Are you left-eyed?

Dan Henderson · Mar 21, 2009

I am reading At Work by Annie Liebovitz. She comments about liking the Leica M6 camera because its winder is constructed so that she did not have to pull her eye away from the viewfinder, going on to explain that she is "left-eyed."

I have never heard or read of photographers favoring one eye over the other, and have never noticed a photographer using his or her left eye (although I am more likely to be curious about what they are pointing their camera at than which eye they are pointing it with.)

Is using the left eye common for left handed people? Or do some people just pick up a camera and naturally favor their left eye, not knowing that they are using the "wrong" eye, in a Jimmy-Hendrix-strung-backwards-Stratocaster sort of way?

Thanks to anyone who can open my eye(s) to this subject.
Dan

Akki14 · Mar 21, 2009

I'm lefteyed but i still do right-eye viewfinder (go figure). I have worse eyesight and astigmatism in my right eye so it's probably just developed due to that. I think my dad is the opposite-eyed but similar reasons I'm right handed though.

Akki14 · Mar 21, 2009

Oh yeah and the standard test for what "eye" you are is to hold your hands out at arms-length and make a sort of triangle "viewfinder" and line up something using both eyes... Without moving, close one eye then the other and see which one is more "on the mark" and which one causes your target to disappear behind a hand

MattKing · Mar 21, 2009

I am totally left eyed.

Matt

prado333 · Mar 21, 2009

i ´m left eyed , but now i work with an 8x10 camera and see with both.

Akki14 · Mar 21, 2009

What I kind of wonder is why does left or right matter with an SLR camera? The image is against your eye, if your eye is corrected with glasses or contacts, why does it matter? The image you see is still the image you see, you're not really aiming something like you would in archery or in gunsports. The image is going back to about face-level rather than trying to get something to a point very far away from you...

Vaughn · Mar 21, 2009

Right-handed, but favor my left eye.

Interesting test, Heather, and I did favor my left eye -- but once I practised a couple times with both eyes, there was no longer an inclination to use either eye over the other.

While I am right-handed, one learns to use either hand/arm. Working as a wilderness ranger/trail maintenance guy, one used tools (axe, shovel, cross-cut, etc) with either hand. Either because one's work position required it, or to not over-tire one side over the other. As a kid I learned to throw a Frisbee left-handed. I eventually switched to the right, but can still switch arms if one is getting tired. I would not be surprised if one's eyes work the same way.

Vaughn

jgjbowen · Mar 21, 2009

Left eyed and left handed...but I hit a golf ball/baseball right handed...go figure

Marco B · Mar 21, 2009

FirePhoto said:
Or do some people just pick up a camera and naturally favor their left eye, not knowing that they are using the "wrong" eye, in a Jimmy-Hendrix-strung-backwards-Stratocaster sort of way?

Exactly what you describe here... I have never even considered using my right eye to look through the view finder of my SLR. It feels completely alien and clumsy if I do that... my left eye is my natural "photography eye"...

And yes, I AM fully right-handed and have excellent vision in both eyes I find it far more easy to "shutdown" the unwanted view through the right eye.

It may be related to how your brain functions and is wired... would be interesting to know if the left- or right-eyed photographers have a preference and better skill in some forms of photography...

E.g. (just as an example!) if left-eyed photographers would be more artistically oriented (art / fashion photography) and maybe right-eyed more bend to social photography (journalism) or the other way around... Maybe we should start a POLL on this? Or would that end in a row instead

mikebarger · Mar 21, 2009

left eyed

Mike

Marco B · Mar 21, 2009

Akki14 said:
Oh yeah and the standard test for what "eye" you are is to hold your hands out at arms-length and make a sort of triangle "viewfinder" and line up something using both eyes... Without moving, close one eye then the other and see which one is more "on the mark" and which one causes your target to disappear behind a hand

Funny, that test works! Well, at least with a sample size of 1 (me)

MattKing · Mar 21, 2009

Akki14 said:
What I kind of wonder is why does left or right matter with an SLR camera? The image is against your eye, if your eye is corrected with glasses or contacts, why does it matter? The image you see is still the image you see, you're not really aiming something like you would in archery or in gunsports. The image is going back to about face-level rather than trying to get something to a point very far away from you...

If you are left eyed, there is a much greater chance of poking yourself in your right eye with the wind lever on most manual wind SLRs.

Matt

Removed Account · Mar 21, 2009

So how do you tell which is dominant? Is it the eye that keeps the image stable when open, or the eye which seems to shift the image?

Akki14 · Mar 21, 2009

Matt - But you don't have to use the left eye. You can use the right eye even if you're left-eye dominate... because it doesn't matter for the points i listed before.

Justin - it's the eye that keeps the image where it is when you view it with both eyes open. Means even with two eyes, you're "preferring" the one eye over the other.

Paul Cocklin · Mar 21, 2009

I believe with most people the left eye is the 'dominant' eye. It has to do with how we perceive depth. The brain processes the image from the left eye as the 'base' image, and then uses the image the right eye produces to perceive depth, due to parallax. I am, however, unsure as to why the left eye is the 'base image' eye.

