In article <314C9C6D.397F@computer.net>, krcmd@computer.net says...

>I posted a question yesterday regarding my leica r5 and my bifocals.
>I'm grateful for the suggestion that I switch to an autofocus camera,
>but I wonder if others have generally found that to be necessary.

I did not see the original post, so this may not be relevant (sorry!)
(And, besides, I hate AF [along with AE], so I will not accept that
"solution" myself - it is a poor substitute for good manual control
[otherwise, we may as well give up real photography and just use Point & Shoot's ;-]):
If you could see the VF of the R5 sharply before getting bifocals
(I can't - some camera mfgr's VF's are just not very sharp with some lenses for me [Minolta - Leitz are among them]), the problem may lie
in the bifocal placement (I had mine made smaller than usual [25mm -
it helps retain good peripheral distance and ground vision], lower
than usual [to be out of the way of my camera VF eyepiece], and
set for a longer distance from usual [magazine-newspaper reading
distance, rather than close book distance, for which my
nearsightedness works fine without glasses]). Now that tri-focals
are in order (and I refuse to get them - bifocals are confusing enough!), I am looking at another solution, which may work for you, also, if the above is not helpful. (BTW, the non-line bifocal type
lenses were a disaster, in my opinion - I value good lens edge
vision, and those could not provide it.) I am thinking of having
the main part of my focus-eye glasses lens set for optimal camera
VF sharpness, the other for best distance viewing, and since I cannot
see sharply between my current distance and closer lenses, I will have one of the inset lenses set for the inbetween distance. I will lose
a slight amount of stereo vision in trade for a reasonably continuous
sharp focus range, along with having the sharpest possible view
of the camera VF. I should get to this one of these days......
Hope This Helps