ) I actually had to adjust it the other day. I (or my kids) might have turned that dial by accident. Good practical info.
.-= 50centlove´s last blog ..Loaded Baked Potatoes….what? =-.

Melissa

I knew about it, but didn’t know it was called Dioptric Correction Adjustment LOL. Thx!

Julie

Thanks for the info! Never knew that!

Mike

This is good advice. I remember when I first got a DSLR, looking through the viewfinder, and being stricken with sheer noob panic because all I saw was a blurry mess. Then I remembered my vision stinks. A turn or two of the dioptric adjustment… crystal clear viewfinder.

Jenny

This post reminds me of something funny that happened to me at work. I work for a yearbook photography company and we all have our own equipment, but sometimes due to equipment maintenance or failure we have to use someone else’s equipment. There was a younger guy shooting with me one day using one of the older guy’s equipment. He got everything set up and was totally frustrated because he couldn’t get anything in focus. The third person shooting with us walked over and silently adjusted the Dioptric wheel on the camera and walked away. THAT was how I learned about this little feature on the camera.

Kent Weakley

Love that story. Thanks for sharing. Sometimes it’s the simplest things that make the biggest headaches.

Adam Smith

I have used the dioptric before, but usually use my glasses while shooting. (Haven’t really took a serious look at it.)The info about the resting on the eyebrow seems helpful. Took some shots in a dark cafiteria yesterday at the 2nd grade play that may have been better without my tripod by using that. Most common issue I probably have is remembering to put my baseball cap backwards so I don’t hit the flash with the bill.

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I usually use my glasses while shooting,I think the info about the resting on the eyebrow seems helpful.

Phil Resta

Yet another great tip for fledgling photographers such as me! Yours has quickly become my #1 site for tips to improve! Thanks kent!!

Henry Wilt

Yes I have used it and much prefer to shoot without my glasses but when I try and look at the LCD to check the histogram or picture I can’t see it! Yeah, I know put my glasses on for that but it’s a pain if I’ve put them away properly. And if I haven’t they’ve usually been pushed up on top of my head for quick access but from where they regularly drop to the floor…expensive!!
I don’t suppose anybody knows of a magnifying screen that can be fitted to the LCD do they? That would be the perfect answer for me, or eye surgery.

Kent Weakley

Yes, there’s a company that makes a variety of products to magnify the LCD and they even have prescription glasses frames that can be flipped up when needed. The company is called Hoodman. Here’s there link http://www.hoodmanusa.com/

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Ben

It can also be dangerous if you manually focus after the dioptric wheel has been moved!! Your image may look in focus through the viewfinder, but actually be out of focus.

Suzanne

It doesn’t work for me, but my eyes are really bad. The diopter adjustment on my D90 only goes to -3. There are accessory lenses you can buy that go to -5, but I’m not sure if you can stack them to get to -8 (yes, my glasses are very thick). I also wonder whether it would work as well since I also have astigmatism.

Zeeshan

Cool tip for adjusting, I like cameras

Kimber

Great tip for those who wear eyeglasses. Like Suzanne, I also have a astigmatism but, I chose to wear contacts as I felt glasses got in the way of my shooting and for me, they have worked out well

Tasha Chawner

I learned about mine by reading the camera manual, and had adjusted it to suit, but then dear-Husband came along and said “What does this bit do?”
Lots of patient explaining to him about its function and to “Please not do that again!”

Suzanne

Wish I could wear contacts, but I have problems with them. Probably due to dry eyes and recirculated air at work. I may try them again just for shooting.

Karen

My right eye is dominant, but also the one with the worse astigmatism. I wear glasses to correct that, but it can’t be corrected to 20/20. If I take off my glasses to adjust the diopter, I can’t see any more than a big blur. I’ve adjusted it with my glasses on, but I still don’t get photos as sharp as I’d like. Any suggestions?

Kent Weakley

Hi Karen,
Very interesting situation. Have you looked at any of the Hoodman products? They have several products that are geared towards using glasses and still being able to view through the viewfinder. Let me know if that link helps. Thanks.

Are You Using Your Correct Eye When Photographing? | Brent Morales Foto Wordpress

[...] Use your newly discovered dominant eye for viewing through the camera’s viewfinder. It’s most likely the eye you use naturally, but now you know why. It will also work anytime you need to use just one eye, like with a telescope, being a pirate on halloween, or lining up pictures on a wall. By the way, if your vision through the camera viewfinder seems blurry or unsharp, be sure toadjust your camera to your eye. [...]