Cataracts

[Old_Stan]

I wasn't sure which thread this should go in, lenses seemed most appropriate!

I have just had a new lens (plastic) put into my left eye. When I first took the dressing off I was immediately struck by the coldness of the image that I was seeing with that eye compared with that produced by the nearly 8o years old lens in my right eye. As far as I can work out there is a difference of about 1000 Kelvin between my eyes now.
I suppose this means that from now on the colours I produce in post processing images will differ from those I used to produce. When I get a new lens in the other eye as well, my colour perception will change again.
When the critics say I have got the colours wrong I will know why.
I suppose there is no knowing what anyone’s built in white balance is, maybe we are all different even without new plastic lenses.
Thought I would share this with you.
Stan.

[Stuart Rae]

Re: Cataracts

Hi Stan,

It's good to hear that the operation went well.

As to your new WB, I wonder if things will even out in time? The scientist in me says that we should use a neutral grey reference and then the true WB will be correct even if the perceived one isn't. Easier said than done though. It's fine if you're shooting in a studio under controlled lighting, but out in the open it's almost impossible.

I often look at a beautiful blue sky and wonder what colour other people are seeing.

Regards,

Stuart

[carregwen]

Re: Cataracts

Stan

Glad you got your problem sorted. I had cataract surgery in both eyes 18 months ago. I had them done one at a time, and I noticed an amazing difference in the clarity and WB colour as soon as the dressing came off. Before, apart from having slightly cloudy vision, everything looked a bit sludgy coloured. After the op everything looked much bluer, and certainly a lot clearer. Because they have to balance the optics for the replacement lenses somewhere between close-work and distance I still have to wear reading-glasses, but for the first time in 40 years I don't need to wear distance glasses at all. If the light is good, I can even read supermaket food labels without reading glasses! I also suffered from glaucoma (pressure in the eye) but because the surgery makes a slit in the pupil to get the new lens in, that greatly aided the pressure, and my glaucoma has effectively been cured. No more drugs. One piece of surgery that was a success - for a change.

I had both eyes done within 6 weeks of each other, and it was a bit wierd seeing the difference. But once the second eye was done I had no comparator and so my perception of the difference disappeared. Not sure if just having one fixed and perhaps the other eye develops the same problem might cause an imbalance in how you see things colour-wise. But if your other eye is OK, there should be no problem.

I can manually focus my camera now with great accuracy (you have to think of the important things. ) Anyone reading this thread and wondering what it has to do with photography, believe me, it does.

Monet suffered from cataracts, which is why he saw colours differently to others. The cataract causes a distortion of the light passing through the eye, and changes your perception of the colour.

[Canon-Fodder!]

Re: Cataracts

I'll add my good wishes for continuing use of your "nearly 80 yr old lenses" !

One thing that did strike me though is that we all have a different perception of colour. I frequently struggled with colour-balance (I thought images looked good - others didn't), until I calibrated my monitor! Now that's done (I have a Huey permanently running) I rarely run into colour-balance problems...