is it OK to take photo with the left eye ?

[Michael Bailey]

Whether to shoot with the left eye...

Interesting. I remember many of my left-eyed friends would get poked in the right eye by the wind lever on various Nikon bodies sold through the '80's. Motorized film winding has more than just the obvious advantages.

As I understand it, eye preference is pretty well built into your brain's "firmware" in the same way that you're born right-handed, left-handed, or generally ambidextrous. You can train yourself to make the switch, as some of my friends had to do with their eyes, but it isn't always easy.

Sports photographers tell me that after a while they learn to shoot with both eyes open, as Antonio suggests, so they can see approaching action before it enters the viewfinder. I got to the point when shooting a series of American football games that I could almost do that, but I lost the skill when I my sports career mercifully dissipated.

Speaking of two-eyed viewing, I have a question about old cameras. At a flea market in London I once saw a press camera, manufactured in the fifties I'd say, which used a viewfinder system in which one eye looked through a finder lens and the other eye saw a wire frame. At least, I think that's how it was arranged. Anyway, the effect of the two combined views was to create what I thought was a nearly perfect viewing experience. It allowed for natural peripheral vision while the photographer's brain superimposed a very clear frame inside the view. Does this system sound familiar to anyone? I think Kalart made something like this, but I believe the camera I saw was an English 4x5. (Sorry, 5x4!)

My eye doctor tells me that people who are right-handed are generally right-eyed. But he mentioned a very interesting exception, which is that many great baseball hitters violate the trend. If you think about how a hitter stands you can understand how a right-handed hitter, for example, would want to favor the eye with the clearest view of the ball, his left. Even more interesting is this question, which he says is still unanswered: do great hitters develop the crossover, or does an existing crossover contribute to their great skill?

As for vertical shooting, a Nikon School instructor told my class many years ago that he shot, right-eyed I assume, with the shutter button side of the camera down, because that kept his hands and arms closer to his body and this gave him better stability. I dutifully followed that advice for a long time but finally gave up. The position is so uncomfortable to me that I think I create more instability by shaking. Yes, my right elbow is out where it shouldn't be, but now I'm a happier person.

[Bill44]

Back in the good old days when there was no IS/VR, no auto focus, and most zoom lenses were of pretty poor optical quality, iso was usually 32, 50, or 64, for transparencies and 100, or 200 if you were lucky, for negs, we had to rely on our bodies for stability.

The usual method for a 35mm camera, dictated by the camera manufacturers, was to hold the camera in the right hand with the left hand under the lens to support it and to operate the focus ring, all the while keeping your left elbow tucked into your gut for stability. Now in this position it was pretty much of a neck strainer to get your right eye to the viewfinder so the left eye became the favourite shooting eye. There were, of course, the people who held the focus ring with thumb down and index finger on top with the other fingers spread like a fan in the air, there are people these day who do this with the zoom ring.

In this modern era we have a large group of people who never had the trials and tribulations that we old fogies considered normal. Many DSLR users have come from the point and shoot live view brigade who you see shooting with the camera held at arms length between the thumb and index finger of each hand, stability is a word from a foreign language to them. No offence intended.So now we have the situation where, due to circumstances, some shooters have never had to learn camera support, and consequently are developing the habit of shooting with their right eye.

Whatever suits you is my feelings, provided you are not compromising the camera stability when you may need it. In fairness to yourself you may wish to try the 'elbow in the gut' style I described earlier, it may just give you that low light slow shutter shot that you may have missed with your present shooting posture.

[uspandey]

Glad to learn I'm not alone in the club! I can concentrate better when I'm using my left eye and that is the one I always use with the only side effect that the rest of my face sometimes shifts the focus points, and well, the nose breaths a lot of mist onto the LCD. Antonio's method is probably the textbook prescription and I at times do use that but would rather prefer to glue my left to the viewfinder and bury the rest of my face into the camera body.

[Jim B.]

My only problem with being a left eye shooter is I can't track anything coming from out of frame.Not coming from film I read up on techniques for stabilizing the camera.
I do the "elbow in the gut",left hand under lens and camera pressed tight to my eye(I use a Hoodman VF cup) and it gives me good stability.I can get down to around 1/80" with my 100-400 at 400mm with good results.

[Colin Southern]

I do the "elbow in the gut",left hand under lens and camera pressed tight to my eye(I use a Hoodman VF cup) and it gives me good stability.

You might also find this technique from Joe McNally interesting.

[Jim B.]

Colin,

I watched that video a few months ago.I can't do it with the camera bodies I own.Even with a battery grip on they are still too small.The view finder doesn't sit high enough.
I would need a pro body. I wish I could use that technique.It would make a big difference.

[Colin Southern]

Colin,

I watched that video a few months ago.I can't do it with the camera bodies I own.Even with a battery grip on they are still too small.The view finder doesn't sit high enough.
I would need a pro body. I wish I could use that technique.It would make a big difference.

Hi Jim,

I would have thought that anyone with a battery grip should be able to use it ... you definately need to raise your left shoulder / lower your chin though. I could be wrong though!

[Jim B.]

Hi Colin,

I'll have to give it another go.Maybe I was expecting the positioning to be more comfortable.I admit I didn't give the technique much time.

[uspandey]

I just tried Joe Mcnally's technique with the camera anchored to my left shoulder and my left eye to the viewfinder and it worked out great! And yes, I did not use a battery grip to the D300. Maybe, its my small frame that is conducive to the technique. I don't know whether I'm going to use it more and more in the field but this is one wonderful tip that I picked up today.