Handy seeing aid

I came across this a while back, not sure if it was posted already.

You have any sight issues and don't have your seeing aid ready? No problem.
Just make a tiny hole with your fingers and look through with one eye. Clear as sky, on a rainy day

I have perfect vision so not for me. I told a friend to try it, she was blown away.

Well, here goes nothing.



What do you blind chickens think?

a reply to: Terpene

I heard about this a few years back. Like a lot of years, I was maybe 19, and we were drinking. And for some reason this alternate history vision popped in my head.

What if instead of glasses being invented, this technique was discovered first and to free up our hands, we all carried little people in a back pack to reach around and make the tiny holes over our eyes for us.

I laughed so hard I puked.

It's not as funny now, but I'd still like to make this happen.

Nothing new, I knew this since childhood, they even sold eyeglasses full of pinholes, let's see if I can find one....


Here they are!

www.walmart.com...

a reply to: Atsbhct

Well, it still made me laugh. Maybe has something to do with the alcohol level....

a reply to: ATSAlex

Did you ever get to use it?

I guess it is very rare to forget your seeing aid, it is not like a hat that you wouldn't notice.

a reply to: Terpene


Like a couple of responses I found this out in childhood to, I'd be 12 or so.

So, I have a sense kids maybe discover this as a 'coping strategy' that adults don't need. My question is how do kids discover this? I can't remember!

Also, why does it work at all?

a reply to: Doxanoxa

It has to do with the amount of light hitting your retina. The pinhole makes it that only the light from the object you're looking at hits your retina.
Normally the muscles on our eyes lenses do change the focal point so we see clear whatever we look at.
if that doesn't work properly, all the light hitting the retina unfocused, creates a blured image...
the video explains it better...

originally posted by: Doxanoxa
a reply to: Terpene

Like a couple of responses I found this out in childhood to, I'd be 12 or so.

So, I have a sense kids maybe discover this as a 'coping strategy' that adults don't need. My question is how do kids discover this? I can't remember!

I discovered it when I was about 5. I was in school and there was some kind of performance on a stage and I couldn't see it too well. I discovered that if I squinted my eyes, it looked more clear. But I could only squint so much before my eyelids would close. Then I thought if the squinting worked, maybe I could make something smaller to look through with my fingers, and I did, and it worked. Eventually I ended up getting glasses and then contacts but that pinhole solution carried me over until I did. Seeing in the classroom wasn't as bad, since things weren't as far away as that stage was, and I usually sat in the front row.

Also, why does it work at all?

Ever heard of a "pinhole camera"? Turns out a pinhole can act like a lens. There's an interesting demonstration here which is compared to pinhole cameras near the end:

Can You Solve This Shadow Illusion?

When sunlight shines through a small hole, it casts a circular image on the wall regardless of the shape of the hole. The size of the hole also doesn't affect the size of the image. This counterintuitive demonstration shows that the hole is acting like a pinhole camera, producing an image of the sun on the wall. Therefore the size and shape of the hole have no effect on the size and shape of the image.

a reply to: Terpene

Very handy indeed. I actually tried this, this morning! Hahah

I had left my glasses in my room and was being absolutely lazy. I tried it but it didn’t work so I had to go get my glasses anyways...

I’m thinking my eyes were still blurry from waking up and still not fully focused. I just tried it again now and it worked

a reply to: Terpene

I've heard of this before and yes, it works.

a reply to: Arbitrageur

Thanks.

So in essence,

"The “pinhole effect” is an optical concept suggesting that the smaller the pupil size, the less defocus from spherical aberrations is present. When light passes through a small pinhole or pupil, all unfocused rays are blocked, leaving only focused light to land on the retina to form a clear image." I copied this from Quora or somewhere.

As you say "counterintuative" and I agree, and guess this is what fascinates me. The pinhole idea has been around apparently since 500 BC, and we all found it out by ourselves as children.

So its not counter-intuative at all, its very-intuative when you think about it.

I'm lost as to where the initial intuition cam from at all. I surely didnt get it from a pin hole camera, or from the ancient Chinese. One of lifes mysteries I guess.