[m8o]

(I wanted to post this for my 999th or 1000th or 1001st post, but I didn't realize I was already there! )

So a simple poll (related to the activity of taking photos, so I chose this "General Pentax Photography" forum ... hope it's the right place)... Do you use your right eye or your left eye to look through the viewfinder when you shoot? If right, do you keep you left open? It's multiple choice so check all that you use.

I believe I learned decades ago I'm supposed to use my right eye, and keep the left open (assumption probably was using near 50mm focal length lenses @ the time). I just can't get the knack of that.

Especially if I'm manually focusing, I feel can usually 'see' better if I squish my nose into the screen and use my left eye, or even better yet turn my head to the right and push up into the viewfinder even more with my left eye.

What do you prefer? Feel free to add 'why'. Have fun with it.

[Lowell Goudge]

I have read differeing statistics on this.

Wikipedia states 2/3 of the population is right eye dominant.

I read somewhere an article written by a chopper pilot in the us military who had extreme difficulty getting certified on teh night vision because it was made specifically for right eye dominant people, and since the number of left eye dominant people is less than 5% they generally failed out of the training. No special equipment was made for them

These two sources seem to contradict.

I am only conciously aware of two left eye dominant people. It does not mean I don't know more but just I have not seen any behavior like using a camera to demonstrate it.

p.s. the survey numbers don't seem to add

[travis_cooper]

I use the right eye since that is what I learned for shooting rifles at scout camp. They teach you how to figure out which eye you are supposed to use. I am definitely right eyed. I can't imagine taking pictures with my left eye open, I think I would be confused as to what my shot really is. If you want to do the test to see which eye you should use, according to them, whoever they are, is to put one hand on the other and in between the thumb and index finger make a little triangle area and look at an object with your arms extended. Then bring your hands slowly back towards your eyes and make sure you see the same object as you bring them back and they will come right up to the eye you "should" be using. Basically the concept is that if you look at something with both eyes, or with just that one eye your perspective is pretty much the same, whereas with the other eye it changes slightly.

[Finn]

I know it's weird, but left eye, with my right eye open. Sure my glasses get all smudged from my right thumb bumping into them, but I like keeping both eyes open (less fatigue), and I can't get the hang of keeping my left open while my right looks through the viewfinder. Even with rangefinders, from which the keeping-the-left-eye-open thing is a holdover.

[mattdm]

I have read differeing statistics on this.

Wikipedia states 2/3 of the population is right eye dominant.

I read somewhere an article written by a chopper pilot in the us military who had extreme difficulty getting certified on teh night vision because it was made specifically for right eye dominant people, and since the number of left eye dominant people is less than 5% they generally failed out of the training. No special equipment was made for them

These two sources seem to contradict.

Huh, interesting. The Wikipedia article cites some studies which look pretty good although with relatively small sample sizes. (Also, one of them studies related individuals and concludes that there is a genetic component to eye preference, which means that data can't be extrapolated to the population at large.)

I was under the impression previously that right-handed people tended to be left-eye dominant and vice versa, but one of the Wikipedia-referenced articles concludes that there's no relation.

For what it's worth, I'm right-handed and right-eye dominant. Therefore, I naturally raise the viewfinder to my right eye, and I close the left one when I think about it.

But, I find that I do better at intentional framing and composition when I use my left eye and don't have to worry about whether my other eye is open or not in order to focus all of my attention through the viewfinder. Now that I think about it, though, it's possible that this is simply because the less automatic position makes me think more in the first place. Maybe I should focus on concentrating better with the right-eyed two-eyes-open technique, especially when using a near-normal lens (as I do usually anyway).

[jshurak]

left eye, right closed. My right eye isn't quite as correct as my left.

[cornishk100duser]

Having just done the poll, Out of 15 people who have taken the poll, 7 are R eye with L closed and 7 are L eye with R eye closed.

I am left eye, cannot keep right eye open as all I can see is my finger on the shutter.

I had never thought of whish eye before, interesting idea for a poll

Sandra

[pixelsaurus]

Interesting poll. I believe Microscopists and those using telescopes view with both eyes open,partly to reduce eyestrain and secondly,if you are drawing "the view",you can superimpose the drawn image upon the visual one. The only SLR cameras I know of that were built for left eye use were the german Exaktas,from the 50's and 60s. They put the wind on crank on the left hand side of the body.

[G M Fude]

I'm left eye dominant, based on a version of the test Travis mentioned in his post, but I trained myself to use my right eye for photography just because it seemed to me that's the way cameras were made; mainly the viewfinder offset. Even more important with digital to avoid getting nose marks on the LCD screen!

Consequently I must keep my left eye closed or it gets very confusing.

Right handed, I use the left eye with the right open. When shooting portraits I have to use my right eye and close the left.

[fishy]

Especially when I'm trying to track a moving object I need both eyes; "just" superimpose both images
I also found that when I'm out shooting and close my left eye, it can take a long while before I can see properly again with it ... Although I am ambidextrous, the camera is made righthanded, that'll 'make' most people use their right eye, no?

[Arpe]

I use right eye, with left eye sometimes closed, sometimes open, so i voted 1 and 2. I'm a surveyor, so look through the theodolite with right eye and left eye open to see what else is going on, often do it with my video camera as well. It's a good habit to keep the other eye open if you can to see what's going on and help anticipate the next shot.
We were advised also to keep the other eye open as it prevents something (can't remember what) bad happening as you age.

[jmbower]

I use right eye, with left eye closed, but have noticed that in prolonged bouts of shooting that the muscles I use in my eye and cheek to, essentially, wink the left eye closed actually get really tired to the point of that sort of shuddering/shaking muscles do when they get too tired. I am trying to go left eye open, but that doesn't seem to work well.

After several hours of a shooting trip, my cheek will actually feel like my arm does after lifting weights

[Trawlerman]

I use my left-eye with right-eye open.

I'm an old school photographer and I took some of my earliest shots with my dad's KMZ Zorki-4K and learnt to shoot this way. I find it gives me a heads up on other stuff happening around me. It's useful for shooting in less than 100% safe environments.

My only problem is that the eyepiece soemtime smudges my glasses and the wind-on lever gets in the way at times - dependant on the camera of course. The old Ricoh KR-5 / XR-500 had a relatively large stand-off angle on the wind-on lever for the meter to work.

When shooting with a 'normal' 50mm lens or so the view is not too bad but when using other focal lengths it can look extremely odd.

[ccallana]

Foxglove did a survey a while back on this - check out this thread https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/general-talk/2414-eyedness-handedness-other-nesses.html