# Superfocus Eyeglasses **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 8, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superfocus-eyeglasses/570662 "2011-02-08T16:46:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superfocus-eyeglasses/570662/1 "2011-02-08T16:46:05Z")
Has anyone here seen these things in the wild yet? To me, judging by the ads, they look like the specs worn by the enemy in WW2 anti-Japanese propaganda. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superfocus-eyeglasses/570662/2 "2011-02-08T16:52:24Z")
From what I can see from the ads, rather than tilting your head slightly to deal with bifocals, you instead have to use your fingers to manually adjust the focus, and pay almost $900 for this. Ouch. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superfocus-eyeglasses/570662/3 "2011-02-08T18:04:22Z")
The $900 is an ouch. The rest of it … may be better from my point of view. “tilting your head slightly” … pfooey. I DON’T WANT TO look at a book or a computer screen through the #@!!!&& BOTTOM of my glasses, with my face pointed at the &\*%#! wall. I HAVE progressive bifocals which the eye doctor eventually twisted my arm into getting. They are useless, and have been useless for years. I simply take my glasses off to read or use the computer. And get close enough for what I’m concentrating on to fill my field of view. Yes, I read books and screens with my nose stuck in them. I have my whole life. If the little round lenses are a consequence of the two lens focusing system, that might be a deal breaker, too. Small lenses suck. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superfocus-eyeglasses/570662/4 "2011-02-08T18:19:04Z")
I heard that someone was trying to develop a version of these (adjustable eyeglasses) to offer to poor people in the third world. But that would need the product to be available for a lot less money, like under five or ten bucks. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superfocus-eyeglasses/570662/5 "2011-02-08T19:37:31Z")
Polaroid had an adjustable focus mechanism that had no fluid-filled sac like these do – it relied upon two plastic sheets with fifth-order curvature sliding across each other or rotating about a common center. I’ll bet you could use _that_ to get your adjustable focus without the complexity of these lenses, and consequently at a lower price. Besides, historically the problem with liquid-filled lenses have been that they leaked, especially when they involved a flexible membrane. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superfocus-eyeglasses/570662/6 "2011-02-08T20:44:09Z")
Er… Whatchoo talkin’ about, Son?? Link? ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superfocus-eyeglasses/570662/7 "2011-02-08T20:52:36Z")
You can find 'em easy enough via guess or google: [http://www.superfocus.com/](http://www.superfocus.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superfocus-eyeglasses/570662/8 "2011-02-09T04:13:37Z")
From the sketchy description in the ads, I suspect the lenses will not correct for astigmatism (they appear to be spherical without a cylindrical component). I wonder if the fixed, rigid lens part could be made with a cylinder on a specified axis, tho. ---
**Author:** ![AshenLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/94ad74/32.png) [@AshenLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AshenLady)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superfocus-eyeglasses/570662/9 "2011-02-09T04:22:30Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I heard that someone was trying to develop a version of these (adjustable eyeglasses) to offer to poor people in the third world. But that would need the product to be available for a lot less money, like under five or ten bucks. This is what I heard that they had veen developed for…people in third world countries. ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2012, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superfocus-eyeglasses/570662/10 "2012-07-01T15:08:53Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I heard that someone was trying to develop a version of these (adjustable eyeglasses) to offer to poor people in the third world. But that would need the product to be available for a lot less money, like under five or ten bucks. If I recall correctly, the third world version allowed for custom fitting in the field, but it was not user-adjustable. A trained person would fit the glasses to a wearer by adding or removing liquid to each lens through a port on the lens. Once the lenses were correct, the fitter would seal the ports. The lenses could be adjusted later, but not on-the-fly by the wearer the way the Superfocus glasses can. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superfocus-eyeglasses/570662/11 "2012-07-01T16:34:35Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > You can find 'em easy enough via guess or google: > > [http://www.superfocus.com/](http://www.superfocus.com/) Thanks, yabob. I wish I could afford a pair! ---
**Author:** ![Zep\_Tepi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/59ef9b/32.png) [@Zep\_Tepi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zep_Tepi)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superfocus-eyeglasses/570662/12 "2012-07-02T06:31:31Z")
Off Topic, but I wish someone could tell me why that if I don’t have my glasses with me, if I make a tiny hole by squeezing three finger tips together and look through that with one eye, everything comes into focus and I can read even the smallest print, albeit one word at a time. I remember seeing spectacles for sale that worked on this principle and had a plate, where the glass would normally be, but the plate had hundreds of small holes drilled in them. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superfocus-eyeglasses/570662/13 "2012-07-02T07:20:52Z")
> [@Zep\_Tepi](#): > > Off Topic, but I wish someone could tell me why that if I don’t have my glasses with me, if I make a tiny hole by squeezing three finger tips together and look through that with one eye, everything comes into focus and I can read even the smallest print, albeit one word at a time. This is a [pinhole occluder](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinhole_occluder) - it restricts the field of vision to a fraction of the lens, so larger scale lens distortion does not have an effect. The downside is reduced field of vision and a need for increased light. Si ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superfocus-eyeglasses/570662/14 "2012-07-03T03:29:20Z")
Wow. This definitely looks like a solution in search of a problem. I can’t imagine that I’d be happier with these than with my decidedly old-fashioned trifocals. Having to reach up and manually adjust the glasses every time I wanted to look up from my book or computer monitor or whatever would drive me nuts.