Sunday, March 27, 2016

Being A Left Eyed Shooter



                  Me having to use my left eye to compose a shot with  my FujiFilm HS 25 EXR camera


Pretty much every camera that has a viewfinder, whether it is an optical or an electronic viewfinder (EVF) almost everyone of the them are designed for those people who can aim the camera with their Right Eye. They are designed that way so the shooter can still see the surroundings with their Left Eye and see if anything  or anyone is about to come into their shot. And because like your hands, the majority of people are Right Eyed dominate (according to Wikipedia 2/3 of the people are right eye dominate).

But there are some of us like myself who are Left Eye dominate. And this makes shooting with the viewfinder awkward. I was born slightly crossed eyed or lazy eyed, not sure which because there are no baby pictures of me to show it. Between my Mom not wanting any shots taken till they got my eyes straighten out (which was done by exercising my eyes to get them to straighten out, this was the 1960's before modern techniques were developed) and the because I spent the first year or so of my life in and out of hospital for other medical reasons. Anyway because of that I have become Left Eye dominate. Even when I used to hunt (I come from a family of hunters, but I quickly discovered that I would rather hunt with a camera than a gun) I had to aim with my Left Eye which was awkward since most guns, like cameras, are designed for Right Eyed shooters. I have a hard time even aiming or using a viewfinder if I have my Right Eye open. I can't even close my Left Eye and keep the Right one open, that is how Left Eye dominate I am!

So most cameras are designed that have viewfinders are meant to used with Right Eye. For example my FujiFilm X30 has its viewfinder over towards the left of the camera. This design when using the right eye would allow the shooter to still see out their Left Eye. Unfortunately for myself, I can't use my Right Eye to compose with any viewfinder so when I put the camera to my left eye, my Right Eye is completely covered. This really is unfortunate because it limits me when it comes to things like Street Photography because I can't continue to see the scene when I have the camera to my Left Eye. And I don't like using the screen to compose my shots, I tend to be too shakey to shoot that way.

I have tried to use my Right Eye on the viewfinder, but I have a hard time even finding the viewfinder with my Right Eye and when I do I have a really hard time trying to even see anything let alone focusing through the viewfinder.

Being a Left Eye dominate shooter in the photography world can be difficult and can take time to adjust too. I can kinda understand now how hard it must be for those people who are Left Handed in a world where almost everything is designed to used with the Right hand.











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