Watching 3D Movies in the Theatre (Glasses Question)

Its been a few years since I've watched a 3D movie in the theatre (I think the last one was Avatar). The main reason...? I wear glasses and the last time I viewed a 3D movie the 3D glasses provided didnt fit right over my everyday spectacles.

Has anything changed? Any "prescription glasses friendly" changes made over the past few years?

Thanks to all for any insight.

a reply to: eluryh22

Google search found me this www.prescription3d.org...

Link function isn't working for me, is it broken?

originally posted by: eluryh22
Its been a few years since I've watched a 3D movie in the theatre (I think the last one was Avatar). The main reason...? I wear glasses and the last time I viewed a 3D movie the 3D glasses provided didnt fit right over my everyday spectacles.

Has anything changed? Any "prescription glasses friendly" changes made over the past few years?

Thanks to all for any insight.

Well, I just saw Star Wars in 3D last night and I wear glasses as well. Oddly enough I thought the same thing going in there too. But I just put the 3D glasses over my normal glasses and it worked fine. Keep in mind though that my normal glasses are fairly small. I have very thin frames and the lenses are about the same size as my eye sockets. The new 3D glasses are pretty big in comparison and worked just fine. The only thing that may have been different is that they didn't get as close to my eyes as they would without my glasses so I could see the frame of them in my peripheral but it didn't stop me from enjoying any of the movie at all.

a reply to: eluryh22
Quick fix but you'll look like a dork. Cut the colored lenses off and tape them to your glasses.

I don't do well with the 3-d. Have you ever hummed through a box-fan?
It has a similar effect on my vision. I find it distracting and annoying.
I'm good with the good old silver screen.

originally posted by: Skid Mark
a reply to: eluryh22
Quick fix but you'll look like a dork. Cut the colored lenses off and tape them to your glasses.

They don't use colored lenses anymore with modern 3D. They are clear now.

a reply to: mOjOm
Oh well shoot. I had no idea. I have to come out from under the rock more often I guess.

originally posted by: Skid Mark
a reply to: mOjOm
Oh well shoot. I had no idea. I have to come out from under the rock more often I guess.

Yea, the technology has come quite a ways since then. You should check it out if you have the chance. They don't strain your eyes like the colored lenses did either. It works rather well now.

The old colored lenses work fine for me...especially in black and white.
The new 3-d makes me feel like I'm watching a movie while sitting on a lawn-mower.
I walked out of 'Alice in Wonderland' half-way through.
It was making my brain hurt.

originally posted by: skunkape23
The old colored lenses work fine for me...especially in black and white.
The new 3-d makes me feel like I'm watching a movie while sitting on a lawn-mower.
I walked out of 'Alice in Wonderland' half-way through.
It was making my brain hurt.

Bummer. It had the opposite effect for me. The modern polarized 3D feels totally comfortable to me. The colored lenses after a while really strained my eyes and gave me a bit of a headache. Plus having the new ones on and looking somewhere besides the screen looks totally normal.

originally posted by: mOjOm

originally posted by: skunkape23
The old colored lenses work fine for me...especially in black and white.
The new 3-d makes me feel like I'm watching a movie while sitting on a lawn-mower.
I walked out of 'Alice in Wonderland' half-way through.
It was making my brain hurt.

Bummer. It had the opposite effect for me. The modern polarized 3D feels totally comfortable to me. The colored lenses after a while really strained my eyes and gave me a bit of a headache. Plus having the new ones on and looking somewhere besides the screen looks totally normal.

Correct me if I am wrong. I believe the new 3-d flickers the screen between 2 different angles as the lenses alternately black out and go clear at a rapid rate.
I think my problem may be that I have different focal lengths between my two eyes.
My left eye sees everything smaller than my right eye. When it rapidly flickers between the two it is slightly unpleasant.

originally posted by: skunkape23
Correct me if I am wrong. I believe the new 3-d flickers the screen between 2 different angles as the lenses alternately black out and go clear at a rapid rate.
I think my problem may be that I have different focal lengths between my two eyes.
My left eye sees everything smaller than my right eye. When it rapidly flickers between the two it is slightly unpleasant.

