Changing from left eye to right eye shooting

[gmb]

I am a left eye shooter since the left eye is my leading eye. For a number of

reasons, I think right eye shooting would be preferable, in particular since a

right eye shooter can see something with the other eye and a left eye shooter

cannot (also, when you have a digital camera, left eye shooters tend to leave

marks on the screen of the camera). I would be interested to know whether any

left eye shooter has successfully changed to right eye shooting. Also, does it

make sense to shoot with right eye if the left is your leading eye? Or should

I just forget about this and continue doing what I did during the past 30 years

or so?

 

Thanks for your thoughts.

[jonathan_reynolds]

Georg, I have the same dilemma.

 

When I have time to think, I now shoot right-eyed in landscape format. Oddly, I have a feeling that I compose better with the right eye, but I can produce no evidence to support that.

 

When I switch to portrait format, I use my left eye because I like to jam the camera against the side of my nose, and because I find it easier to keep my focussing fingers out of the rangefinder window. For human subjects, these two shooting positions make it easier to relate to the subject, who can still see half of the photographer's face.

 

I have seen discussions about the 'alert potential' of the two opptions when shooting street scenes. One way your entire face is blacked out when you raise the camera, the other way you raise your hands to one side of your face, which is also eye-catching. I don't believe there's much in it.

 

When I'm in a hurry, instincts take over and the camera goes to my left eye and my nose gets squashed.

 

Although a natural right-eye shooter can leave his left eye open when shooting, a natural left-eye shooter is more likely to find this distracting. I find I have to close mine.

[john_shriver]

I'm also left eyed, and it's a chore with most cameras. If I close only my left eye, the eyelid flutters, my body just doesn't want to do it. When I took archery in college gym class, I found it more practical to shoot left handed than to try and aim right eyed.

 

I'm wondering if using a 1:1 viewfinder with both eyes open is one way around this. I've got a Topcon 35-L that I've just restored, which has a 1:1 viewfinder and 44mm lens. I'll have to see how it works with both eyes open, on the right eye.

 

The VC R3A and R3M cameras are also blessed with a 1:1 finder. The Konica III-A and III-M are also well-loved 1:1 finder cameras, but fixed lens of course.

 

But I don't think anyone's likely to ever make a 1:1 finder with 35mm framelines. 40mm is about as wide as they can get.

[Craig_Cooper11664875449]

This may not be the same thing but this year I have had to learn to shoot with my left eye after always being a right-eyed person. This was required due to a reasonably rapid onset of astigmatism in my right eye which now doesnt allow me to be able to focus a manual focus camera anymore - which 2 of those 4 images should I line up :))

 

It has taken me almost 9 months to get to the point where I naturally lift the camera to my left eye and it feels comfortable - it certainly felt very uncomfortable to begin with.

[jake_tauber]

I am a left-eyed shooter as well and no matter how hard I try I cannot switch to my right. But I have noticed that even with my right eye basically behind the camera, I can see the scene better with both eyes open.

[jeffpolaski]

I'm a right eye shooter. I've learned to leave my left eye open an simply ignore what the left eye sees. It's an old Army rifle training trick.

 

The good thing about closing the left eye is that I no longer see the subjec5t in three dimensions. The image is going to be recorded on a two-dimensional plane, and I can fooled into thinking that what I see in three dimensions will be rendered the same in two dimensions.

 

The good thing about leaving the left eye open is the added wide range of vision in crowd andother outdoor situations. Like a big angry guy coming up on my blind side during street demonstration. But I'm too old for that stuff any more.

 

Right eye does give me better camera support. I don't know what cameras you are using, but when I use my Pentax KX SLR with the matched 55mm lens, the images are precisely alike in my right eye through the viewfinder, and the left eye naked. If the images are not matched, that's really distracting.

 

And sometimes I just shoot from the hip.

[35mmdelux]

Why not do what works for you?

[david_l3]

I shoot with my left eye, which is my dominant eye. No problems. I've tried shooting with my right eye but never for long. I also hold the camera steadier left eyed because the camera is braced better against my face. I'll keep shooting with my left eye as long as I can. Btw, for some reason I find loading my M6 and M4 much easier left handed. It's all backward compared to Leica's instructions, but it works smoothly for me.

