I can see again!

[Doug Jensen]

I had cataract surgery on both eyes last month and the results are amazing. Sharper, crisper, truer colors, etc. I didn't realize how poor my eyesight had gotten. Now it is great, once again, to be able to get out and shoot wildlife and actually be able to see the animals. I gotta say, being able to see the birds before they have flown too close makes all the difference. Plus, once I get them in my sights, the image in my viewfinder is so much sharper and crisper now, so I can more easily tell when I'm actually in focus or just close.

I shot this 4K video last week using my FX6 and Sony 200-600mm lens with Sachtler Akitv8/Flowtech75 tripod system. I used the camera's built-in S-Cinetone shooting mode and then applied one of my own S-Cinetone Booster LUTs with a little fine-tuning on a clip-by-clip basis. It is nice to be back in business again.

https://youtu.be/7HHlthkiOHY?si=L5fk1etj7OJI2pmj

[David Knaggs]

That's wonderful news, Doug!

[Andrew Smith]

Originally Posted by Doug Jensen

I didn't realize how poor my eyesight had gotten.

Amazing what you can get used to, and it's worth noting that even the strongest of men are still subject to continental drift.

My mother had hers done and when she got home she just couldn't believe just how stark white the walls were. (For those playing from home, cataracts give a yellowing effect to the light coming through.) I reminded her that she approved the specific paint colour before I painted the walls for her. Took her quite a while to get used to it as the brain adjusts to what the eyes are now picking up.

So, Doug, how's your visual white balance going? :-)

Andrew

[Doug Jensen]

Much better, thank you!

I agree with everything you said. My wife had hers done in the summer of 2022 and kept saying how much whiter white was, but you have to see it to appreciate it. And it's not just white, blacks are also deeper and cleaner. Skies are bluer too. I had to go two weeks between left-eye and right-eye surgeries, so it was easy to compare before and after by opening one eye or the other. The differences between the two was more than I expected. I will also confess that all the color grading I've done in the past 6 months is suspect. I already went back and re-graded some stuff that I previously thought was okay. It wasn't.

And grading this bird video I shot last week was soooooo much easier. For one thing, my scopes and eyes finally agreed on what was white!

[Andrew Smith]

This opens up an excellent opportunity for a training video on scopes versus eyes, and when to know which ones to trust. It has the potential to be super interesting.

Andrew

[Allan Black]

Originally Posted by Doug Jensen

Much better, thank you!

I agree with everything you said. My wife had hers done in the summer of 2022 and kept saying how much whiter white was, but you have to see it to appreciate it. And it's not just white, blacks are also deeper and cleaner. Skies are bluer too. I had to go two weeks between left-eye and right-eye surgeries, so it was easy to compare before and after by opening one eye or the other. !

I had mine Lazered 4 years ago, and had the options of, 2 long lens put in, 2 short or a blend, one of each. After zillions of checks on line, I had a blend, one of each. The amazing thing is, dpending on what you’re looking at, the brain chooses which eye to use, takes a bit of getting used to but like you say Doug, the ‘new’ colours are incredible.

One thing, for some people the cataracts start to grow back, in one eye after about 12 months, mine did. My Optometrist Lazer zapped it in 5 minutes in his office - no charge like a warranty claim.

Cheers.

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Andrew Smith

This opens up an excellent opportunity for a training video on scopes versus eyes, and when to know which ones to trust. It has the potential to be super interesting.
Andrew

I always trust my scopes for highlights, black levels, etc. because those mostly need to be technically correct. But when it comes to color and white balance, there is a lot of creative latitude as to what looks best, so scopes are of only limited value. A good quality monitor with a proper setup is far more useful than scopes. But, as I found, if your vision isn't up to par, then all bets are off. I would say that I use scopes just to give me a second opinion on color, but as George Bush said, I'm the decider as to what ultimately looks best. This is an area in video production where creative decisions are important.

I wouldn't say that the color grading I've been doing for the last few months was wrong, I'd just say that after my cataract surgery, I have a different interpretation of what looks best.

[Bob Safay]

Doug, congratulations. I had mine done a few years ago and like you I was amazed. It was like going from a 1950's B&W tv to a 1080 ultra high def tv. Another great video of birds at Merritt Island. Question, when you go out filming, what do you think your percentage is of clips used vs. clips shot? Stay safe. Bob

[Doug Jensen]

Good question, Bob.
I've never really thought about it before, but I thought about it for awhile and figured out an answer for you: 69%

The first thing I do when I get back from shooting is to use Sony's Catalyst Browse to look at each clip and ingest ONLY the clips that captured something worth keeping. I spend about 10 seconds per clip scrub through it. I don't have to play them in real time because I just shot them and I mostly remember every shot and whether or not it was good or not.

