Right or left handed

[cliveh]

Most camera shutters are on the right. Does this affect people who are left handed? Would they prefer a shutter button on the left? Or does it make no difference?

 

[NedL]

I'm right handed, and the shutter release on my Zeiss Ercona folder is on the left. I don't care, and barely notice. I have a vague sense that I might be able to hold it a tiny bit steadier than my other folders which have the release on the right. Maybe.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I am left handed and it is not a problem. The only left handed shutter is on the Hasselblad 503 CX. The Nikons, Voitlander, Tessina, WideLux 7, Speed Graphic and Graflex Model D have right handed shutters. The reasons it is not a problem are two fold:

1. Everyone is born right handed and only the smartest and greatest can overcome that.
2. Left handed people are the only ones in their right mind [brain function crossover].

 

[rthollenbeck]

Most camera shutters are on the right. Does this affect people who are left handed? Would they prefer a shutter button on the left? Or does it make no difference?

I am am left eyed and right handed. Does that change your question at all?

 

[mike c]

I'm left handed my Hasselblad has the right side release which works very well hand holding. My right hand does the focusing and winding while the left does the holding of the camera and the shutter release, feels very natural. It is a different story with the Rolliecord, which is a little awkward as the release is on left and focusing is also on the left and winding on the right. If the focus was on the right side of the Rolliecord it would make it much easier to use for me, but I got what I gots and use it alot.

Mike

 

[Tamara]

I'm left-handed but long ago adapted to y'all's right-handed world. Except for writing and eating. You can't make me change those.

 

[SalveSlog]

I'm left-handed too and I like the release to be on the left side.
My favorite is my Welta Weltax. (Dreaming about the Weltur.) The release on that one operates only the shutter firing, so it is really smooth and direct. As it has no automatic film advance nor shutter lock, I've had up to 3 unintentional multiple exposures, though! F.... Have to think.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

Exacta and Exa cameras have a shutter release on the left side of the camera. Very helpful for people who have limited mobility of their right arm.

 

[Peltigera]

I have several cameras with shutter releases on the left. I find it makes no difference at all whether on the right or left (apart from the blind jabbing in the wrong place when I haven't used the camera in a while).

 

[Nathan King]

It's a right-handed world out there, so us lefties have become pretty good at adapting. Most people don't realize just how many little things are awkward for left handed people. I would love to have a camera with the shutter release on the left and rangefinder window on the right!

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

Exaktas, with the release and wind on the left, are designed for right handed people; all other cameras are best used by lefties.

Exakta was the only camera maker to study the issue. They found it was best to use the right hand for the critical tasks of focusing and holding the camera steady. The less dexterous tasks of winding film and pushing the shutter button could be relegated to the left hand.

But us righties have adapted to the left-handed world of 35mm cameras with only the very occasional complaint.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

It's a right-handed world out there, so us lefties have become pretty good at adapting. Most people don't realize just how many little things are awkward for left handed people. I would love to have a camera with the shutter release on the left and rangefinder window on the right!

everybody is born right-handed;only the great can overcome it!

 

[benjiboy]

I was born left handed but like my mother when she was alive have trained myself to be ambidextrous to a degree that it is rarely a problem these days, however when I served in the military many years ago I found that all the firearms that were issued by my government were right handed which in a combat situation when instinctive reaction can make the difference between life and death for a southpaw is potentially leathal.

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

I'm strange. I'm left-handed for writing, throwing a baseball/football and shooting pool. Pretty much right-handed for everything else including shooting a basketball, bowling, and even batting in baseball. Used a "standard" right-handed shooting camera from day one at age 11 or so (40 years ago) and have really never known any different so never an issue for me and it's what I'm used to.

 

[MattKing]

I'm left handed, and my right hand has limited strength and dexterity and range of movement. Much of the photographic equipment out there is a real pain to use!

My Mamiya medium format equipment works well for me, due to things like left hand trigger grips and dual focus wheels.

Anything with a pronounce right hand grip built into it is often a problem, because the shutter releases built into most of those grips aren't located where my right index finger reliably applies pressure. On my Canon AF equipment, I've resorted to attaching the accessory battery pack/grips, because they add a release on the bottom that I can access with my left hand.

My Olympus OM equipment works, because I can access the releases across the top of the camera, with my left hand.

I really like using my Omega D6 enlarger, but I really miss the dual focusing controls on my Beseler 67.

It would be really interesting if all the product designers in the world could be forced to live left handed for a week.

I live in a country, Canada, that is slightly more favourable to left handed people. Most likely because right handed hockey players often hold their sticks in a way that you would assume would be the left handed way.

 

[cliveh]

I was born left handed but like my mother when she was alive have trained myself to be ambidextrous to a degree that it is rarely a problem these days, however when I served in the military many years ago I found that all the firearms that were issued by my government were right handed which in a combat situation when instinctive reaction can make the difference between life and death for a southpaw is potentially leathal.

