Is your shooting eye not as good as your other eye?

J

jfretless

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...not figuratively, but litterally. I woke up this morning and my right eye is slightly blurred. I'm not worried at the moment, but rest asured, if it doesn't get better in the 24 hours, I will see a doctor about it.

Even when my eyes are rested and calm, I know that my right is not as sharp/strong as my left eye. I started to wonder if this had anything to do the fact I'm a photographer and the fact my right eye is looking through a viewfinder all the time.

...or is it just a fact of getting older? I'm 35 now and imagine things won't work as well from here on out.

Thanks.
John
 
My right eye is my shooting eye, and it is much better than my left. Thank God. I would hate to shoot while wearing glasses, and frankly contacts scare the cr*p out of me, I would probably need aenesthetics to get them in or out.
 
My right eye is my shooting eye - or it was. I'm trying to phase it out because it sucks. I don't like shooting through my glasses either.

My left eye is fine - is it possible to get contact lenses... but just for one eye?
 
Both my eyes are very shortsighted, and my right eye is slightly worse. I shoot with glasses, and am learning to shoot with contacts (but find it difficult for some reason). The Ikon i the only camera I've found myself happy to shoot left eyed, but even so it's a struggle to change the habit of a life time.

Mike
 
My eyes are so bad that I can't even see the big E on the eye chart. No joke. I wear contacts and I can see but my eyes get SO tired when I shoot for an extended period of time. I am a right eye shooter but I have been switching back and forth to distribute the "stress" to both eyes. lol.
 
I'm a right eyed shooter and it is my best eye so that is good. A little over two years ago I had an eye injury which forced me to shoot left eyed for about a month. I got used to it very quickly and actually really enjoyed it so much so that I continued to use the left for another month or so. Finally I realized that my right eye was "better" and I could focus much better with it so had to go back to it.
 
Right one shooting eye = great for compostions
left one very shortsighted = ideal for watching smal details closely
 
I started getting a small cataract in my left eye about 18 months ago, but for some reason it seems to be dissapearing. The eye doc says "Impossible!" but I think he's more interested in making the big bucks for removing it than in figuring out why. Anyway, I can now read with the left eye again!
 
jfretless said:
...not figuratively, but litterally. I woke up this morning and my right eye is slightly blurred. I'm not worried at the moment, but rest asured, if it doesn't get better in the 24 hours, I will see a doctor about it.

Even when my eyes are rested and calm, I know that my right is not as sharp/strong as my left eye. I started to wonder if this had anything to do the fact I'm a photographer and the fact my right eye is looking through a viewfinder all the time.

...or is it just a fact of getting older? I'm 35 now and imagine things won't work as well from here on out.

Thanks.
John
Click to expand...

It could be much worse than that. A couple years ago, I started having blurry vision in my left eye after long shooting sessions. I put it down to the fact that I am right-eye dominant and more or less ignored it.

I mentioned it to my eye doctor, he said it was dry eyes and gave me eye drops. That did not fix it, but again, I ignored it.

A few months ago, I got a physical - my first in five years. I have diabetes.

When I started my medication, I had lost 50 pounds, and my eyes had gone completely wonky. For the next several months, as my body got used to my medication, I have had my eyes get alternately better and worse, both eyes or one at a time. For a period of time I didn't even need glasses at all, but that changed quickly. I still need a new prescription, but I can't get one for awhile yet, my eyes have not settled down.

I did have a long visit with an eye doctor, though. I am losing my sight in my right eye. It is no longer correctable to 20/20. This is due to having had very high blood sugar untreated for a long time. I am learning to shoot with my left eye, which is difficult for me.

I suggest you get a physical.

My 2 cents.
 
bmattock said:
It could be much worse than that. A couple years ago, I started having blurry vision in my left eye after long shooting sessions. I put it down to the fact that I am right-eye dominant and more or less ignored it.

I mentioned it to my eye doctor, he said it was dry eyes and gave me eye drops. That did not fix it, but again, I ignored it.

A few months ago, I got a physical - my first in five years. I have diabetes.

When I started my medication, I had lost 50 pounds, and my eyes had gone completely wonky. For the next several months, as my body got used to my medication, I have had my eyes get alternately better and worse, both eyes or one at a time. For a period of time I didn't even need glasses at all, but that changed quickly. I still need a new prescription, but I can't get one for awhile yet, my eyes have not settled down.

I did have a long visit with an eye doctor, though. I am losing my sight in my right eye. It is no longer correctable to 20/20. This is due to having had very high blood sugar untreated for a long time. I am learning to shoot with my left eye, which is difficult for me.

I suggest you get a physical.

My 2 cents.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the sobering response and I will heed your advice.

John
 
I'm left eyed but I trained myself to use my right eye and keep both eyes open when shooting rangefinders.

I have some shortsight-ness on both eyes, 175 degrees left eye, 225 degrees right eye. Not wearing any glasses or contacts though.
 
As a youth, I was aquainted with three older friends. I remember they were named Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and a third guy nicknamed Curly. They were constantly bickering and arguing.

At a "high society" birthday party in Brooklyn, Moe picked up a pie and threw it in my face. My eyes were stinging and everything was blurry. No sooner did I wipe the pie from my eyes, than Moe came up to me, shaped his fingers into a "V", and poked me sharply in the eyes.

The entire party deteriorated into a grotesque melee of pie-throwing, eye poking and shouted insults and we were thrown out into the streets.

Since then I have had difficulty focussing any manual focus camera due to this bizarre childhood trauma.
 
My eyesight is presently fine, maybe ever so slightly shortsighted but not in need of glasses.

However, peculiarly my left eye is both my shooting eye, but also the one that's letting the side down, my right eye is perfect.

Doesn't seem to have affected things much mind. I suppose at least photos come out sharper than I remember them being when I took the photo :D :D :cool:

Vicky
 
As I shoot mostly with my TLR and 4x5 - my eyes should degrade rather symmetrically ;)

But I hope your eye will be fine soon - 35 is way too young, or you must be doing some nasty stuff ... :angel:
 
I strongly suggest doing something for your eye, to all who has slightest eye weaknesses. More specifically, adopt some of eye relaxation techniques. This days, as I discovered, Net is full with them.

I'm not joking. This isn't as fast as getting stronger glasses, and takes some time and patience. Even if you don't get back your 0/0 sight, it's worth stopping bad sighting habits which mostly degrade sight. This is especially important to those who spend hours tinkering old gear.
 
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