Which eye do you use in the viewfinder? And what hand are you?

I am right handed, but my left eye is much more dominant, and I have to use it for photography.

In turn, I also rotate my camera CW to do vertical shots, so that the camera is hanging off the left side of my face, with my left eye in the viewfinder.

Not sure how a vertical grip will feel with my left eye in the viewfinder, will it be crammed on the right side of my face? haha.

What about the rest of you? Any other left eyed shooters?

It used to be my left eye - until I had a problem with a contact lens, and have scarring on the edge of the lens which reduces the clarity of my vision - but only very slightly. Enough, though, so that I now use my right eye. Sometimes I'll still use my left eye if focus isn't an issue, like with my Holga. I'm right-handed. Are there any camera brands that make a special camera for lefties?!

Just wondering!

Megan

I'm right-handed and right-eyed. I was born with a paralyzed muscle in my left eye - this wasn't really discovered until I had trouble compensating for it at the age of 18 or 19. I had surgery to correct the problem, but by that point in my life, my left eye was seriously weaker than my right. If you were to cover my right eye, I'd bump into a lot of things.

I wear glasses to correct my vision. I should wear them all the time, but I only usually wear them when I read a lot or work on the computer. I NEVER wear them when I shoot photos - it just feels to wierd.

...kaleidoscopes, I'm LEFT EYE all the way. ;)

I don't quite know what that means, left-brain right-brain wise, as I write with my left hand, throw with my right, eat with my left, but brush my teeth with my right. I've never had a professional evaluation, but my guess is the two halves of my brain kind of fight it out, much like the Hatfields and the McCoys... :D

BTW, I usually use both eyes for binocs, viewmasters, periscopes, and peep shows. And for what it's worth, I can drink, punch, kick, snap fingers, shoot marbles, pick apples, plug dykes, poke eyes, point at things, flip birds, and pick my, eh, you know...equally well with either side... :)

I too hold my camera and shoot like Sean. I suppose early on I may have noticed how "professionals" did it and perhaps copied them to some degree, but mostly this way has always felt the most natural.

Interesting topic. I think it would feel extremely weird using my right eye to look through the viewfinder. Don't they say you should try things like that from time to time to "shake up" your brain? In my case, that might be dangerous! :cool:

Right handed, left eyed - so was Galen Rowell :D . Never thought about it until a couple of years ago when I shot (as in with a gun) sporting clays. I have to shoot lefty, or actually it doesn't make much difference in my case. Let's just say that clay targets aren't an endangered species around here...

I also flip the camera CCW, for some reason I get a little bit sharper results when I have to use a slow shutter speed (as in 1/30, etc). Hey Steve, if you're up for the Chicago gathering again I'll have to check out how you do it. I must be missing something because rotating the camera CW makes more sense for slower shutter speeds - I would think you could brace the camera better.

Huh? LCD all the way, baby! I get to use both eyes at once. :)

My first 2 digicams didn't even have optical viewfinders. My latest digicam does, but I tend to forget it's there, even when I should use it due to bright sunshine making the lcd image very hard to see.

Spike

I am a North paw/eye..

See!
This was me Saturday at the Utah Arts Fest, photographing "The Man" James McMurtry

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Originally Posted by another view

I also flip the camera CCW, for some reason I get a little bit sharper results when I have to use a slow shutter speed (as in 1/30, etc). Hey Steve, if you're up for the Chicago gathering again I'll have to check out how you do it

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Opps, big mistake here. I didn't read Sean's post closely enough... :eek:

For verts, I too rotate the camera CCW, cradling the camera with my left hand at the bottom, and my right hand on the shutter.

Seems to me we had this discussion not too long ago (at least with Sean), as CCW is pretty conventional for pro shooters with SLRs.

Man, now my brain is ALL mixed up... :D

BTW, I also throw a spear with my right arm... :cool:

I forgot to mention, I also don't have stereoscopic vision, and I have glasses... haha. No stereo vision means I can't use biniculars well, can't see the Magic Eye book things, can't do alot. My depth perception leaves much to be desired.

Right-eyed & eared -- these are both very strong tendencies, even though I have the exact same prescription for each eye and no hearing problems. When I watch movies the person to the left of me often thinks I'm looking at them because I have a tendency to turn my head to the left and tilt it so that my right ear is towards the screen and then I watch out of the corner of my right eye. Yes, I'm a freak.

