Left-Eyed Leica

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andrew00

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Hey,

I'm a leftie in all senses - hand, foot, eye. I posted recently about my thoughts and intentions to get a M9 (Prob a M9-P now as the price is similar in the UK) and will have the money soon.

It's interesting though for me as someone who is left eyed as I'm naturally not in the club of having one eye free to look around, instead I'm in the oh look my nose has made the LCD greasy again club!

When I shoot with my 5dmk2 I close my right eye but I've been finding with my X100 that I'm leaving it open, essentially shooting with both eyes open, the right feels comfortable enough just switching off for a moment.

It can also look to both the left and right of the camera, not especially well but well enough to judge movement, which is interesting.

Likewise, once I've taken the picture I can just move the camera an inch down and I can be right back looking at the person I'm shooting, which is interesting from a connective pov vs having an eye shut and having to re-open and re-establish connection.

I was just wondering if any Leica users had thoughts about this and about being a left eyed shooter? Naturally being disadvantaged in this regard isn't great but I'm wondering if it's a pain or not.
 
I used to be a left eye shooter - almost exclusively when I shot film.

Somehow it just seemed more natural for me. But when I moved to digital, I eventually found it easier to train myself to shoot using my right eye. Having an eternally greasy nose smoosh on the LCD was no fun. It was not too hard and I have not found that it has obviously affected my shooting in any way.

(I had wondered if there would be a right brain / left brain difference that would produce a difference the results of my shooting. The right eye is associated with the left hemisphere of the brain. The left hemisphere is associated with logical thinking / facts / details more so than intuitive thought / artistry / imagination. So this does not fit well with using the right eye for photography on that reasoning but I am pleased to say my photography is getting better not worse.)
 
I'm in the greasy LCD club myself. (I'm 90% lefty and my right eye has "half-dead CCD" so it's unusable for shooting) No problem and I don't even use LCD much on X100. Aki-Aasahi coverings on my film M&LTM can take my greasy nose.

When I shoot vertical, I actually like shooting with left eye, VF side of camera facing up)
 
I forced myself to shoot with only my right eye for a few weeks and now it comes naturally when I use the leica. It's little wonder; these cameras were made to be used this way and I certainly notice the difference.
 
I'm a left handed person and I've found that some things are almost impossible to do correctly with the left hand. Fingering a trumpet, bowing a violin, and some tasks at work come to mind.

Using the right eye is not absolutely necessary when shooting a camera, but it is much easier.
 
With my right eye, I have to close my left eye to work comfortably. I can get the camera a lot closer to my eye, and see naturally even more of the viewfinder in general. However...then I am left eyed and shooting with my right eye is uncomfortable after a few minutes.

My nose does not let me get as close as possible to the viewfinder, but I am more natural shooting with the left eye and leaving my right eye open. I find the only thing I must do is occasionally block stray light coming from my left with my focus hand.

I prefer shooting with both eyes open. This is easier as a left eye since the camera blocks my right eye.
 
When you shoot a Leica with the left eye, how do you get your eye close enough to the viewfinder because your nose is in the way? Just tried it and it's hard to take a photo that way.
If your eyesight on the right eye is ok, just train to use it. I think it's much easier to use the camera that way. It's easier than switching hands, I'm a left-hander too.
 
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It's funny this exact same happened to me as I got my X100 only couple of days ago. For the first time I noticed I was somehow taking photos with the right eye, which is definitely not as precise as my left eye.

However, while it does has the advantages OP described I'm trying to stick with shooting left eyed, as it still feels more natural. And raising the viewfinder up to my left eye happens much faster as I don't have to think about it.

I still think I might want to train my right eye for shooting because it does have advantages in some situations, maybe when I shoot a wedding it doesn't matter if I'm holding the camera to my eye all the time unlike on the street.

Too bad the magnification isn't on balance with the other eye, it tends to get little confusing, but I understand RD-1's (and some leicas of couse) viewfinder is better for that?
 
cnphoto said:
I shoot as you do, same method - both eyes open, greasy LCD. easy, no problems 🙂
Click to expand...

Same here.


tom.w.bn said:
When you shoot a Leica with the left eye, how do get your eye close enough to the viewfinder because your nose is in the way? Just tried it and it's hard to take a photo that way.
If your eyesight on the right eye is ok, just train to use it. I think it's much easier to use the camera that way. It's easier than switching hands, I'm a left-hander too.
Click to expand...

You turn your head slightly to the right and look with your left eye at an angle through your viewfinder. The camera and shoulder stays the same.

I can almost see the 28mm frame of a 0.72x finder with my left eye this way, as I could, when I still used my right eye.

I advice though, it is better, to train a good right eye and shoot this way, than working around, being a lefty with a RF.
It happens, my right eye is much worse, making focussing difficult, so I trained my left eye with all involved complications worked around.

I am happy, I don't like wides much.
 
On the subject of Left eyes and Leicas does anyone shoot an M3 and only use their left eye? Do the flash plug things on the back get in the way? Does the winding lever poke you in the face? Any issues i might not have considered in using an M3 left eyed? Can't use the right at all so no point suggesting that 🙂
 
bgb said:
On the subject of Left eyes and Leicas does anyone shoot an M3 and only use their left eye? Do the flash plug things on the back get in the way? Does the winding lever poke you in the face? Any issues i might not have considered in using an M3 left eyed? Can't use the right at all so no point suggesting that 🙂
Click to expand...

One of the very reasons, why I love the Leicavit so much, the other one being, that the camera indeed handles better with my big hands ;-)
 
One of the reasons i love my rangefinder cameras is that with an slr i always seem to stick my finger into my right eye! Winder on my GSN is flush so no worries there.
Thanks for the info I'll test drive one first rather than buy and hope !
 
Being left-eyed is even worse when you have 1:1 cameras like the R3a or (I think) R-D1.

I've tried training myself to shoot with the other eye but it feels very unnatural.
 
I am right eyed so I have no problems with my Barnacks and X100. I also have a Lumix GF1 with the EVF which being centrally positioned makes it suitable for both eyes, however you get the greasy nose problem with the right eye rather than the left due to the LCD positioning on the left. I don't use the LCD for shooting so it doesn't matter.
 
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