Scylla Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 OK, they're not really magic. Well last week I finally got to try out my new fossil glasses and I would have to say they were a success. First some background: I have reached, ahem, an age where bifocals are needed. So to see far distances I look through the top of my glasses and to read I look through the bottom. I find that the constant switching from far to near during fossil hunting was leaving my eyes fatigued to the point of not being able to see anything. Furthermore my 10 and 12 year old sons were always cleaning out the beaches and gravel banks faster than I could walk to them. I had a simple idea to even the playing field. I asked my optometrist to measure me for a pair that did not focus far, nor near, but rather were optimized for distances of about 7 ft or so. We did this by laying the small vision card on the ground at about my preferred fossil looking distance and refracting for the best vision at that distance. These glasses are not good for long distance gazing nor for reading, but they helped me find a heck of a lot of fossils. We met up with another TFF member, who did seem politely skeptical when I showed off my new experimental, top secret, fossil glasses. I found some odotus that the 10 year old missed, a fossil skull that at least three more experienced fossil hunters had walked right past and a lockback knife stuck in a log right near the trail end. My eyes were the least fatigued portion of my body at the end of the hunt. My fossil hunting buddy seemed convinced that the glasses helped by the end of the trip and so was I. Version 2.0 of the fossil glasses will incorporate magnification and a polarized filter to cut glare. I may even get them as reverse bifocals with the mid-distance prescription on the bottom and the close distance on top. that would make close inspection of in-hand fossils easier. I hope this helps some of you, um, more mature hunters out there! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nandomas Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 (edited) Being 53, I am way too young for this stuff :ninja: ! Edited April 4, 2013 by Nandomas Erosion... will be my epitaph! http://www.paleonature.org/ https://fossilnews.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batty Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 Lol you poor old thing, until I start bumping into things I will stay in denial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolmt Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 Neat I do the same thing for playing music I have a pair that lets me see the conductor 6 feet away and the bottom of the lenslets me read the music about 19 inches away. Unfortunately they cost about $500 to have made. I also have a pair for the computer that is set at about 22 inches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertman Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 I think you are on to something with this glasses idea. I recently started wearing them when walking/crawling for shark teeth. They seem to be working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted April 4, 2013 Author Share Posted April 4, 2013 Neat I do the same thing for playing music I have a pair that lets me see the conductor 6 feet away and the bottom of the lenslets me read the music about 19 inches away. Unfortunately they cost about $500 to have made. I also have a pair for the computer that is set at about 22 inches. Mine were about $120 at Costco. I know I can get them cheaper in some countries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 Wow Gus! Sounds like a great investment for you! Glad they worked out. I've had regular bifocals for years, (crappy vision - genetically earned.) My hunting doesn't require this modification, but I could see where it could be helpful for others. Thanks for posting this. Regards, Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 Can you get them in a nice steampunk frame? Might help with interruptions... "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 Cool on the glasses fornt... I am also at that same stage... going back and forth from close to far and tiring my eyes out. I might have to talk to someone about making some fossiling goggles. Now about this fossil skull that you told us about but failed to show pix.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted April 4, 2013 Author Share Posted April 4, 2013 Cool on the glasses fornt... I am also at that same stage... going back and forth from close to far and tiring my eyes out. I might have to talk to someone about making some fossiling goggles. Now about this fossil skull that you told us about but failed to show pix.... Getting CT scanned tomorrow, stay tuned... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted April 4, 2013 Author Share Posted April 4, 2013 Can you get them in a nice steampunk frame? Might help with interruptions... Yes, you could get any frames you want, these are the ones I chose: The heavy black frames are the fossil glasses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolmt Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 Wow...... being in a position where you can get your fossil CT scanned.....Amazing!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimB88 Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 now those Auspex are magic fossiling glasses. I can hear the conversation with the police on the roadcut now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bear-dog Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 I had a nice pair of glasses at a yard sale.It was black plastic,but the glasses were like binoculars and each side was adjustable .They came in handy with the tiny things.Sad part was acetone killed them because a friend used them to work on microfossils. Bear-dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted April 12, 2013 Author Share Posted April 12, 2013 I had a set of those from Brookstone I think back in the 1980's. Sort of like these: http://www.magnifyingaids.com/2.8X_Sports_Glasses?zenid=06cfd73e5646ad44a18a5f4c6edb8c01 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bear-dog Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 I had a set of those from Brookstone I think back in the 1980's. Sort of like these: http://www.magnifyingaids.com/2.8X_Sports_Glasses?zenid=06cfd73e5646ad44a18a5f4c6edb8c01 Yes those are it.Thanks ! Bear-dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah Posted December 21, 2013 Share Posted December 21, 2013 What a brilliant idea. I'm 36 with glasses, but having torn several muscles in my back from a car wreck when I was in my early twenties, hunching over to see the ground hurts after a short while. I normally have to go find a washout and sit down to look closely. Having glasses focused to see the ground in front of me with possibly some magnification would save me a lot of pain and extend my happiness, because I'm sure like you, I'm happiest when I'm hunting. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted December 22, 2013 Author Share Posted December 22, 2013 ... Thanks again. You're welcome, not too late to get a pair for Christmas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Rick Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 When I first read the title, I thought they were X-Ray Glasses ...... but these are pretty darned cool !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Russell Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Thank you for the inspirational confession, Scylla. . I wore reading gasses (purchased over the counter) last year when hunting everything but mazon nodules. They helped indeed; however, this year prescription glasses are a must for me. I'm pretty sure its an age thing. Umm Auspex.?. Could we possible get a picture of you in those bad boys? Finding my way through life; one fossil at a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stocksdale Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 (edited) I took my teenage daughter and her friend to a Steampunk event this fall. In a feeble attempt to be hip, I fashioned a pretend pair sort of like those, Auspex. Edited January 8, 2014 by Neophytus Elginian Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.–Carl Sagan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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