If you have less than perfect eyesight...

[edge]

I popped into my local optician a couple of weeks ago because the varifocals I use every day were bent and had become uncomfortable. Before I knew it, she was asking me questions and giving me an eye test.

 

In the course of doing that, I explained some of the difficulties I encounter when shooting, such as cross-dominance. She mentioned that she'd taken a sports qualification and had friends that shoot, so I asked more questions than I might otherwise have done.

 

I've had this odd thing where sometimes I can see the clay but I don't know precisely where it is in space. The optician explained, after a further test, that because of how the muscles operate around my eyes it's possible for my depth perception to suddenly go awry. When she described the symptoms that were possible, it so closely matched my experience that it felt quite spooky. It seems that the problem may be able to be countered either in the prescription shooting glasses I wear, or in contact lenses, whose capabilities have change markedly since I last wore them fifteen years ago.

 

I also had a test for colour preference, and it seemed that I have better depth perception with a blue tint. Well, I have a blue tinted lens with one of the pairs of prescription shooting glasses I have (an Optilabs/Top Gear pair that I don't particularly like), so I wore that pair today, and shot my best score yet at that particular ground.

 

My message is simple. Our eyesight is our own, as individual as the rest of us, and needs proper analysis if we're going to use it well. If you have less than perfect eyesight, it might be worth checking whether there's an optician in your area that's sports-qualified and who can give you a check.