Shooting glasses are specialized corrective

glasses Glasses, also known as eyeglasses (American English), spectacles (Commonwealth English), or colloquially as specs, are vision eyewear with clear or tinted lenses mounted in a frame that holds them in front of a person's eyes, typically u ...

for use in shooting and are used almost exclusively in sport shooting competitions. Like other glasses, they are worn in front of the eyes to compensate for the shooter's

ametropia Refractive error is a problem with focusing light accurately on the retina due to the shape of the eye and/or cornea. The most common types of refractive error are near-sightedness, far-sightedness, astigmatism, and presbyopia. Near-sightedne ...

with optical lenses.

Functions

In contrast to most other eye glasses, shooting glasses usually only have one lens that corrects the ametropia of the dominant eye, which is used for aiming. This lens is selected in such a way that the maximum visual acuity lies on the font sight line element near the muzzle of the (non-magnifying) open type or diopter and globe type match sight line elements to get three points positioned in three different optical planes in acceptably sharp focus at the same time. This is necessary because the shooter can influence the weapon and sight line elements and not the target. It is accepted that the target is not seen with maximal visual acuity when aligning the target with the front and rear sighting elements, especially with increasing age or when using open sights. To avoid eye fatigue and improve balance the non-aiming eye should be kept open. The non-aiming eye can be blocked from seeing distractions by mounting a semi-transparent occluder. This is preferred to pinching the non-aiming eye in order to avoid the undesirable closing of the eyelid of the aiming eye and increased strain on the eyelid muscle. The corrective lens for the aiming eye is attached to the eyeglasses frame and adjustable in three-dimensional space. This ensures that the aiming eye can look through the glass centrally and axially optimally adjusted to minimize optical distortions and hence distortions to the sighting image. The occluder for the non-aiming eye and other accessories mounted to the frame are also adjustable. The shooter positions the corrective lens correctly in front of their aiming eye and other accessories depending on their posture and preferences when shooting.

Accessories

Accessories mounted on the highly adjustable shooting glasses frames consist of: *

Iris diaphragm In optics, a diaphragm is a thin opaque structure with an opening (aperture) at its center. The role of the diaphragm is to ''stop'' the passage of light, except for the light passing through the ''aperture''. Thus it is also called a stop (an a ...

s to increase the

depth of field The depth of field (DOF) is the distance between the nearest and the farthest objects that are in acceptably sharp focus (optics), focus in an image captured with a camera. See also the closely related depth of focus. Factors affecting depth ...

and reduce reflections. * Colored transparent insert discs to increase the

contrast sensitivity Contrast is the difference in luminance or color that makes an object (or its representation in an image or display) visible against a background of different luminance or color. The human visual system is more sensitive to contrast than to absolu ...

. * Semi-transparent occluder to block the non-aiming eye from seeing distractions. * Glare shields to restrain light from the side or from above are considered permitted accessories.

Sporting competitions

In principle, the correction of ametropia is permitted with all suitable means. This also applies to colored discs and iris diaphragms. The use of magnifying aiming optics is not allowed by the

International Shooting Sport Federation The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) is the governing body of Shooting at the Summer Olympics, Olympic shooting events. It also regulates several ISSF shooting events, non-Olympic shooting sport events. The Federation's activities ...

. For some shooting competition types, safety glasses are mandatory or expressly recommended as

eye protection Eye protection is protective gear for the eyes, and sometimes face, designed to reduce the risk of injury. Examples of risks requiring eye protection can include: impact from particles or debris, light or radiation, wind blast, heat, sea sp ...

. Shooting glasses are also permitted as eye protection.Sportordnung des Deutschen Schützenbundes e. V., Grundwerk vom 1. Januar 2018
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Gallery

File:Olfa Charni.jpg, Olfa Charni wearing shooting glasses with a semi-transparent occluder for the non-aiming eye competing in a

10 m air pistol The 10 metre air pistol is an Shooting at the Summer Olympics, Olympic ISSF shooting events, shooting event governed by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF). It is similar to 10 metre air rifle in that it is shot with 4.5 mm (o ...

event. File:Olfa Charni 2011.jpg, Olfa Charni wearing her shooting glasses with the semi-transparent occluder for the non-aiming eye flipped up. File:Elizabeth Callahan, women's 25-meter sport pistol shooting.jpg, Elizabeth Callahan wearing shooting glasses with an iris diaphragm as a visual aid at a 25 m pistol event. File:Fuzzy sight picture.svg, A 6 o'clock open pistol sight picture with focus on the front sight element; the out-of-focus gray dot represents the target. File:191029-F-RB000-001.jpg, U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet Peter Fiori using corrective shooting glasses as a visual aid at a

10 m air rifle 10 meter air rifle is an International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) shooting event, shot at a bullseye target over a distance of using a calibre air rifle with a maximum weight of . It is one of the ISSF sports governed in shooting spor ...

event. File:SPC Dan Lowe shoots to 28th place in 3-position rifle at Rio Games (28980304565).jpg, Daniel Lowe using corrective shooting glasses as a visual aid at a 50 meter rifle three positions event. File:Wiley-X PT-1 3-lens.jpg, Shooting glasses with 3 available lens tints (gray-green, clear, and persimmon) used for eye protection and improving vision. File:UVEX S3300 Genesis XC protective eyewear.jpg, Shooting glasses with 2 available lens tints used for eye protection and improving vision with an inserted optional prescription lens carrier.

References

{{Eyewear Corrective lenses Protective gear Sports equipment Shooting sports equipment Glasses Ophthalmology