Mask woes

[Snoogly]

I feel I have photographic disability these days, as i wear glasses. In urban areas here in Tokyo it is customary to wear a mask - but, they really mess me up when I raise the camera to my eye. Instant steam-up, and a general feeling of distress. I have some nice masks with a neck loop, but when I try to unhook the mask from my ears the ear loops get entangled with the glasses arms.

I wonder how other glasses wearers in obligatory mask areas are coping.

[Birna Rørslett]

Ensure the tightest possible fit of the mask over the nose bridge. That largely prevents your glasses from misting up. Removing hte mask temporarily doesn't work for me as the loops get entangled by my earrings

Or cultivate the old habitat of focusing the lens by guesstimation, then raise the camera up to the shooting position and push the release.

[Fons Baerken]

I feel I have photographic disability these days, as i wear glasses. In urban areas here in Tokyo it is customary to wear a mask - but, they really mess me up when I raise the camera to my eye. Instant steam-up, and a general feeling of distress. I have some nice masks with a neck loop, but when I try to unhook the mask from my ears the ear loops get entangled with the glasses arms.

I wonder how other glasses wearers in obligatory mask areas are coping.

I wear them least possible that means never outdoors, when compulsory like indoors shops etc, i put the glasses in my pocket. And then wearing masks is  contraeffective limiting respiratory functions overruling your body's natural intelligence.

[Ilkka Nissilä]

As Birna says, by adjusting the part that goes over your nose and spending some time making it fit perfectly helps a lot and removes most of the clogging up of eyeglasses. Also you can get better quality masks with bendable metal inside the nose part that should stay better in shape than the plastic typical to cheap ones.

I spend some 10-20 seconds moving my fingers on both sides of the part that covers the nose repeatedly until it stays in shape and this helps a lot. Trying to be quick here is counterproductive, I find. 

[Matthew Currie]

I thought I'd responded but it doesn't seem to have happened.  You can think of this whole issue in reverse, too.  I only wear reading glasses, but confirm the mask is on right by putting my glasses on and adjusting until they stop fogging. 

[Ethan]

Ohhh, there are many ways to avoid fogging like getting the special Nikon Z mask:











or try these:

https://theconversation.com/13-insider-tips-on-how-to-wear-a-mask-without-your-glasses-fogging-up-getting-short-of-breath-or-your-ears-hurting-143001



If push comes to shove, I use the old scuba divers trick of spitting on your glasses and wiping lightly.....amd Bob's your uncle.

[Anthony]

The first breath you take after removing the mask is called an airgasm.

[Snoogly]

Ohhh, there are many ways to avoid fogging like getting the special Nikon Z mask:











or try these:

https://theconversation.com/13-insider-tips-on-how-to-wear-a-mask-without-your-glasses-fogging-up-getting-short-of-breath-or-your-ears-hurting-143001



If push comes to shove, I use the old scuba divers trick of spitting on your glasses and wiping lightly.....amd Bob's your uncle.

Number 8 sounds attractive, but I suppose fishnet won’t work.

[pluton]

 A tightly sealed mask would seem to be the only solution.
The requirement of the camera design to smash your nose against the rear of the camera in order to see into the little hole makes photographing with a donned respirator very annoying and at times impossible due to the fogging of glasses.
Far-left-corner finders such as Leica M, my humble Fujifilm XE-2, and similar, have less of an issue, but the necessity of holding the camera against the face still causes problems.
Interesting:  Operators of video and film cameras with standard periscopic swiveling eyepiece finders  *that stand away from the camera body* do not have this problem at all.

[armando_m]

The first breath you take after removing the mask is called an airgasm.

LOL
agree !

[ColinM]

Ensuring the upper edge of the mask near the glasses' lens remains airtight over time seems to be the biggest challenge.

I've heard a few people mention that using light tape (in the UK, we'd say "micropore tape") to keep the top edge sealed to the face can be effective.

Doing this whilst going round the shops? Probably not?
But when outdoors somewhere taking photos? Seems worth trying.

[David H. Hartman]

The aerosol escaping past the nose and fogging glasses will escape elsewhere if micro pore tape stops it at the nose. I'm left eyed and sometimes have a problem with the rear LCD Monitor fogging up.

There are anti-fog eyepieces available from Nikon. One such is the Nikon DK-17A Anti-Fog Eyepiece, about $25.00 (USD). Nikon also makes a DK-17F Fluorine-Coated Finder Eyepiece.  Fluorine coating repels water and should have anti-fog properties, about $27.00 (USD).

I'm not sure what to do about fogging glasses. I have this problem also.

[mxbianco]

I have glasses with straight arms, and an elastic band connecting them behind the head. Being farsighted, I constantly pull the glasses over the forehead and back into position when looking at far or near objects. The eventual mask is pulled low under the chin, sometimes my ears assume the Mad Magazine cover aspect, but there is no conflict between mask and glasses.

Let me add that there are mask models already provided with a small soft spongy strip on the inside of the mask, just opposite the nosepiece. Thwse models effectively block the air from fogging your glasses. Even putting your glasses on top of the mask is effective, but a little awkward if you have small lenses like those of some reading glasses.

Ciao from Massimo

[Snoogly]

In the end I stuck some Micropore tape across the top of nose area of the mask. Works a treat! No more steam.

A bigger problem for me is how generally distressed I feel when wearing a mask. I have more than a handful of lung ailments, and even though I know that a mask doesn’t impair breathing in any way, my ‘muscle brain’ doesn’t know that :-(