Noses

Bill Pierce

Bill Pierce

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Most small cameras have a viewfinder eyepiece that is in the center of the camera. That means that if the camera also has an LCD, your nose will leave smudges on the LCD when you use the viewfinder. However, some cameras have an eyepiece on the upper left hand corner of the body, the most well known, of course, being the Leica M series. Now that some digital Leica’s have an LCD, the previously unheralded advantage of using a viewfinder which will place right-eyed photographers’ noses to the side of the camera body and prevent “nose smudging” is gaining prominence in the Leica world.

But, in all fairness, it has to be pointed out that this nose freeing viewfinder eyepiece is not just found on Leica M’s. The Sony Alph a7c, Fuji GFX 50R. and the Fuji X-E, X-Pro and X-100 series also provide a nose freeing experience. I have not been able to handle one, but the Pixii which is designed for use with M mount lenses also seems to provide a viewfinder eyepiece that assures the same advantage.

I’m sure that many of the forum members who are right-eyed and concerned about their noses will know of other cameras and will add them to this important list. It could be a Rangefinder Forum first...
 
The viewfinder on the Fuji GW690 Texas Leica series are on the far left. Same for the Rollei 35. Not many other cameras I have used are designed this way. It's an important ergonomic consideration for me. It's more comfortable for the neck and eye to look ahead at the subject, without needing to twist the head one direction and compose the photo using the right eye looking the other direction.
 
Ironically, I was just discussing this (the "nose" factor) with a friend of mine yesterday relating to the eyepiece being on the left-hand side of a Leica M. As it happens, there is no advantage here as I am left-eye-dominant, so I have to deal with nose-prints on my digital Leica M's LCD. However, it's no issue as I've been shooting Leica M cameras for more than 50-years. Since I have never known any other way it's something I don't even think about - well, until now at least.

I have shot with SLRs with the center eyepiece over the years, but the Leica M's left eyepiece and nose smudges are still things I've rarely, if ever, considered as "issues". I guess I simply deal with it.
 
Almost all of the Sony APSC bodies except a few early ones (e.g. 5n) are nose friendly for right-eyed shooters
 
Having a plentiful one, I've cleaned no end of rear screens until I discovered RFs. One unmentioned advantage I find is that by pressing the camera against my nose, it's plenty strong enough, and bracing the heal of my left hand on my chin I have a pretty solid platform to take shots. Good thing too, I drink a lot of coffee.
 
Like Bill, being left eye dominant has been something I've dealt with, occasionally thinking how lucky right-eyed people are. Maybe that's why I like TLRs? Though the lateral reversal of a TLR viewfinder takes some getting used to! Meanwhile I always carry a small micro-fibre cloth or two and some lens cleaning fluid.

It would make more sense if I side step the problem and take more interest in portrait-orientation pictures.
 
lynnb said:
...Maybe that's why I like TLRs? Though the lateral reversal of a TLR viewfinder takes some getting used to!....
Click to expand...

Lateral reversal can be advantageous for composition, once you get used to moving the camera in the right direction for framing. Cartier-Bresson used to use a VIDOM finder for that reason, apparently.
 
lynnb said:
Like Bill, being left eye dominant has been something I've dealt with, occasionally thinking how lucky right-eyed people are. Maybe that's why I like TLRs? Though the lateral reversal of a TLR viewfinder takes some getting used to! Meanwhile I always carry a small micro-fibre cloth or two and some lens cleaning fluid.

It would make more sense if I side step the problem and take more interest in portrait-orientation pictures.
Click to expand...

Being another left-eye-dominant photographer, further complicated by wearing glasses, TLRs were a solution that I chose, as well. (Plus the fact that I have liked TLRs since I received a Kodak Duaflex IV for Christmas in 1959.)

- Murray
 
Alas, I'm left-eyed. About half my photos are vertical orientation and for these the camera is wind-lever down and thus quite comfortable in use. ... and not exposing my right armpit to the elements! :cool:
I've never got on with TLRs and some MF SLRs for both the left-right reversal and the square format. Happy with eye-level viewing for any camera.
 
I am left-eye dominant also. With a BL finder on either Barnack or M, it's quite a different experience - having both eyes open and having peripheral vision at hand - although it doesn't totally solve the nose issue but provides a little relief.

This thread got me thinking and I looked up pictures of HCB shooting (as I was curious) and he is right-eye dominant (although there is a picture of him shooting an M6 vertical (viewfinder at top) with his left eye). Others seems to be right-eye dominant as well.
 
I have an average size nose. I have not experienced any issues with any camera, film or digital. A bigger issue is seeing the entire viewfinder when wearing glasses. I have an adjustable diopter on both my film and digital cameras and shoot without my glasses, so I have no issue there either. I have read that some Leica photographers can't see the full viewfinder when wearing glasses. Sort of eliminates the vaunted advantage of being able to see outside the frame lines.
 
My skin is a tad on the oily side so I can get smudges on the LCD of my X-Pro and X100 bodies from the edge of my cheek. Other than the smudges, when using one of my smaller DSLR bodies, my nose pushes the MENU button at times which is kinda distracting. The highway of my life is full of larger potholes to consider. Greasy cameras aren't much of a problem to me. That is unless it's a second hand model I'm buying. In which case I'll try to remove the previous owner's DNA before I use it.
 
Nose placement isn’t a problem with this camera - and they’ve even provided a solution anyway.

EA6441C5-D0A1-46D3-8C2C-ADB835BE6FFC.jpg 698EC1C6-E7B7-4CBC-8494-A70024EB76EE.jpg
 
I admire left-eyed shooters. I'm right eye dominant and I find my daughter's Instax Mini (with its VF on the right side of the camera) almost unusable.
 
I'm thinking we need a Nose Guard that we can where while using digital cameras.

HOWEVER- in the age of Covid, we could just wear a mask while using the camera. Two for One deal.
 
Left eye, right-brained, vice-versa.... I spent a year switching back and forth and now it's effortless. Maybe it's because our brains are so adaptable and the eye is almost, nearly, part of the brain itself. James J. Gibson showed us that we can invert the world and compensate - indeed, everyone who believes that their right (or left) eye dominance is static, should read Gibson. And then start fooling around. His work is directly relatable, intrinsic even, to making visual works - particularly in photography.

The nose can be moved.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_J._Gibson
 
I'm right eye dominant and even when I shot a Canon DSLR nose grease smudges were of such minor importance to me that I'm frankly baffled that people care so much. I still shoot with film SLRs and I don't think I've given a single thought to how my nose fit against the rear door. Maybe my French ancestry is so diluted that I was spared a distinctive schnoz that would give me cause to complain! I shoot rangefinders and rangefinder-adjacent cameras because they're quieter and easier to frame and focus with a deep depth of field.
 
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