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Comment by interestica | Hacker News Reader

I got fitted for contact lenses. The “fitting” pair were used to measure and adjust. They didn’t have an actual prescription. However, they gave me super-human magnified vision for anything closer than a foot to my face. It was clearer than anything that could be achieved with lenses/magnification outside the eye. It was like having microscopes for eyes.

I seriously just wanted to get a pair for fine vision tasks like soldering. It made me wonder what type of other “vision augmentation” things might be doable with existing tech. There’s probably a market for devices like this even for those with normal/perfect vision.

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Sounds fun, but various kinds of jeweler's loupes and magnifying glasses seem less invasive then needing to stick the lenses directly in your eyes? I wore contacts in my 20s, but don't miss all the mess these days.

or just webcam + display ;) seem you two too old lol.

One of the upcoming rumoured new Apple Vision Pro accessibility features will apparently be providing a magnified vision area.

Quest 3 has the passthrough API now that lets apps access the camera feeds as well. I’m eagerly awaiting Meta or a third-party to implement something similar.

There’s also other specialist devices for the vision impaired like myself, but as far as I know none of them give you magnified STEREO vision (although maybe the new eSight does, I’m not sure tbh).

There’s also bioptic glasses, but they’re chunky. Honestly give me glasses with micro-OLED displays like the viewfinder on the Sony DSLR cameras attached to a top-tier phone camera sensor and lens construction; my phone zooms in amazingly far yet is thinner than any bioptic or monocular I’ve ever seen.

I’ve looked into building this kind of thing a few times but I think it might be above the components I can get my hands on.

VR headsets can be modified by removing IR filter if there is one, you should be ableto see near ir with them, same as with phone. or replacing it with ir only filter... or change camera sensor for SWIR one, for example here in video showing of unexpected industrial use cases of such sensor https://youtu.be/mS4EBbALAFM?t=153

im not sure "VR headsets" have cameras with good enough resolution to provide reliable magnification without AI/ml full of artifacts nonsense.

but you can connect different camera sources to them / to PC they are connected to,

for example some webcams have removable optics, so by removing that lens you get great macro camera, without replacing optics, just removing lens. i used that trick multiple times for reading PCB components type, covered with conformal coating. or with little ingenuity it is possible to replace with different lens altogether.

you should check out mobile phone microphone, where guy put drop of water on mobile phone lens and created microscope. or- lens from laser pointer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOHxNbxm-m4

different angles of incidence of light can make huge difference in legibility, be it for fine work or home.

or changing color(s) can increase contrast in some interiors. or just using one color of light i.e laser flood

not sure how long ago that was but the mess is very minimal these days. They sell contacts that are single use these days. There is no mess. Perfect for people that use them only for specific activities, like sports. It takes less than 1 minute to apply.

Steps: wash hands, peel the pack, put contacts onto the eyes.

I wouldn’t class it as invasive. It’s the difference between glasses and contact lenses: once they’re in, you shouldn’t really realize they’re there.

Although there are many different types of contact lenses (and fit types, and comfort) and many reasons for their use. For some, glasses just aren’t an option.

That reminds me of a visit to my eye doctor that required dilating my eyes. I was fortunate that it was at the end of the day, near sunset.

I remember walking around later after the sun had gone down, but my eyes were dilated. Around the outdoor lighting and porch lights, I could see everything. It was like I had superpowers and could see in the dark.

Most of them just use monitor and camera nowadays. You can watch how they work, there are lots of Youtube videos from people in those industry.

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