Left or Right eye shooter?

[qruyk12]

How many of you are right or left eye shooters? for some reason, i just cannot shoot right with left open. i know a lot of people that do and i just dont get the benefits if any..

[gb hill]

I'm typically a right eye shooter because my right eye is less blurred than my left. I would prefer to shoot with my left eye so the camera would be centered with my face. If that makes any difference.

[sonofdanang]

Left-eyed with the right one open - one of the two options not available on your list. Not that it matters.... I open and close the right eye as required: open for timing, etc, closed for precise composition, etc. I find having both eyes open periodically resolves horizontal/vertical reference issues.

[Peter^]

Almost everyone has a dominant eye - just like being right or left handed. It is natural to photograph using your dominant eye. I'm not sure if the distribution is the same as with your hands, but most people I know seem to have right dominant eyes. I guess that is why the viewfinder is always on the left side of the camera body. Come to think of it, a rangefinder is probably not the right camera for a person with a left dominant eye.

Here's a test to see which eye is dominant: cut a coin-sized hole in a piece of paper. Hold the paper at arms length and look at a distant object through the hole. Slowly pull the paper back in the direction of your face while looking at the object. The hole will come to rest in front of your dominant eye.

[nikon_sam]

Left eye...like any great photographer and my right eye closed...
I really feels weird trying to shoot with my right eye...
I've always shot with my left eye...no one told me to I just started that way on my own...
My left eye is a little less sharp as it used to be and I know my right one is better...glasses...I see glasses in my future...

[Juan Valdenebro]

Originally Posted by nikon_sam

Left eye...like any great photographer and my right eye closed...

I'm not that great...

I shoot all my 35mm cameras using my right eye, and generally keeping the left one open (at least for brief moments) except for the R3A: both eyes open all the time...

The reason I use the right eye is that both with RFs and SLRs my left eye can see the "complete" world to check if something is coming into the scene or close to its limits... I feel very weird when I try to use the left one and the camera makes my right eye blind...

Cheers,

Juan

[coelacanth]

Left. I'm mostly lefty to start with, and my right eye doesn't work normally (Sensor/circuit half fried) so it's a very straight forward choice for me.

Down sides:
You might poke your right eye out with wind lever.
Back door gets greasy.

Up side:
"Left Eyed Shooter" sounds cooler than "Right Eyed."

[Johnmcd]

Originally Posted by Peter^

Almost everyone has a dominant eye - just like being right or left handed. It is natural to photograph using your dominant eye. I'm not sure if the distribution is the same as with your hands, but most people I know seem to have right dominant eyes. I guess that is why the viewfinder is always on the left side of the camera body. Come to think of it, a rangefinder is probably not the right camera for a person with a left dominant eye.

The first thing that one does when taking up archery is finding out what eye is dominant. This dictates what type of bow you use - right or left handed. For example I am right handed in everything I do but found out (using a similar method to what Peter described) that I was left eyed. This meant I had to use a left handed bow so that my dominant eye was further back if you imagine looking at something with your face slightly to one side.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter in archery which eye is dominant if you are using a sight to aim. Because when using a sight you have only one eye open as you sqint through the sight. Therefore if you want to shoot left handed (with a lefthanded bow) close your right eye (which will be your front eye) and use your left eye to aim. Similarly, close the left eye to shoot right handed with a right handed bow.

What's the difference between a right handed bow and a left handed bow? With most bows (except some old style longbows) the handle of the bow has a cut out area on one side only where the arrow rests.

Where the dominant eye does make a difference in archery is if you aim 'instictively' with both eyes open. This type of aiming is done when the bow has no sights. When aiming like this, it is critical that your dominant eye is the rear eye as you face your target slightly side on. If not, you will always shoot to one side. I believe it is also important to trap shooters who shoot with both eyes open. I used to shoot a longbow with this technique for many years.

Therefore, I would say that your eye dominance means very little in photography as normally one closes one eye. In other words you are 'forcing' the open eye to be the 'dominant' eye. I can see that it would make a difference if both eyes are open though.