As for the rest -- right-handed, left-brained. :D

Danielle

Sorry for changing the subject. But I just had to say that I like Mig's current signature ;)

Just to make things right - I'm right-eyed, right-handed, and always right :D

See, Steve - that's where I differ a bit - I chuck a spear with my left hand. *LOL*

Left eye that is. And when I shoot verticals I rotate the camera so my right hand is on top (sorry the whole clockwise, anticlockwise thing got me confused). Just about everything else I do with my right side. I’m right handed and right footed. I’m also right chested. The other day at soccer training we were practising controlling the ball with our chests and every time I used my right side. My right nipple didn’t appreciate it. Needless to say I’m not ambidextrous.

Cheers,

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My right nipple didn’t appreciate it.

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Bwah! You and Speed should hang out.

Danielle

Heh. Thanks PJ -- while I of course can't take credit, I do love my dork jokes. Thinkgeek.com is my mothership (um, besides here of course!).

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and always right :D

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That's why you're the captain!

Danielle

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Originally Posted by Mig

Bwah! You and Speed should hang out.

Danielle

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I, unfortunately, don’t have photos to share the occasion with you all.

Cheers

Hmm, I'd never really thought about it but now that you asked, if the left eye works, if the right eye works then that's the one I use (CW or CCW). It all depends on the best angle when not using a tripod.

For what it's worth, I chew predominately on the left side. In all else I am forced to be a rightie.

If the camera is horizontal, I usually use my right eye. Sometimes when I take long for a shot and there's for instance the sun against, that eye gets tired and I switch to my left eye.

When turning the camera CCW or CW doesn't seem to matter. I found two exactly the same photos bar the focus plane (one taken at inifinity, the other focused on a gate 1 m in front) that on the negatives appear to be oppositely rotated. I made those pictures within seconds from each other so...

Usually I try to get the camera in between my eyes and the main lightsource (usually the sun) to avoid me having to squint.

I use both eyes in the Viewfinder...
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....but on the Critique forum....

Sorry, I just couldn't resist any longer. :D

I'm also always RIGHT.

~Brian

Right-eyed, right-handed, left eared. Shooting rangefinders, I find that I keep both eyes open, my right eye in the viewfinder. I turn the Contax & Leica CW for verticals, shutter at the bottom. Telephones...left ear only, but I don't know why. :-)

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Originally Posted by Chunk

I use both eyes in the Viewfinder...
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....but on the Critique forum....

Sorry, I just couldn't resist any longer. :D

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FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brian

Well, I'm right handed, and right eyed...


And speaking of "dork" jokes Mig, I've always liked this one (hope you get it):


SELECT * FROM users WHERE clue > 0
No Records Found

I'm left-eared too! Perhaps this will be the start of a subthread?

~Brian

Yeah I've always liked that one too. Damn users. PEBKAC!

I will always go to shoot with my left eye but end up with my right since it's the clearest vision of the two... and I have always rotated CCW. the only time I rotate CW is during self portrait sessions and that's only because I have to be able to push the "button"

Since this has become a TMI sort of post I'll share the strangness as well...I'm right handed but have a tendency to wake up and watch movies and look at most situtaion with my right eye closed and my left eye open (Larry makes fun of me sometimes) it's a habit that I'm unaware of ---till someone points it out...I am right eared hearing.... and

Once upon a time when I was thinner and not left knee ACLery(translates to detached The Anterior Cruciate Ligament which needs reconstruction) challenged and played soccer I too was right chested ---aaaahhh the good ole days.....

good post Sean!

then learned that if you're left-eyed you get the film advance lever of your manual camera stuck in your forehead, so I switched to right-eye. Now I can't see through my viewfinder with my left eye. Weird.

I've got one up on all of you - when I get my negs/slides back there's always a few veticals shot either way - but then I find frames where my camera was <i>upside down</i> and I wonder how in the heck I did that?!

