Glasses question for Spexxvet

[squirell nutkin]

I have a question about optometrist vs. ophthalmologist. I know you covered part of it in the great $3.00 glasses online form China debate but I got a bit lost.

I want to change my eye doc for a couple of reasons. I got a fairly decent pair of glasses from him a few years ago and he pushed me into progessive bifocals. After a day or two I went back and said No Thanks. Mainly, I am not near or far sighted. I am astigmatic. I can read comfortably at 8-10 inches. His contention was that I would soon be farsighted as I am approaching 50. He happily exchanged the lenses with a correction just for astigmatism. When I got them I noticed that I couldn't see sharply at distances greater than 50-75 feet. He told me optical infinity for the human eye is something crazy like 15 feet. Maybe that's true, but it doesn't work for me, especially as a photographer I scrutinize what I look at.

So my question is in order to get the best performance from my glasses and best diagnosis of my eyesight deficiency do I want to work with an ophthalmologist or an optometrist? Thanks in advance.
SN