Right. One lens let's through horizontal and the other vertical while blocking out the other. So only one or the other signal is seen by either eye and then your brain puts them together into a single image but it's as if you're still seeing in stereo vision.

I'm not sure about the flicker part though. It's more that one each lens only allows for either a vertical or horizontal polarized light through to one eye or the other. All video has a flicker rate to it but it's usually too fast for us to even notice and you would get that for anything. Even the light bulbs we use have a flicker rate if you could see fast enough to notice.

a reply to: skunkape23

Correct me if I am wrong. I believe the new 3-d flickers the screen between 2 different angles as the lenses alternately black out and go clear at a rapid rate.

Actually, it's very similar to the old method, only that instead of using red/blue images, they use polarized images. If you have problems with depth perception or focus you may get headaches from 3D viewing.

www.physics.org...

If you look at an object near you and close your left and right eyes in turn, you’ll see that each has a slightly different view of the world. Your left eye sees a bit more of the left side of the object, and your right eye sees a bit more of its right side. Your brain fuses the two images together allowing you to see in three dimensions. This is known as stereoscopic vision.

To create a similar effect, 3D films are captured using two lenses placed side by side, just like your eyes (or by producing computer generated images to replicate the same effect).

In old fashioned 3D films, footage for the left eye would be filmed using a red lens filter, producing a red image, and footage for the right eye would be shot using a blue filter, resulting in a blue image. Two projectors then superimposed the images on the cinema screen.

...

As with old fashioned 3D, the film is recorded using two camera lenses sat side by side. But in the cinema, the two reels of film are projected through different polarised filters. So images destined for viewers' left eyes are polarised on a horizontal plane, whereas images destined for their right eyes are polarised on a vertical plane.

Cinema goers’ glasses use the same polarising filters to separate out the two images again, giving each eye sees a slightly different perspective and fooling the brain into 'seeing' Avatar's planet Pandora as though they were actually there.

a reply to: skunkape23

You might be thinking of active 3d which is used on TV's. They use a shutter speed that is timed with the image so it flickers back and forth letting each image into either eye at just the right timing. I've never tried those so I don't know how I would react to it.

But that is a different method than the polarized way.

originally posted by: skunkape23

originally posted by: mOjOm

originally posted by: skunkape23
The old colored lenses work fine for me...especially in black and white.
The new 3-d makes me feel like I'm watching a movie while sitting on a lawn-mower.
I walked out of 'Alice in Wonderland' half-way through.
It was making my brain hurt.

Bummer. It had the opposite effect for me. The modern polarized 3D feels totally comfortable to me. The colored lenses after a while really strained my eyes and gave me a bit of a headache. Plus having the new ones on and looking somewhere besides the screen looks totally normal.

Correct me if I am wrong. I believe the new 3-d flickers the screen between 2 different angles as the lenses alternately black out and go clear at a rapid rate.
I think my problem may be that I have different focal lengths between my two eyes.
My left eye sees everything smaller than my right eye. When it rapidly flickers between the two it is slightly unpleasant.

I get the same effect because of my astigmatism, it drives me crazy. I've trained myself to look for an off-focus point I can focus on, usually color based, that my eyes will get in focus.

Thanks to all for your input. Much appreciated.

I wear smaller glasses, and they fit fine over mine.

Some folks just have a problem with 3D in general though, due to how their eyes see things, so for some, they just can't do it. However, that said, even folks who used to get sick with the old 3D rarely do with modern ones that are MADE with it in mind (vs. ones converted to the format).

originally posted by: skunkape23
I don't do well with the 3-d. Have you ever hummed through a box-fan?
It has a similar effect on my vision. I find it distracting and annoying.
I'm good with the good old silver screen.

Same for me and my family. We all hate it.