I don't ingest every clip, just the good ones. And taking things one step further, I only ingest the best part of each clip, not the whole thing. I mark new in and out points to trim off the garbage at the head and tail. There's no reason to ingest more than a 25-30 second clip, regardless of how long the original clip runs. So, this "rough cutting" really reduces how much garbage I have to sift through later when I'm grading and editing. Basically 95% of everything I ingest is potentially usable.

So, I can't really just count the clips I shot because the bad ones never got ingested at all. So, what I did was look at the range of clip numbers in the file names. For example, when I went out shooting birds this month I set my clip numbering to "1000" and let it count up automatically during the three times I went out shooting birds. The last clip was "1291". So, that means I pressed the record button 291 times. Then I counted how many actually clips are on the drive after ingesting, and there are 202. That's 202 out of 291. So that means that roughly 69% of the clips (or some part of the clip) got saved.

It's a little more complicated than that because sometimes I'll ingest two segments from one clip, but I'd say the number is somewhere around 65%-69%.

Thanks for asking. It's interesting to have a number in my head.

[Allan Black]

Originally Posted by Bob Safay

Doug, congratulations. I had mine done a few years ago and like you I was amazed. It was like going from a 1950's B&W tv to a 1080 ultra high def tv.

Hi Bob. We’re contributing to a digital video forum where members 20/20 vision is the most important feature before anything else, equipment, anything.

From Doug, your good self and me, we all know what a great result the Lazer treatment gives and I’ve posted what lens I was offered, what lens I have and what happened later.

From the growing number of views, it looks like more members are interested too, so can I respectfully ask you, what procedure and lens were you offered, what lens do you have, how long did they take to settle in and was there any repercussions later.

Disclaimer: For anyone reading this, these are our own opinions, none of us here are professional optometrists, readers need to obtain their own professional opinion.
Cheers.

[Doug Jensen]

Hi Allan, I never wore glasses until I was about age 50 (ten years ago) and had above average vision, especially for distance. Then things started to go downhill and I had to wear non-prescription reading glasses (mostly 1.50 strength) for about 9 years while reading, and then for computer work. Then, beginning about a year or so ago, my vision started changing about 180 degrees over the course of a few months. I no longer needed reading classes, but my distance vision went to hell. Plus everything looked like I was looking through dirty windows with a lot of haze. It comes on slowly so I didn't realize how bad things had gotten until after the surgery.

I was diagnosed by a local ophthalmologist in Florida that I had cataracts and would need surgery in the next couple of years. I live in Massachusetts in the summer so I had a very well-respected ophthalmologist in Boston take a look and he confirmed the diagnosis and recommended surgery as soon as I wanted to have it done. My wife had used the Boston doctor in 2022 for her cataracts and would have preferred I use that doctor. But, my vision was getting even worse over the last few months and I didn't want to wait until I was in Massachusetts next summer, so I booked the surgery with my doctor in Florida. Glare was a problem while driving at night, and during the day, it was even hard to see into shadows.

I chose to go for the best distance vision possible with the understanding I'd be back to wearing reading glasses again. My doctor recommended lenses made by Bausch and Lomb, and I took his advice. I have no information about the about the lenses other than the brand and that they are for distance only.

I had the left eye done in mid-January at surgical center with a mild general anesthetic that seems mostly just to make you less aware of what is happening around you. There was no pain or discomfort during or after the procedure, which took about 15 minutes once they wheeled me into the OR. All you see during the surgery is a bright light. You don't see instruments, the doctor, etc. Just a bright light. At least that is all I recall. As I said, the anesthetic is mostly to make you a little loopy.

I was in the recovery room about 20 minutes while the drugs wore off. I wasn't allowed to drive after the surgery so my wife had to drive me home. The change in vision is immediate and dramatic. There were no bandages or eye patch or anything like that. You just leave the surgery center with better vision. Period.

There was a follow-up appointment the next day and one the following week to check on things. I had to put drops in my eye 3 times a day for about a week, then a couple of times a day for another week, and then once a day for another week. I was told not to do any heavy lifting, ride my mountain bike, etc. for one week.

They won't do both eyes at once, but if I could have, I would have had the right eye done immediately because the difference was so huge. So, I had to wait two weeks and then repeated the whole thing preceisely for the right eye. I no longer have to put drops in the left eye, but the right eye is down to one drop per day for another week. Then I'm done.

