Dominant Eye

Compuwight

Compuwight

Suspended / Banned
Messages
1,113
Name
Steve France
Edit My Images
Yes
I have always used my left eye with my camera's (not my dominant eye) as it has less astigmatism and gave better results for focussing. 3 weeks ago the retina in my left eye partially detached and despite laser treatment I am left with constant floaters that appears as black dots. A such I can no longer user my left eye for photography !

Transferring back to my right eye is proving very difficult, the acute astigmatism makes it very hard to find subjects (BIF) and get a focus.....

Just wondering if others have experienced these issues ..... ?

I am hoping constant practice will help !
 
Bad luck!
Hopefully, you can re-train yourself to use your right eye, but only time will tell.

I have the worst of both worlds, I'm very strongly right-handed but am left-eye dominant. I use my left eye with cameras, always have and I can't even remember whether I've even tried using my right eye.

But I also shoot, so I'm a right-handed shooter shooting from the left shoulder, which is awkward to say the least. One of my shooting buddies is the same, and we talked about this a while ago and we both tried to mount our guns on the right shoulder, and failed miserably; neither of us could even work out how to hold the gun and get it into the shoulder, let alone point it in the right direction.

BUT I also play pool competitively, and I play right-handed, always have, which is weird. I can of course also play left-handed when necessary, all cue players have to be able to, but right-handed and right-eyed is my natural approach. One of my team mates is left-handed and plays left-handed, even though he is strongly right-eye dominant, and that works for him.

Shotgun shooting and cue sports basically use the same skillset, so in theory I should be better playing pool left-handed:)

So, my experience with shooting tells me that it would be impossible to learn to use my right eye, or at least extremely difficult, and my experience with pool tells me that it isn't a problem at all. . .
 
Garry Edwards said:
So, my experience with shooting tells me that it would be impossible to learn to use my right eye, or at least extremely difficult, and my experience with pool tells me that it isn't a problem at all. . .
Click to expand...
That’s helpful Garry

As for the OP , I also have an astigmatism, but my left eye is worse than my right, and I’m right eye dominant.
Does the diopter adjustment help at all?
 
Last edited:
Sorry to hear about your eye problem, I hope it improves for you.

I use my left eye with cameras too. I can use my right eye when I need to but the viewfinder naturally goes to my left eye. If it ever came to it, I don't think it would be difficult for me to train myself to use my right eye with a camera. You may be suprised when you try it, it shouldn't be long before your brain makes the switch.

All that said, I am biased to my right hand side, I would kick a ball right footed, paint a wall right handed, use a screwdriver right handed etc etc but I could do all that left footed/handed too, as I can with most things

I had a gun fitting back in 2018 and it was determined then that I am left eye dominant but I couldn't shoot left handed, I would always settle my gun to my right shoulder and use my right eye for sighting. I tried holding a gun to my left shoulder many times but it just didn't feel right at all. This is about the only thing that I can't do ambidextrously, as far as I know. Weird.

Would liveview work for you with your cameras?

Try using your right eye with the viewfinder, it might feel odd for a while but your brain will soon adapt, I'm sure.

Good luck.
 
Surely you can take up the slack with your right eye by adjusting the diopter?
 
Plain Nev said:
Surely you can take up the slack with your right eye by adjusting the diopter?
Click to expand...

Part of the problem is that if you are left eye dominant and having used that eye for several decades is that it will take a real struggle and persistence to adapt to right eye - worse if the right eye needs stronger and different correction. It can be very tiring tying to switch - amost like the focusing muscles need to be built up - and the brain needs to train itself.
 
Last edited:
Do you know your prescription? It'll say SPH CYL AXIS
The CYL (Cylinder) bit relates to your astigmatism and the AXIS states the direction of the cylindrical ellement (It will be between 0 and 180).
In a past life I made opthalmic lenses and have been known to produce corrective eye pieces for cameras.
Is the astigmatism corrected with spec's or contact lenses?
 
Graham W said:
Do you know your prescription? It'll say SPH CYL AXIS
The CYL (Cylinder) bit relates to your astigmatism and the AXIS states the direction of the cylindrical ellement (It will be between 0 and 180).
In a past life I made opthalmic lenses and have been known to produce corrective eye pieces for cameras.
Is the astigmatism corrected with spec's or contact lenses?
Click to expand...
Yes it is corrected with my reading glasses, I might investigate a corrective eyepiece. Hoping that with practice I can compensate myself - here's hoping
 
Phil V said:
That’s helpful Garry

As for the OP , I also have an astigmatism, but my left eye is worse than my right, and I’m right eye dominant.
Does the diopter adjustment help at all?
Click to expand...
Diopter helps with distance but no help with astigmatism ....
 
LongLensPhotography said:
Best just use the lcd. I came to that conclusion myself
Click to expand...

I have tried this approach, unfortunately I need reading glasses to see screen which are useless for spotting BIF, So focussing is still a problem.

I am hoping that given time and practice my brain will adjust such that I know when I have focus even if it looks wrong through the eyepiece !
 
Compuwight said:
I have tried this approach, unfortunately I need reading glasses to see screen which are useless for spotting BIF, So focussing is still a problem.

I am hoping that given time and practice my brain will adjust such that I know when I have focus even if it looks wrong through the eyepiece !
Click to expand...
bi or vari focal lenses in your glasses ?

I use varifocals and have had no problem using them, it only took a few minutes to adapt.
 
Based on an n=1 study (my father): he had massive amounts of floaters immediately post cataract surgery (traumatic because the lens they were removing essentially exploded as they removed it) - over time they have been reabsorbed - he is now floater-free.

I hope the same applies to you.
 
I always used my dominant right eye with bad astigmatism for focusing but ended up with cataracts. I’ve just had cataract surgery and only just taken a couple of shots and had to adjust the diopter for it to be in focus. I had to use a cheap pair of readers to see the screen however. Hopefully, I’ll get used to it.
 
I went out today with D600 and 50mm Pancake lens, fully manual with a patch over my left eye and normal distance glasses. I admit it was not easy but these are the best..
There is now hope in my mind that with practice I will get back to BIF07-09-2025 Car Shoiw 2.jpg07-09-2025 Car Shoiw 3.jpg07-09-2025 Car Show.jpg
 
For what it's worth, I'm left eye dominant which is a pain as all 35mm style cameras are designed for right eyed people.
That said, looking at most of my stuff most people would assume I had both eyes closed.
 
jerry12953 said:
I hope you get used to the floaters. I have a large one which I can ignore most of the time but in a bright room I do notice it.
Click to expand...
Cheers, at the moment I can still see a large floater all the time and in bright lights I can now see dozens of small black dots which I am told is a result of the laser surgery. Hoping my brain will eventually not see the floater ....
 
Progress is good on using my right eye, still struggling a bit with focus but at least I can now isolate the subject. Tested myself with something small and fast, static OK but BIF still a blur !
16-09-2025 Kingfisher 1.jpg16-09-2025 Kingfisher 4.jpg16-09-2025 Kingfisher 3.jpg
 
soupdragon said:
What camera are you using?
Click to expand...
Nikon D850 with 600 f4 prime today .... in total I have 4 Nikons to choose from D7500, D500, D600 and D850 - D850 is that bit bigger so easier to use at the moment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top