Kino · Mar 21, 2009

MattKing said:
If you are left eyed, there is a much greater chance of poking yourself in your right eye with the wind lever on most manual wind SLRs.

Matt

Yeah, and you tend to get hot brass down the front of your fatigues if you shoot an M-16 without a deflector!

(NOT that that has any bearing on this thread! Sorry!)

I am left-eyed and right handed, but shoot a rifle left handed (or used to).

sun of sand · Mar 21, 2009

I'm a left-eyed. I think it's more due to the fact I feel more solid with the camera braced against my head so seems "correct" ..not cantilevered like using right eye
Righty in sports and everything else but also quite ambidextrous as I was when young
can cursive with left and throw pretty well etc
Favor going to the left using my "off hand" in basketball
I feel quicker with my left hand for catching
I do skate/snow/surfboard "goofy" ..right foot forward.
Running stance and wrestling etc am normal ...left foot forward

Never had time for target practice but always shot left-eyed, right handed with rifle and think that's the reason I wasn't hitting bullseyes..probably missed the target entirely sometimes
was much better using both eyes and/or pistol, I remember. I never could have accepted being so mediocre so it had to be the cross-dominance

That's my handedness story

Doug9345 · Mar 21, 2009

Akki14 said:
What I kind of wonder is why does left or right matter with an SLR camera? The image is against your eye, if your eye is corrected with glasses or contacts, why does it matter? The image you see is still the image you see, you're not really aiming something like you would in archery or in gunsports. The image is going back to about face-level rather than trying to get something to a point very far away from you...

I'm left eyed, but I'm a mix of handedness otherwise. I throw, swing axes, and such left handed, but small hammers I use right handed. I write right handed, but If I lost the use of my right hand I'd switch to the left fairly easily. I can 10-key with either hand. An SLR I use left eyed.

Why do I use my left eye on the view finder of a camera and not the right. The simplest answer is that the world looks "wrong" if I do it the other way. I've tried to figure some of these things out because I go through hell when I have to change glasses. For me, because there is a difference in the strength of the lens between my eyes, there is a difference in the size of everything between my left eye and my right eye. My brain has decided that the left eye has the "right" information and seems to use the right to provide depth perception and right peripheral vision. The process of "seeing" is very complex.

johnnywalker · Mar 21, 2009

Left eyed, right handed, left footed. I shoot (both cameras and guns) with my left eye open because I can only "wink" my right eye, and never got the hang of keeping both eyes open. Come to think of it though, I also throw a frisbee left handed.

Anscojohn · Mar 21, 2009

Right handed; left eye dominant. Never a problem with a camera; must wear an eye patch when competitive pistol shooting, to avoid "cross-sighting."

kswatapug · Mar 21, 2009

We're all supposed to have a dominant eye that does most of the work, and it seems to me that I read somewhere that it was the eye opposite the side of the dominant hemisphere of the brain. So, left-eyed would indicate right hemisphere dominance.

I favor my left when looking through a viewfinder, and noted a difference in the color when I switch. This I was told by a pilot was a sign of cataracts. Being ambidextrous and now in the midst of the midlife male adjustment period of my eyes, I can't seem to see with either.

bsdunek · Mar 21, 2009

I have always photographed with my left eye, although I'm right handed. I shoot right handed with no problem - don't need an eye patch or anything. It just feels more natural to hold the camera to my left eye. My Mamiya Press has the viewfinder on the left side, so that works well. I guess I use both eyes on my Rollei TLR. If it makes any difference, I play the harmonica backwords - high notes on the left, and use my left hand on the button. Works for me!

Prest_400 · Mar 21, 2009

bsdunek said:
I have always photographed with my left eye, although I'm right handed. I shoot right handed with no problem - don't need an eye patch or anything. It just feels more natural to hold the camera to my left eye.

Same to me; I just use the left eye. A bit more annoying for winding, but I don't find the right eye on the VF comfortable. I only use the right eye when I hold the camera for a vertical shot, and that's just sometimes; It's random.

Also; My right eye suffers more "problems": More diopters and more astigmatism. I don't understand my right eye. I bought new glasses in January, the right eye started to "climb" diopters fast, my left one does but not so steeply; written messages past 10-15m are blurry again. There's a sign out of my class and I use it for see how well it is my right eye vision. When the glasses were new, I could read it perfectly, now it's blurry again...
I love the glass of camera lenses, but I hate these that I have to wear everyday. OK, It's not a must; but even I have -2 diopters and 0.75 of astigmatism on the left eye if I remember well (heard people saying it's not much) but I see everything out of focus and blurry without glass; There are contacts but I don't like those.

fschifano · Mar 21, 2009

I'm right handed and left eyed. My right eye is considerably weaker than my left eye, though with both eyes my corrected vision is quite good. Go figure that one. It's a pain with manual wind cameras with the wind lever on the right as you hold the camera. You must lower the camera to advance the frame and cock the shutter. Motor drives make things a bit more pleasant.

gerryyaum · Mar 21, 2009

I read the same stuff in the safe book then thought back to useing the M6 and realized yes I am left eyed also, never thought of it before but it just seems natural to me, seems weird when I try to look through a view finder with my right eye (I am right handed).
Gerry

Are you left-eyed?

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