How do you hold your camera?

[Mattikk]

I see many of you in avatars holding the camera in different ways, so I thought it'd be a interesting to see why one prefers the way he holds the camera.

Hands
I recently came up with a way to hold both hands at the same height, with the left hand using the trigger and right hand supporting the grip by holding the bottom of the camera. The advantage is that both my hands are firmly against my body, only the camera changes position.

How do you grip the camera when shooting vertically? Which hand do you held up or do you have some other ways to hold?

Eyes
I'm used to have the left eye in the finder, which to me is more natural. I also feel like I have a more firm grip of the camera that way. The only disadvantages I can think of are that I can't use my other eye open for viewing the world while the other eye is viewing the frame and my nose is against the back of the camera.

How do you work with the viewfinder? Do you use left or right eye in the viewfinder and what advantages do you see with the way you work?

 

[Harry S.]

I hold my camera pretty strangely in portrait orientation. But it seems to work okay for me. 1/15th.

 

[Jan Van Laethem]

In horizontal shooting position, my right hand is holding the body with index finger on the trigger. My left hand is under the camera, with thumb and index finger on the focusing ring of the lens. In vertical shooting position, my left hand will then change position to support the camera from underneath. My right hand will stay in the same position with regards to the camera. I find switching from horizontal to vertical very natural and never even think about it. Pressing both hands against your body is very important to get steady shots with slower speeds.

As for left or right eye, I see better with my left eye, so that is the one I use to focus.

 

[payasam]

It's also easy to turn the camera clockwise for verticals and use the right thumb to release the shutter.

 

[Chris101]

In vertical mode I hold it like this:

It seems to work better than if I put the viewfinder at the bottom as it lets me use the controls with my right hand. I seem to have better results when I can do that. When I hold it horizontal, I do it the normal way with my right hand gripping the camera and pushing the button. My left hand sits under the camera and focusses the lens/works the aperture.

 

[furcafe]

The way I was taught how to hold a camera horizontally is to use the left as the primary support, i.e., using the back of the left hand & ring & pinkie fingers to hold the camera & the thumb & index & middle fingers manipulating the aperture & focus rings (or tab). The right hand provides additional support, w/the right index finger releasing the shutter & thumb advancing the film.

An example:

Vertically, I rotate the camera clockwise so the camera rests on the front of my right hand & use my right thumb to release the shutter. If the lens has tab I then use the left index finger & thumb to steady the camera & the middle finger to focus; if the lens just has the regular focus ring I'll use the "binocular grip" (commonly used by SLR users even when holding a camera horizontally) w/the left index & middle fingers (on top) & thumb (on bottom) moving the focus ring.

I see many of you in avatars holding the camera in different ways, so I thought it'd be a interesting to see why one prefers the way he holds the camera.

Hands
I recently came up with a way to hold both hands at the same height, with the left hand using the trigger and right hand supporting the grip by holding the bottom of the camera. The advantage is that both my hands are firmly against my body, only the camera changes position.

How do you grip the camera when shooting vertically? Which hand do you held up or do you have some other ways to hold?

Eyes
I'm used to have the left eye in the finder, which to me is more natural. I also feel like I have a more firm grip of the camera that way. The only disadvantages I can think of are that I can't use my other eye open for viewing the world while the other eye is viewing the frame and my nose is against the back of the camera.

How do you work with the viewfinder? Do you use left or right eye in the viewfinder and what advantages do you see with the way you work?

 

[sweathog]

I don't have any shots of how I hold mine. I have never really thought about it, I just hold it as makes sense for the situation. The only thing that I tend to do is wrap the strap convolutedly around my hand.

Mind you, Matti, you've seen how I hold my Bessa.

 

[35mmdelux]

In any way that captures the decisive moment.

 

[Mattikk]

I don't have any shots of how I hold mine. I have never really thought about it, I just hold it as makes sense for the situation. The only thing that I tend to do is wrap the strap convolutedly around my hand.

Mind you, Matti, you've seen how I hold my Bessa.

I think you hold it good, similar to furface. Although I never saw you take a photo vertically. 😉

 

[mike goldberg]

Hi all,
This is a fascinating Thread! I have held and hold my cameras in ALL the ways shown in the pix and descriptions above. Occasionally, the Vertical positioning shown by our friend, Harry S. down under, in Sydney... is very natural.

Tho' the camera in the Thumbnail below is a dSLR, this is a favorite horizontal hold... but not the only one.
I was wide open for the mirror image capture, at 1/30 second.

 

[Mattikk]

I updated my avatar. I most often shoot vertically and this is how I hold my rangefinder. With SLR it's totally different.

I hold the Petri as it was suggested on the manual and I find it very nice with the thumb on the shutter release button.