Which eye do you shoot with?

[Rat]

If dominant hand and eye are on the same side, I'm cross-dominant too - but I shoot with both eyes. Used to just shoot with my right eye, when a friend asked me which eye I favored, I checked, and found: both. Ever since it's whatever eye comes in handy I do have a tendency to close the other eye

[edit]Coming to think of it, "normal" people do reason with the left half of their brain, emotion with the right... That would mean that left-eyed people have a more 'logical' style of shooting and righties would be more improvisational or something. Might be bs, might be an interesting research topic

 

[JonAustin]

I'm right-handed (and nowhere near ambidextrous), but have always looked through the viewfinder with my left eye, closing my right. I've tried using my right eye, but it just doesn't feel natural. I wish I did use my right eye (and I may have to practice / train myself to do so more), because I think I'd have less oil from my nose / cheek on the back LCD that way (maybe not).

I've been wearing reading glasses for about 10 years, and probably need to get prescription glasses, but have been putting that off (vanity). I don't like wearing glasses when shooting, and I have the diopters on my viewfinders adjusted all the way in one direction, so that the in-focus image in the VF is clear.

 

[jsexton]

Both eyes open, right on VF.

 

[Jeremy]

Left eye. But I'm a righty...sort of. I say that because my sister studied handedness in grad school. And after a few tests, she said I was probably supposed to be a lefty but society nudged me to be a righty. After hearing that, I really started to pay attention and found that for most tasks (except writing or throwing a ball) I have no dominant hand.

 

[BK]

I use my left eye. I find that I drop into a variation of Joe McNally's grip if I really need to reduce camera motion while handheld. That works much better with my left eye than my right. This basically involves using both hands to jam the camera into my left shoulder. A quick Google search of "Joe McNally Grip" will bring up a bunch of images and even a short video.

I had always instinctively shot with my right eye until I found this method and simply discovered that I prefer using my left eye after all.

I think comfort probably reigns supreme over any practical reasons for choosing one eye over the other though.

 

[BruinBear]

Left eye. I'm heavily left eye dominant but right handed. Works for cameras but not too much for that other type of shooting

 

[Kernuak]

I naturally use my right eye, probably because of the camera ergonomics, although noone has told me that's how it should be. Ironically, I'm right-handed, but left eye dominant and hadn't thought about that either. I'm naturally curious as a scientist, but it seems that curiosity doesn't extend to eyes, as I also hadb't thought about the lack of colour perception in the dark affecting the colours seen in Aurora .

 

[kubelik]

I am left eye dominant which has been further reinforced by an injury to my right eye, so I use the left eye in the viewfinder. it leaves smears on the LCD screen and mashes my glasses into my face, but it's still more comfortable than shooting right-eyed.

oddly I shoot pistol with both eyes open but I find that I naturally close my right eye when shooting with a camera.

 

[Jace]

Left eye with the right eye still open.

 

[Click]

Right eye.

 

[Vivid Color]

Right handed, right eye is strongly dominant, and I look through the VF with my right eye.

 

[Haydn1971]

I'm practically blind in my right eye, so need to use my left eye which makes using the buttons, wheels and such on the back of the camera a pain and my nose is always banged up against the back of the camera - left dominant camera would be a godsend for me !

Although, I am right handed !

 

[Dave_NYC]

Right eye. For some reason it just feels like the camera fits more snugly up against my eye socket, though that may have something to do with my grip, or that I'm right handed.

 

[LOALTD]

Right-handed

Left-brained

Right-eye'd

No glasses/contacts.

Shooting with my left eye feels gross!

 

[LetTheRightLensIn]

Just a random question I was thinking about: which eye do you raise the viewfinder to when you're shooting?

I instinctively raise the camera to my left eye and always have. However, I was debating if it'd be worth learning to use my right.

That is, with my right eye still on the viewfinder, in theory I could use my left to look past the camera and survey the scene-- then quickly switch to using my right when I needed to aim, compose, and shoot.

Obviously it's not too important in the grand scheme of things, but I was just curious where you guys stood.

Usually right eye, it feels more natural plus the camera bodies were designed to fit that better anyway. Also you can sometimes keep the left eye open and get a clear view to peep. Occasionally when you need to peep with a second eye and it needs to be to the other side I will left eye shoot though.

 

[Stewbyyy]

Left eye. Left handed. I keep my right eye open at all times too.

 

[lholmes549]

I'm right handed, but have always used my left eye for looking through the VF instinctively... Interesting topic!

 

[TexasBadger]

Left eye. My dominant eye.

 

[Bennymiata]

I'm left handed and left eyed.
Whenever I take pictures, I leave greasy smears on the LCD (especially on warm days) and my nose is pressed hard against the rear of the camera.

Today's DSLR's are all designed for right-eyed people without a second thought for the large percentage of leftys.

When I was a kid, back in the early '60's, I was given an Exacta SLR (film), and this was the only SLR (that I can think of) that was actually designed for left-eyed users.
So much so, that even the shutter button was on the left.

Someone needs to think about making handed versions of today's DSLR's.
How hard would it be to make a left handed version of a 5D3?

 

[RustyTheGeek]

Left eye. It's my dominant eye, meaning it's the primary eye that I use for vision. This may come as a surprise to most readers, but nearly all of us have dominant eyes. Normally, the dominant eye is on the same side of you as your dominant hand. So, most right handed people are right eye dominant and vice versa. I'm part of the 20% of the population that is cross-dominant, meaning that I'm right handed but my dominant eye is my left eye. Curiously, my vision is weaker in my left eye than my right eye, although with glasses it corrects to 20/20.

Here's a simple test to determine which of your eyes is the dominant one. Extend your dominant arm completely and raise the first finger. Look at it with both eyes. Close one eye while watching the finger. Then, open that eye and close the other eye. Does the finger appear to move when one of your eyes is closed and remain still when that eye is open and the other is closed? When the finger doesn't appear to move you're looking at it with your dominant eye.

Ditto for me on cross dominance and the discussion on dominant eyes. My left eye is more in focus and dominant over my right eye but I am right handed. I use my left eye 95% of the time for my photography and close the right eye when I really need to concentrate.

HOWEVER - There are more ways to check eye dominance and I have found some ways can give conflicting results. The way most firearms instructors test eye dominance is to focus on a distant point - make a triangle hole between both hands held at arms' length together with thumbs out at 90 degrees (make an "L" with both hands) and thumbs crossed. Block out everything except the distant point in the hole. Slowly move your hands toward your face and the eye the hole ends up at is your dominant eye. I have personally found the vertical finger method or the "A-OK" thumb/finger circle method results change depending on which hand you use.

I also use my left shoulder to steady the camera on in low light and I tend to hold my breath as a hold over habit from firearms shooting practice.