Which eyes do you use on M to keep it steady? Help plz.

[chuck_t]

When I use my SLR, I always use my right eyes and so does everybody

else. Now, there is some problem whenever I try to use my right eyes.

 

Back to photography 101, the camera should hold firmly against your

nose in order to keep it steady. This is what I have been told from

my instructor a long time ago. I have found the camera is a lot

steadier whenever the back touch firmly against my nose. If you use

your right eyes on the M, it is impossible to let the back touch

your nose, especially, when you are wearing glasses.

 

The bad new of using my left eyes is my right eyes glasses hit my

thumb everytime. It is hard to avoid this. I do not want contact

lens, so

 

Are there any other solutions? If you have no idea of what I am

talking about, take out your Leica M for a moment and see for

yourself.

 

I use the M3 and it is good that you can shut the advance lever and

release the shutter to avoid hitting the glasses.

[dan flanders]

I had a smart ass answer to this one, but upon reflection recalled a similar situation I had trap-shooting. I am right eye dominant and usually shoot with both eyes open, but got an infected sty and the doc put a patch over my right eye forcing me to learn to aim with my left and shoot off my left shoulder. This of course wasn�t very satisfactory but it had to do until my right eye recovered, but then I found that my left eye had become dominant, so I had to put a patch on my left eye until my right had regained its dominance. This taught me that unless there is significant difference in the acuity of one eye over the other, it is not difficult to make whichever eye you please your dominant eye. <p>

This then suggests that since the Leica apparently was designed for right-eyed people then barring some significant difficulty, it would behoove the Leica user to use his right eye. The notion that there is a single correct way to sight a camera is just so much pedantry. Do it whichever way works best for you and forget the preachings of the know it alls.

[awahlster]

Interesting I have never used my right eye with any camera. I do shoot both right and left handed. I am left eye dominate. I write right handed but can print well with my left hand. I was born left handed but trained right in school. I bat well both right and left handed.

 

Maybe that's why I prefer a motor drive on my SLR's or my Canon rapid winder to the knob wind on my Leicas.

[grant_.]

i keep my eyes closed...

[h._p.]

At one stage, I had a +3 diopter on my M3's viewfinder so I could use my right eye. Recently, I've taken it off and reverted to using my left eye.

 

Firstly, I found it pretty un-natural using my right eye for the Leica and my left eye for everything else. Secondly, I find I can hold the camera steadier if it's squashed against my nose, which is A GOOD THING <grin>.

[nesrani]

I think you should do whatever comes most naturally to you. I am left eyed, and use my left eye with both rangefinders and slr's. I suspect that breathing and general shakiness (including heartbeat) are bigger contributors to blur than whether the camera is pressed against your nose, but the main thing is that you should feel comfortable with the camera. I recall reading somewhere that you can turn the camera upsidedown and press it against your forehead to make it steadier, but I have never indulged in such a shameful display myself.

[greg_smith4]

I use my left eye for both SLR and M shooting. It is what feels more comfortable to me, and using my right eye feels weird.

[skip_williams]

Usually I use my right eye for rangefinders, left eye for SLR's. The left eye is dominant, but the right eye'd use with RF's is superior, IMO.

 

Ignore the old issue about the nose with RF's. IME, you get better pictures with a RF using your right eye. That way you can keep both eyes open more and see your subject. Using your left eye tends to allow you to hide behind the camera, which is an SLR-centric method.

 

Skip

[m_.]

right eye with left open most of the time.

[lee_shively]

I don't have a system. I use my right eye most of the time and keep my left eye closed. I also use my left eye occasionally--more often when I use an accessory viewfinder (to keep my nose grease out of the Leica eyepiece). I also shoot without looking through the finder sometimes.

[will_perlis]

"...IME, you get better pictures with a RF using your right eye."

 

Not if that eye has noticably inferior vision compared to the left. Even with optimum corrections for both eyes my left eye is better and that's the one I use any strictly monocular task even tho' I'm strongly right-handed.

 

I don't think this question has a general answer.