I have a Brother 1500 and was having difficulty seeing through the foot as I damaged the plastic when I deflected the needle into it a number of times when breaking needles at the beginning of my free motion journey... A long story that I won't go into. Whoops!
Anyway,as the foot was already damaged, I got an electric drill and a drill bit that was able to enlarge the center needle hole to drill out the damaged part of the plastic. Now the hole is bigger and it is easier to see around the needle. The foot still operates as normal but the center hole is larger. The plastic is still mostly intact but the hole is larger. Good luck finding a solution!