[SCL]

I had to make the change after many years due to a growing blind spot in my left eye. It felt a little funny but with practice it became second nature.

[steve_bellayr]

I am a right eye shooter. My wife is a left I shooter. For what it is worth I'll answer for her. She finds using a rangefinder and a TLR much easier than an SLR.

[andrew1]

I'm right eye dominant, and my normal RF shooting mode is right eyed with both eyes

open. Using a rangefinder for several years has taught me to look at the world and

my subjects in it more directly, and only use the camera as my instrument to get

focus and make the exposure. So the camera and how I use it has become less visible

and persistent to me and to my subjects than it was with SLR. This has had the effect

of profoundly changing how I use my eyes with the camera. Both my eyes are more

engaged with the world, and less engaged with my camera. This in turn has opened

up more flexibility for me with how I do use my eyes in relation to the camera. I've

discovered that it's

often quite useful to use my left (non dominant) eye for focus and composition.

Sometimes stealth or an awkward position will require a shot be done with one eye

vs. the other. <p>The other issue at work here is the architecture of our brains.

Remember that our eyes are each goverened slightly more by one

hemisphere of the brain, and that while they certainly work together, there's also a

certain amount of difference in the way they process information. Someone else

mentioned that he feels he composes better with one eye over the other. I find that I

do compose differently, and it's often helpful to have the other half of my brain using

the framelines and controling the focus- so switching and excercising the other eye

and hemisphere seems to help my photography, too. Sometimes I can't seem to find

the shot I want while using my right eye, so I will switch, and let the left one take a

look. This often does the trick, and I find a good composition. It's another form of

shifting perspective to reveal new information.

[g-man1]

I used SLR's with my left eye. I forced myself to use my right eye for my M and took about a couple of weeks to feel comfortable (I'm 38 and my brain was set in it's old ways). Then I allowed myself to use my left eye when shooting verticals and felt guilty about it -- I found I could get more stability as my right elbow stuck out when shooting verticals with my right eye, but I could hold my elbows tight against my body when shooting verticals with my left eye. Then I saw a pictuer of HCB shooting a vertical with his left eye and have felt better ever since :-). Alas, my pictues still aren't "great" but I capture the moment and get by.

[Prof-K]

I also hate the wind lever poking my eye. I tried, but failed to switch :(

[jtdnyc]

I usually shoot with my right eye because that's the easiest way to use a Leica, but when I want to compose carefully I prefer to use my left eye, which is dominant and in which I have better vision.

 

To make left-eyed shooting more practical, I have made two accomodations. First, I use a Leicavit, which eliminates the eye-poke problem. Second, I use a .58 viewfinder, which compensates for the greater eye-to-viewfinder distance made necessary by my nose.

[rickvandenberg]

I had a wandering eye most of my life (which I was good at controlling). So all my life I've been able, at will, do make either eye wander and be able to differentiate between the resulting double images.

 

So I shoot with whatever eye I care to. But I always keep both open, unless shooting macro - in which case I shoot with my right and keep the left closed. Don't ask why -- it just bugs me to do otherwise :)

[karl_graf]

I attempted switiching eyes but gave up. It made me cross eyed and everything was fuzzy.

[farnz]

I'm a left-eye shooter too. Ever tried just turning the whole camera upside down and shooting left eye? (It's easier than standing on your head! LOL)

[john_newell2]

Andrew D., your comments are fascinating (truly - from this left-eye shooter).

[ron_h__portland_]

Andrew,

 

While your supposition that the two halves/sides of the brain process information differently appears to be true of the right and left frontal cortex (cortices?) I am aware of no evidence showing that the right and left occipital cortices (where visual processing happens) assess information differently. In fact, each eye sends information to BOTH sides of the brain. It's a bit more complex than that, but it should suffice for this discussion. This is an area of study I'm fairly familar with, having spent several years studying and practicing as an eye doctor. Those final visual "pictures" are then sent on to the appropriate frontal cortex for interpretation/action.