Rick

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Originally Posted by natatbeach

I will always go to shoot with my left eye but end up with my right since it's the clearest vision of the two... and I have always rotated CCW. the only time I rotate CW is during self portrait sessions and that's only because I have to be able to push the "button"

Since this has become a TMI sort of post I'll share the strangness as well...I'm right handed but have a tendency to wake up and watch movies and look at most situtaion with my right eye closed and my left eye open (Larry makes fun of me sometimes) it's a habit that I'm unaware of ---till someone points it out...I am right eared hearing.... and

Once upon a time when I was thinner and not left knee ACLery(translates to detached The Anterior Cruciate Ligament which needs reconstruction) challenged and played soccer I too was right chested ---aaaahhh the good ole days.....

good post Sean!

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Hmmm, but I'm a perv?!

Sean asked about eye/hand use. And somehow, we've gotten off on a tangent about being right chested.

My, my. my.

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Originally Posted by Sean Dempsey

I am right handed, but my left eye is much more dominant, and I have to use it for photography.

In turn, I also rotate my camera CW to do vertical shots, so that the camera is hanging off the left side of my face, with my left eye in the viewfinder.

Not sure how a vertical grip will feel with my left eye in the viewfinder, will it be crammed on the right side of my face? haha.

What about the rest of you? Any other left eyed shooters?

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Naturally! OK, actually, I'm partially ambi. I can do some things left handed (like batting) but not everything.

And I turn the camera CCW 99% of the time. The odd times I don't is because there is something on the left that will block the flash.

I've got a buddy who's right handed, but left eye dominant. It's a struggle. My heart goes out to those that have to deal with that sort of thing. You're always making adjusments to compensate.

Interesting thread Sean!

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Originally Posted by Speed

Hmmm, but I'm a perv?!

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you're among friends...confessions are good for the soul...
:p

nobody cares anymore but I liked this question.

I'm right handed but left eyed. Always. I can't even imagine using my right eye in the viewfinder.

BUT, rotation CW or CCW makes no difference to me, and I use both...it just depends on whether something is blocking my right elbow from going up, or if something is going to block the flash (like my left hand, for instance), or where it happens to be easiest to reach the button.

And I've never played futbol, so I have no idea which chest I am.... ;-)

~Kelly

Right, right, CCW.

Here's an article I wrote recently for another forum:

Have you ever wondered why they never place the viewfinder on the right rear of the camera? I notice a lot of photographers view with their right eye. I found out: When Leica and Contax were being designed, the ideal place for the viewfinder was at the left rear of the camera,because if the photographer held the camera against his brow,while using the left eye to view, the camera could be held steady against the width of the brow,virtually eliminating shake- (Ironically enough, Leica manuals always depicted a right-eye user!!!)Even with Dslrs the viewfinder is to the left of centre. When viewing with the right eye, there can be a tendency to roll the camera around the right of the brow,even ever so slightly could add to camera movement-so if any of you right-eye shooters are having problems with camera shake when hand-holding, it may make an improvement, by using the left eye. I learned a lot of basic photography from Victor Blackman,star photographer for the U.K daily,"TheDaily Express" in the early 1960's-He was very emphatic about using the left eye for more stability in hand holding cameras.

Hello:

To add to this "OLD" thread - but newly posted response brought to my attention:

I shoot left eye, right eye blind.. (Blind enough can not use it).

Nose prints on the 'ole LCD.

I vary how I rotate the camera for vertical shooting..

Thanks for reading,

Have a nice day...

Ed

Right eye through a viewfinder, right handed, right foot forward on a board (goofy), left foot forward on a bike.

If your not totally bored yet, see my post here and take the poll !

http://forums.photographyreview.com/...yed-81728.html

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Originally Posted by back_packn

Well, I'm right handed, and right eyed...


And speaking of "dork" jokes Mig, I've always liked this one (hope you get it):


SELECT * FROM users WHERE clue > 0
No Records Found

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My wife bought that on a t-shirt for me! :)

I'm also right handed and right eyed. But I'm pretty good with my left hand too from when I shattered my my right elbow when I was 18 and had to become a lefty for a year. Now I can often just use which ever hand is available.

Right handed, Right eye.
But currently ambisinistrous after the car crash.

I can shoot with whichever eye gives me the best view of the action with the other eye.
Because it's good to keep a wide view out with the left eye round the edge of the body while shooting telephoto with the right eye. That way I'm more aware of what's happening around me. There may be action developing (an overtake in the making) that I'd miss with the view through the lens.