[jgredline]

I use both for sure, but most often, I use my left eye with right eye open.

What a great topic!

[benplaut]

I'm left eye dominant, but trained myself to use right, with left open. Ergonomically better that way, and having an open eye isn't really a bit deal with primes. Your brain just adjusts after a while, I guess.

[Photo Tramp]

Because of the loss of sight last year in my right eye and the partial return after surgery I have trained my left eye with some pretty good results. So I can now use both. When the right gets tired and fuzzy I switch to the left. So both work for me but when I shoot the opposite eye is always closed.

[fotobox]

I use my left eye with the right blinking, kept narrowed or completely closed. I'm left eye dominant probably because my right eye is a little worse in spite of wearing glasses. And yes, the rubber part of the eyepiece always smudges my glasses this way, so does my nose smudges the screen, but I just can't get used to using my right eye. I badly need that little plus with my left eye when I'm focusing manually.

Even worse that I have multifocal glasses, so I have to position the viewfinder very precisely.


Sanyi

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Last edited by fotobox; 02-02-2008 at 01:50 PM.

[Mr Hyde]

I shoot with both eyes open and I will alternate between right and left eye in the view finder as needed. I normally use my right eye but lets say i'm shooting a baseball game and I need to see the batter and pitcher at the same time so I can time the ball to be in the frame as the batter is swinging. I'll switch eyes so I can stil see both depending on which side (first or third base) i'm shooting from.

[libbe]

Lovely thread! I shoot with my Left eye, Right eye closed. I snowboard GOOFY (Right foot front, left foot in the back, which is quite un-normal), and i'm right handed.

[Chickenhawk]

Interesting survey.

I deal with eye dominance on a professional basis every day. (I teach combat shotgun shooters.) I would put more weight in the Wiki numbers - I believe 2/3 of the population are right-eye dominant. That is about exactly my experience with my thousands of students over the years. Some of them are left-handed and left-eye dominant, but there are MANY people who are cross-dominant. (This means they are right-handed but left-eye dominant.) Many of them don't even realize they are left-eye dominant.

This explains why 1/3 of the population may be left-eye dominant, but less than 1/10 of the population is left-handed. When shooting handguns, eye dominance is not an issue. When shooting shotguns - especially in fast combat situations - eye dominance is a critical issue. Cross-dominant shooters can learn to adapt but it takes a lot of work (plus, of course, a firearms instructor who has identified this from the beginning.)

Interestingly, eye dominance has much less to do with which eye one uses for their camera viewfinder. I am strongly right-handed and right-eye dominant, but I have always used my left eye through the viewfinder for years of SLRs, MF bodies and now DSLRs. I have just done this because it got my nose out of the way.

Just for fun, if one wants to find out their eye dominance, make two circles with their thumb and forefinger, place them on top of each other and while staring at a small object with both eyes wide open, quickly raise those circles and surround the small spot. Now close the left eye. If the spot is still visible, you are right-eye dominant. If the spot disappears, you are left-eye dominant. If - as many people do - you try to close your left eye as I said, but instead you end up closing your right eye, you are most decidedly left-eye dominant. (The body has a harder time closing the dominant eye than the non-dominant eye.

Now, can someone tell me why eye dominance actually has little to do with which eye one uses in a camera viewfinder?

[clawhammer]

I'm left eye dominant, shoot (photographically speaking) with my left eye open, right closed. My right eye is kinda weird and I've never been able to get a clear image with any strength correction. I imagine that over the years I've naturally become left-eye dominat because of this.

[Lowell Goudge]

Interesting survey.

I deal with eye dominance on a professional basis every day. (I teach combat shotgun shooters.) I would put more weight in the Wiki numbers - I believe 2/3 of the population are right-eye dominant. That is about exactly my experience with my thousands of students over the years. Some of them are left-handed and left-eye dominant, but there are MANY people who are cross-dominant. (This means they are right-handed but left-eye dominant.) Many of them don't even realize they are left-eye dominant.

This explains why 1/3 of the population may be left-eye dominant, but less than 1/10 of the population is left-handed. When shooting handguns, eye dominance is not an issue. When shooting shotguns - especially in fast combat situations - eye dominance is a critical issue. Cross-dominant shooters can learn to adapt but it takes a lot of work (plus, of course, a firearms instructor who has identified this from the beginning.)

Interestingly, eye dominance has much less to do with which eye one uses for their camera viewfinder. I am strongly right-handed and right-eye dominant, but I have always used my left eye through the viewfinder for years of SLRs, MF bodies and now DSLRs. I have just done this because it got my nose out of the way.

Just for fun, if one wants to find out their eye dominance, make two circles with their thumb and forefinger, place them on top of each other and while staring at a small object with both eyes wide open, quickly raise those circles and surround the small spot. Now close the left eye. If the spot is still visible, you are right-eye dominant. If the spot disappears, you are left-eye dominant. If - as many people do - you try to close your left eye as I said, but instead you end up closing your right eye, you are most decidedly left-eye dominant. (The body has a harder time closing the dominant eye than the non-dominant eye.

Now, can someone tell me why eye dominance actually has little to do with which eye one uses in a camera viewfinder?

a curious question then, if it is more difficult to close the dominant eye, is it a reasonable guess that those who shoot with both eyse open, are not using their dominant eye when they use a camera?

[khardur]

clawhamemr, maybe you've got an astigmatism in the right eye. That's my issue, my right eye is much fuzzier than the left. So I shoot with the left eye the majority of the time. If I've got a zoom lens on I can zoom in and focus with my right, then zoom out to the focal length I wanted - but otherwise (like with my DA40) I can't shoot for sh*t with my right.

I even shoot guns with the left, I hold it in the right arm but turn my head slightly more so I can line it up with my left eye.

[clawhammer]

I dunno, it's kinda weird. I get a slight 'mirror image' about 2 mm below the normal image. I can make out shapes and stuff like that, but fine details are impossible to make out. It's not fuzzy or out of focus. It's really weird.

[m8o]

Now, can someone tell me why eye dominance actually has little to do with which eye one uses in a camera viewfinder?

With your expertise clear, I'm hoping you're asking as a teacher would ask his class to keep the conversation going, rather then asking to really get the answer yourself, because if the latter I don't know who will!

[christinelandon]

Good topic for a survey, and an interesting thread. Myself, I was trained to shoot right-eyed with left eye open.

[kurt]

I use ldeft eye and right eye open. Just because my right eye is worse than left and diopter adjustment is enough for my left eye (maximum minus value). I have done so a long time and get used to it

Nice poll, I have never thought about the 'eye'-question.

[ve2vfd]

When I was younger I shot right eye with left closed.

Then I started to do a lot of video years ago, so I was thought to shoot with both eyes open by a freelance news cameraman (You'll notice most media cameramen keep their non-camera eye open), and when I got interested in still photo again I sort of continued using the right eye at camera + left eye open technique.

Pat