Cheers - John

[krohmie]

Left eye shooter, the right sensor has only 50% resolution.

[squinza]

right eye, I believe I'm lucky, shooting with the left eye and a rf must be very uncomfortable.
This way, I can open both eyes if needed and my (big) nose doesn't get in the way...

[Juan Valdenebro]

This is very interesting... I hadn't even noticed a camera is more face centered on left eye shooters... And never in my life I heard or read any comment on this by anyone... I wonder who is or was a right eye shooter...

Cheers,

Juan

[Peter^]

I suppose I could shoot with my non-dominant, left eye. It has just never occurred to me. I would never sight a rifle with my left eye either.
But when using a rangefinder, with the viewfinder on the left of the camera body, isn't your nose in the way if you shoot with your left eye? Mine would be.

[JayGannon]

Left with SLR right with RF, dont find either is dominant.

[Juan Valdenebro]

Wow! That's where it comes from! When I was a child I had an air rifle, and I guess as I placed it close to my right shoulder to shoot small darts, I had to incline my head to the right, AND then naturally use the right eye because it was the one closer to the aiming line... Mmmmm...

Cheers,

Juan

[maggieo]

Left handed, left eyed, shoot guns and bows and bat left-handed, golf and play guitar right-handed.

[Johnmcd]

Originally Posted by maggieo

Left handed, left eyed, shoot guns and bows and bat left-handed, golf and play guitar right-handed.

Freak

I bat and bowl (cricket), write and kick right handed. But I shoot guns and bows left handed (left eyed). My experience is that there are many more left eyed people than left handed.

John

[agricola]

Juan
Was right eyed, now left eyed. And having a bit of trouble getting used to it on the M. Surgical necessity.
The nose getting in the way is the least of my problems

[Tompas]

Originally Posted by Peter^

(...) Come to think of it, a rangefinder is probably not the right camera for a person with a left dominant eye. (...)

Nah, it's not a problem.

Except that we left-eyed people all have slightly flattened noses.

[Juan Valdenebro]

Originally Posted by agricola

Juan
Was right eyed, now left eyed. And having a bit of trouble getting used to it on the M. Surgical necessity.
The nose getting in the way is the least of my problems

Good to know a change is possible if required... Right now my left one is slooooooooooooowwwwwww...

Cheers,

Juan

[israel_alanis]

Both eyes and I do not see a difference.
Regards.

[robklurfield]

at the age of 49 or 50, I taught myself to switch from left-eyed shooting to with the other eye closed to right-eyed shooting with the other eye open or closed. it took a couple of days to get used to it, but I'm glad I finally did. now, I can switch easily when I want. having the other eye open helps a great deal when composing in places where the scenery isn't static (ie, walking while doing street shooting). my left eye is more acute and dominant, but the difference it make when composing is really negligible (to be honest, my focusing is crappy from both sides; probably you've noticed). Anyway, to all you left-eyed rangefinder shooters I suggest you try your right eye for a whole day. You might find the switch easier than you expect.

kind of off topic: I tried to do the same thing swimming. I never learned to turn my head to the left when doing the crawl. Couldn't make the switch there. Too much muscle memory and not enough flexibility I guess.

[cnphoto]

left eye dominant, but recently switched to right eye when i realised my right eye was much better / sharper. left eye has too much astigmatism, in the right eye the aligned images are sharper when in focus.

the switch took a few day to get used to, now it's 'natural'.

[intense]

I shoot right eye open left closed, because if the opposite my nose sticks to the camera if it's cold outside

[rxmd]

Every now and then this topic pops up and we get yet another poll about it:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/foru...ad.php?t=37748
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/foru...ad.php?t=83283

I guess it was 2010 and time for another poll

[barnwulf]

I shoot with my right eye. It works well with my Nikon S3 so I can keep both eyes open with it's 1:1 viewfinder. Jim