 

For example, I see a boxwood hedge maze with my right eye only. That information is processed and turned into a "picture" in my right AND left occipital cortices. My left frontal cortex (being that area where spatial relationships are best dealt with) interprets the image and helps me find a way out of the maze.

 

Ron

[stephen_w.]

I'm a left eye shooter. I just tried right eye, with and without the 1.25 mag., and I just couldn't do it. Less camera support, weird loss of RF patch contrast, but brighter frame, generally...really spooky.

[stuart_richardson]

I am naturally a left-eyed shooter, but I can switch to the right eye without much problem. I

don't however...I think you should just go with the flow and use the eye that is easier for you.

Carry a microfiber cloth to clean the rear screen on the digital camera (I am serious).

Otherwise, being left eyed is actually a nice advantage in terms of camera stability. You can

mush the whole camera against your face and hold it more steadily. If all this is too much for

you, just get a camera with a waist level finder!

[colin_elliott]

I like to keep both eyes open when I shoot and consequently use my right eye. This in spite of the fact that my left eye is dominant and I shot with my left eye for 40 years!\

 

When I use an SLR, I automatically raise it to my left eye. When I use my Leica M6, I automatically raise it to my right eye. It's instinctual, now. With most SLR's having a prism hump in the middle of the body, either eye is compromised if you try to keep both open

[gmb]

Thanks to everybody for the thoughtful answers. I understand from the answers that there is no secret trick to switching and that the only solution is to try whether right eye shooting would work. If yes, fine, if not, fine as well.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

[andrew1]

Ron- I will certainly defer to your expertise about how the brain processes visual

information. I make no claims to any expertise. (A little knowledge is a

dangerous thing...) <p>The truth is I'm really not sure how to

account for the fact that it seems to me

that I see differently under the three different circumstances of keeping both eyes

open, viewing primarily or exclusively through my right (dominant) eye, and viewing

primarily or exclusively through my left (non-dominant) eye. All I can say for sure is

that the information which occurs to me under these circumstances seems somehow

different through each perspective. Each way of seeing seems to reveal different

aspects of what I'm looking at, and in thining about it, I try to assign

some theory for this phenomenon. I don't find it difficult to believe my brain

hemisphere theory isn't

quite right. Perhaps it's just the fact that it's easy and instinctual for me to see with

both eyes open, and through my right (dominant) eye only, but to use only my left

(non-

dominant) eye requires of me a concious effort that is not involved in any other way

of

seeing that produces the percieved difference. Whatever it is, it seems to

work, and is something I would suggest other

photographers might try. It all comes back to doing what works, and experimenting

to find new ways to work.

[dan flanders]

Irrespective of the brain mechanics involved it is not difficult to change one's dominant eye. Except in situations involving pathological problems the domination of one eye over the other is primarily a matter of long ingrained habit and the individual can make the change if willing to submit to a bit of discipline. Many shotgunners and other shooters have successfully changed their eye's dominance in order to accommodate other shooting problems. In my own instance I am right handed and my right eye has long been dominant; and when heavily involved in trapshooting competition I somenow contracted an infection in my right eye that necessitated covering with a bandage for several weeks. I am somewhat ambidextrous and was able to shoot from my left shoulder though not as efficiently as with my right. When my eye healed and I could return to right-hhandedness I found that my left eye had become dominant and I started shooting from my right shoulder with my left eye closed. Naturally my scores dropped, and were it not for the advice of a friendly optician who also was a shooter I would likely have had to abandon competition shooting. He showed me how to paint an opaque spot on the left lens of my shooting glasses at the spot where my eye would have aligned with the front sight of my shotgun, thus obscuring all but the peripheral vision in that eye and permitting the right eye to take over the aiming chore. Within weeks I discovered that my right eye had again become dominant and I could abandon the masking of the left lens. I know of a number of shotgunners as well as archers who have successfully converted in order to match their eyes to their weapon. I am sure that a variation of the process would afford photographers the same advantage. Unfortunately most appliances in this world are designed for right handed people and unless there are some specific pathological problems involved there are ways that left handers can adapt to a righthanded world.