The Florida doctor is out-of-network for my Blue Cross coverage, but some of the other charges are covered. The bills have not all come in yet, but I figure the cost of both eyes will be about $4000-$6000 out of pocket. Maybe less. Totally worth it.

Oh, one more thing, I have known for a few years I'm at risk for glaucoma and have to take drops to keep the pressure under control. While the doctor was doing the cataracts he also did a goniotomy that is supposed to help with the claucoma. I don't really understand what it is, but when the doctor recommends it, who am I to argue? Time will tell it if helps or not. It might not. Here's a link if you want more info on goniotomy. Personally, I find it all disgusting and don't care about knowing the details. https://www.willseye.org/goniotomy-2/

I have had to dust off all my reading classes I'd put away and use them for any close work, including computer screens. But distance vision with both eyes is better than 20/20. Whites are whiter and blacks are deeper. Colors are more vivid and crisp, even though I am still partially color-blind. That is a whole other story!

That's about all I can think of to share. Feel free to ask any questions.

[Allan Black]

Thanks Doug very interesting and different to my story.

I’m retired 74 and I don’t wear glasses. Four years ago I had to successfully read the very tiny print on my Opticians chart at my annual check up. The result was below par, my Macular test was great, but this resulted in a referral to make an appointment at the Laser clinic here to check for cataracts. There was a number of visits, the first was a repeat check reading of the same small print, the test, results, then an explanation of the Laser procedure and what’s available with replacement Bausch and Lomb lens for both eyes and the costs. AUS$3,500 but we’re in a health fund.

I was offered close or long distance lens or I could have a blend, one of each. You go away to consider that, which I did with copious checking of what other people preferred, and I chose the blend. What happens is, depending on what I’m looking at, distance or close, the brain will actually take over to read the appropriate eye. I found that hard to believe that happens, but it certainly does.

A week later for the second visit they checked the chart again and measured what size lens I’d need. Two weeks later they rang to say my 2 new lens had arrived and I made a third appointment to have both my eye cataracts zapped with their Laser, and their surgeon did this with a mild anesthetic. A one hour rest and he inserted both new lens.

I had the long lens put in my dominent left eye and the close lens in my right. My wife drove home and I had drops to put in daily for a week, when I returned for a final check. As we said all colours are like new, the reds and yellows are vivid, even our big new colour television picture looks much better, justifying the price. lol.

I don’t need glasses however I do have Ray-Ban Polaroid prescription sunglasses for driving with the right lens, long distance. But about a year later at a checkup it was found my right eye cataract was just starting to grow back, so the same surgeon Laser zapped the tiny growth in his office, over his desk in 5 minutes. All has been well since. My wife has had hers done, no problems.

On behalf of all the members, I hope all will be well with you Doug.
Cheers from Sydney.

[W. Bill Magac]

Originally Posted by Doug Jensen

Oh, one more thing, I have known for a few years I'm at risk for glaucoma and have to take drops to keep the pressure under control. While the doctor was doing the cataracts he also did a goniotomy that is supposed to help with the claucoma. I don't really understand what it is, but when the doctor recommends it, who am I to argue? Time will tell it if helps or not. It might not. Here's a link if you want more info on goniotomy. Personally, I find it all disgusting and don't care about knowing the details. https://www.willseye.org/goniotomy-2/ .

Doug, about 10 years ago I had a tube shunt https://www.brightfocus.org/glaucoma...vices-glaucoma surgically inserted in my right eye to control my glaucoma. I still need to take glaucoma eye drops daily but the eye pressure has been stable. My opthomologist also requires an annual vision field test and retina scan. Fortunately I have pretty good insurance that covers most of the cost for the eye drops and tests. Name brand glaucoma eye meds can be very expensive. However, a study by the Mayo Clinic found many of the generic glaucoma eye drops can be just as effective as the name brands.

[Doug Jensen]

Thanks for the info Bill. My eyedrops are Timolol and only cost pennies per day. Are you on something more exotic?

Allan, I'm glad to hear that the choice of two different lenses worked out for you. The idea was tempting, but I decided to play it safe and give distance the priority. Too bad we can't test drive these things and then make a choice!

[W. Bill Magac]

Originally Posted by Doug Jensen

Thanks for the info Bill. My eyedrops are Timolol and only cost pennies per day. Are you on something more exotic?

I take brimonidine and betoptic-s. My co-pay for a 30 day supply of brimonidine is $5.00 and $10.00 for a 75 day supply of betoptic-s. Can’t complain.