Forgive my ignorance, but what is the difference between a firearm for left or right hand? If there is a difference, then surely the military are aware of this?

 

[Sirius Glass]

I'm left handed, and my right hand has limited strength and dexterity and range of movement. Much of the photographic equipment out there is a real pain to use!
...
Anything with a pronounce right hand grip built into it is often a problem, because the shutter releases built into most of those grips aren't located where my right index finger reliably applies pressure.

I have the same issues.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is the difference between a firearm for left or right hand? If there is a difference, then surely the military are aware of this?

Rifles are placed in the right shoulder, the left arm supports the barrel of the rifle, the right hand handles the bolt action, loads and pulls the trigger. Holding the rifle in the left arm makes all the actions difficult. Also side arms [hand guns] and rifles with automatic rejection throw the spent cartage to the left. The safety on side arms and rifles can be activated only by the right thumb unless the weapon has been specifically designed for left handed shooters.

 

[benjiboy]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is the difference between a firearm for left or right hand? If there is a difference, then surely the military are aware of this?

The government will be aware of this Clive but clearly don't care they have never issued ambidextrous firearms although around 11% of the British population are left handed. In the days when I was a Royal Marine the standard issue battle rifle was the Lee Enfield MkV which was a bolt action on which the bolt was on the right hand side and virtually impossible for a left handed person to use quickly and instinctively, the same applied to the Bren light machine gun whose cocking handle was on the right hand side and the sights on the left hand side of the weapon's barrel which made it impossible to fire left handed and the same applied to pistol I was issued with which was a Browning 9 mm Hi Power whose magazine release and slide release that should be operated with the thumb are on the left hand side and even today the currently issued Lee Enfield SA80 assault rifle if used on the left side of a soldier tends to ejects the spent cartridges in the users face.

 

[cliveh]

The government will be aware of this Clive but clearly don't care they have never issued ambidextrous firearms although around 11% of the British population are left handed. In the days when I was a Royal Marine the standard issue battle rifle was the Lee Enfield MkV which was a bolt action on which the bolt was on the right hand side and virtually impossible for a left handed person to use quickly and instinctively, the same applied to the Bren light machine gun whose cocking handle was on the right hand side and the sights on the left hand side of the weapon's barrel which made it impossible to fire left handed and the same applied to pistol I was issued with which was a Browning 9 mm Hi Power whose magazine release and slide release that should be operated with the thumb are on the left hand side and even today the currently issued Lee Enfield SA80 assault rifle if used on the left side of a soldier tends to ejects the spent cartridges in the users face.

Thanks for the explanation. So why don't the MOD produce 11% of its firearms for left handed use?

 

[benjiboy]

Thanks for the explanation. So why don't the MOD produce 11% of its firearms for left handed use?[/QUOTE
The government should when specifying it's requirements when awarding contracts to arms manufacturers for new firearms for military use that they are completely ambidextrous or can be configured for right or left handed use by the user.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Thanks for the explanation. So why don't the MOD produce 11% of its firearms for left handed use?

That would cause logistics problem in weapons and spare parts. Furthermore, on the battle field it would cause problems when a right handled person picked up a left handed wapon. A right handed person could not handle it, but a left handed person is both smart enough and adaptable enough to handle the situation.
A right handed person would sit a my desk, move the telephone from the right side [which allows me to answer the telephone and write without switching hands] to the left side and then move the mouse from the left side to the right. Then they would look up at me and ask what was right. Right handed people are just a big PITA [Pain In The Ass]!

 

[Dan Fromm]

Ben, I'm right handed and left eyed. I had a very hard time aiming when I trained on the M-16. Fortunately I didn't become cannon fodder in Viet Nam.

 

[cuthbert]

Thanks for the explanation. So why don't the MOD produce 11% of its firearms for left handed use?

What benjboy says is true for all time ago when people thought being left handed was an handicap, from the 70s a lot of firearms have been developed to be stripped down and be reassembled for left handed people, especially handguns, in many other cases guns have an ambidestrous safe and they are designed for lefties or righties, for instance the CZ75 and the Beretta 92 (both introduced in the mid 70s, the Beretta was specifically asked to be ambidestrous by the Italian polica).

I am righty, but my right eye is badly astigmatic, so when I was drafted I explained the problem to my firing instructor after having seen I sucked with the AR70, he gave me a lefty rifle, it was even worse because my left hand was very weak and I couldn't hold it tight enough...that was embarassing.

Of course with the pistol it wasn't a problem because I shoot with the right hand but I aim with the left eye as with the camera.

 

[dynachrome]

I am right handed but I have used some of the Konica cameras which offer an accessory left hand shutter release. Yashica made a left hand version of its Samurai half frame camera. I am now trying to get used to Topcon and Miranda SLRs which have the shutter button on the front rather than on the top. In horizontal mode I use my middle finger. In vertical mode I use my index finger.