Left handed Leica?

[tim_gee]

Dear all,

My local left handed lab manager said a German trained technician

once told him that Leica made an experimental camera for left

handers. I said I did not know of one but that I would go to the

fount of all knowlege on such matters - The Leica Forum.

 

So good people, did Leica or anyone else for that matter ever make an

experimental or production camera for left handers? Cheers,

[al_kaplan1]

Leica made a couple of versions of a rapid winder baseplate. The post WWII versions were called Leicavits and you wound the film by pulling the trigger with fingers on your left hand. The Exakta camera, made by Ihagee in Dresdan was a truly left handed camera. Both the wind lever and the shutter release were on the left. It was in production from the 1930's through the 1970's in various models.

[roger_michel]

i saw a screw leica once that had a left-finger release device attached. i don't recall if it was a leica item or simply something made for leica (or one of its many clones) by a 3rd party. anyway, what is so righthanded about a leica. you have to use your left hand to focus!! arguably this takes more fine control than mashing down the release. i should also add that the m6 may be released with the left hand if your are happy with macro self-portraits.

[roger_michel]

along these lines, with its rite hand focus potential, maybe the exactas were the ultimate RIGHT handed cameras.

[jay_.]

I know of two cameras with left-hand winders (Exakta/Exa and Rollei 35). Unfortunately the Rollei's viewfinder is also on the left so you are forced to take it from your eye to wind. As a leftie it makes no difference at all to me where the controls on the cameras are. The main disadvantage to the way most cameras (including the AF models) are laid out is for someone with the use of only their left hand. I knew a gentleman who'd had a stroke and was paralyzed on his right side, and he tried everything under the sun including turning the camera upside-down. Finally an AF camera with a cable release and a monopod was his solution, but it was still a challenge.

[Rob F.]

I'd have thought that more useable than a left-handed Leica might be one for those with a dominant left eye. That way the user wouldn't have to mash the camera into his/her nose!

 

I decided to put this idea to a test. My wife is left-eye dominant. I just handed her an M3, and she wasn't really aware of any discomfort or inconvenience, even with the camera held horizontally. Held vertically, with the shutter button down, it worked out very well.

 

As to which hand should press the shutter: The left hand is controlled by the right brain, and vice-versa. Since the right brain is the intuitive, non-verbal, visuo-spatial, artistic side, you might suspect that the left hand is more closely connected to one's photographic judgment than is the right; regardless of handedness.

 

So Roger might be correct in questioning whether a Leica is really all that right-handed anyhow.

 

Bob Fleischman

[jerry_lehrer]

Tim

 

The Kodak Ektra, made before WW2 was a true left hand camera,

designed by a left handed designer.

 

Leitz produced an accessory which slipped into the attachment shoe

on top which permitted left handed shutter release. It operated

on a rocker-arm (see-saw) arangement. One came with a IIIb that

I bought in 1946, but I gave that device away.

 

Jerry

[Troll]

Someone (I'm not sure if it was Leitz) made an apparatus which plugged into the accessory shoe. There was a long bar across the camera which could be pressed down on the left side, and it pressed the shutter button on the right. With this is was possible for a one armed person to use the camera, although winding and focussing had to be done with the left hand also. The also made (would you believe this) a shutter release which was held in the mouth; I don't know if you blew into it or bit down on it. Yuck!

[al_kaplan1]

I bought one of these back around 1970. A standard cable release fit into a flexible stainless steel U shaped device. The arms were flared slightly so if wouldn't slip out from between your teeth. You could squeeze it with your fingers also. I used to use it on a copy stand. Used both hands to change subjects to be copied and wind film and not have to fumble around to find the cable release again. Before that I believe Leitz made a cable release with a built in mouth piece. This later gizmo was more practical because cable releases wear out. I wonder where it is? Here someplace!

[philip_partridge2]

>>I'd have thought that more useable than a left-handed Leica might be one for those with a dominant left eye. That way the user wouldn't have to mash the camera into his/her nose!

 

I decided to put this idea to a test. My wife is left-eye dominant. I just handed her an M3, and she wasn't really aware of any discomfort or inconvenience, even with the camera held horizontally. Held vertically, with the shutter button down, it worked out very well.<<

 

No surprises there, it's right-eyed folks I get surprised by - I maintain that all left-placed finder cameras (esp. extreme finder placement at the edge of the body) are in fact left-eyed cameras!

 

 

Especially with heavier-bodied cameras like say the Mamiya r/finders, I believe that having the mass of the camera in front of the face helps greatly with weight distribution, lateral stability, arm positioning and equalising arm leverage. The instruction manual for one of my cameras shows an image of a person who is right-eyed and you see this large body mass of the camera hanging off in the air to the person's right side, in harm's way, and making steady hand holding more difficult. I feel confident an ergonomist would agree...my biggest problem is zinc cream smudges on the back of the camera, then again, de Bergerac types may disagree. cheers,

[frank]

If I remember correctly about ten years ago Ricoh offered a

single lens reflex (in Germany) for left handed photographers.

No guarantee :-)

 

Best

 

Frank Thoma

[sal dimarco]

Tim, Leica never made a left handed camera. As others have mentioned they did build a few left handed releases which sliped on to the accessory shoe. It came in both screw mount and M mount version. Both are quite rare, but the M mount one is very valuable to the right collector.

Lastly, from the repair wizard of the camera world, Marty Forscher, "Everyone is born right handed. Only a few of us are smart enough to overcome it."

Happy Snaps,

[msitaraman]

No wonder we all think Leica is far superior to Canon. They made a mouth operated camera years before Canon made an eye operated one!

 

;-)

[nesrani]

Didn't Leica make some adapter for war veterans who had lost a hand/arm? I seem to recall seeing something with a long arm which went from the LH side of the camera to the shutter release.

[tim_gee]

Thanks to all for such fascinating contributions. My 'lefty' lab owner was on the 'phone during the day when the first 5 or 6 responses had been made. He is really pleased and is looking forward to the full printout which I will give him after the weekend. Who knows what further contributions might reveal? Cheers

[tom_abrahamsson]

Leica did indeed make a Left Handed Release for the prewar cameras and also a couple for the M's ( the M version was made by somebody else and sold by Leica). I have a design for a slightly improved version of this contraption that i am going to make one day for a friend of mine in Japan. It is a small box that slots into the accessory shoe with an arm extending to the left with a "button" at the end. You push it down and the arm on the right side of the box comes down on the shutter release button. I have seen a couple of these devices and some of the parts look like they were raided from old Viso 1's!There was even a code-word issued for this release. The mouth release is weird and faintly unhygenic, particularly in a busy studio " Who had garlic for lunch?". My other other" when time allows" project is a Rapidwinder which winds "backwards" and is operated by the right hand, combined with the left-handed release. Not because I need it myself, but more as a design exercise.

As for the left-eye dominance, thats why I started building Rapidwinders in the first place. I focus with the left eye and once my old Leicavit MP's bit the dust, I kept hitting my glasses with the filmadvance arm and was forced to drop the camera from the eye for each frame.

Tom A

[roberto_watson_garc_a]

Being left handed in a rigth handed world, i first got used to regular cameras than thougth about left hand options, any way if ever I want to do so just turn my M up side down, presto!, also do it to be ware of rigth bottom corner in frame. By the way dear Tom your rapid winder is a joy, thank´s.

[michael_franc]

I, too, never could understand the issue about dominant left eye. I always use my left eye and couldn't even imagine doing otherwise. I feel that having the camera "mashed" against my face gives me much more control and stability.