Diopter Lens Slots
I am slightly short sighted and have astigmatism. Technically I should wear glasses under my goggles or at least contact lenses. Since I could never commit to contact lenses - I simply can not get used to the idea to stick stuff into my eye - I usually flew without glasses in my boxed goggles.
Lenses with a focal length – defined as the distance between the center of a lens and its focal point – of 1 meter (about 39 inches) have a diopter strength of 1. Since diopter strength is based on the inverse of the focal length, a 2 diopter lens is not 2 meters but 1/2 meter, a 3 diopter lens is 1/3 meter and so forth. Diopter or close-up lenses are a good way to add macro / close-up ability to your current photography gear. They work by screwing or clipping on to the front of your camera's lens, and decrease the minimum focusing distance. This allows you to move your camera closer to the subject, and achieve higher magnification photos.
Now that I committed to some proper FPV goggles - the Skyzone Sky03O I decided to get some proper diopters for those. I mean if you commit to proper goggles, then why not simply go the extra mile to get the most out of them? And with those goggles, there is obviously no way to fit regular glasses inside.
I found Jürgen from Optik Fischer - he is an optician from Germany and will manufacture diopters for your FPV goggles - and he ships world wide. You simply send him the specs for your prescription glasses and he will manufacture a set of diopters fitting your exact needs. He is able to make lenses for every goggle that has inserts to fit diopters - so basically every goggle except for the Fatshark HDO2.
I talked to him a bit beforehand to find out what I could expect. He suggested the following experiment: Take your glasses off and look at something that is about six meters away from you. Then put on your glasses and compare. This was a pretty drastic difference for me, so I decided to get the diopters.
During all of our communication Jürgen was very patient and thorough, I immediately felt that he knows what he is talking about and that I could trust him.
I went to my ophthalmologist to test my sight, since it was more than a year ago that I had my last checkup and I wanted to order diopters with my most recent values.
I printed the form from his website and asked the doctor to fill that out for me. I then sent it to Optik Fischer, paid via PayPal and three days later I had my lenses in the post box (I am from the EU, so shipping to other countries will probably take longer).
Depending on your FPV goggles the lenses will come in a 3D printed frame that you simply slide into the diopter slots of your goggles.
Obviously I could not wait to try them out, and I have to say, I was impressed from the get go. The diopters fit perfectly into the lens slots on my Sky03O goggles. The fit is tight and they do not fall out, even when shaking the goggles.
And most importantly - they work perfectly. I can especially notice the difference in the OSD menus where I can finally ready everything without issues. Generally, the picture is much more in focus.
In my opinion those lenses were really a great investment.
I can recommend getting custom lenses to everyone that has prescription glasses and does not want to use contact lenses.
Diopter Lens Slots Review
If you oreder the “deluxe” version with anti-reflex and hardened coating you pay around $100 including shipping. For the standard version you pay around $60 including shipping. The prices vary a bit depending on your FPV goggles, but this is the range you can expect.
- Questions? ∨
What diopter (or lens power) monocle is right for me?
Diopter Lens Slots Lens
Finally, you can also use our Home Eye Test to test your vision to approximate your needed vision correction:
- Print out the test and follow the on-page instructions
- Order your monocle and enjoy!
Do you sell +1.25 or +1.75 diopter monocles? What about other +0.25 increments?
What is diopter?
Diopter is a term used to identify the refractive (light bending) capacity of a lens. A higher diopter indicates a higher refractive capacity, and a greater magnification.
Diopter | Magnification | Focal Length (cm) | Focal Length (in) |
0.0 (No magnification) | 1.00 X (Actual size) | ||
0.5 | 1.13 X | 200 | 79 |
1.0 | 1.25 X | 100 | 39 |
1.5 | 1.38 X | 67 | 26 |
2.0 | 1.50 X | 50 | 20 |
2.5 | 1.63 X | 40 | 16 |
3.0 | 1.75 X | 33 | 13 |
3.5 | 1.88 X | 29 | 11 |
4.0 | 2.00 X | 25 | 10 |
You can learn more about diopter on Wikipedia.