Photography and your dominant eye

[Phantom2k4]

How important is it to use your dominant eye when composing through the viewfinder?

I'm asking this because my left eye is my dominant eye, and i'd much prefer to use my right eye for that purpose.

Thanks!

[candleman]

i'm also left eye dominant and make sure i shoot that way too.
i also prefer the right eye.

apparently it can screw up your other eye if you force it to do something its not usedto.. possibly.

i do know i can focus quicker and more accuratley with my dominant eye... so thats why i use it.
the other one is almost always a little fuzzy.

[OsmosisStudios]

I have an interesting situation: astigmatism. So neither eye sees the same. If I switch from one to the other, I have to make slight diopter adjustments to see clearly.

I sometimes shoot left, and have noticed myself doing it recently for some reason, but I mainly shoot right and, as Candleman said, I can get better focus with my right (also because its got less of a prescription to it!)

[Chip]

I'm also left eye dominant, and I shoot with my left eye.

I looked around the Internet for any info on shooting with my right eye, and found nothing really useful.

Maybe your eye doctor would be a good person to ask? I know it sounds obvious, but with something as important as eyes, that's what I plan to do next time I go to his offce.

[sybren]

This is for you lefties:

[jwampole]

Hello all,

My two cents worth about dominant eye. I also have trap shooting as a hobby, and dominant eye is of paramount importance. In trap shooting you never close either eye, and you always "aim" with your dominant eye. To break this rule means you will very likely miss the target. I've even seen people shooting right handed, using their left eye for aim. I don't hunt, but my guess is that sportsmen also follow the rule. In trap shooting the target is moving at about 80 miles an hour, and usually somewhere less that 50 yards away. The shooter has very little time to make a decision about when to shoot. Very similar to action photography. So, using trap shooting as a guide, your dominant eye should be used to look through the view finder. I'm not that sure about the "off" eye being open or closed. Also keep in mind that in trap shooting we don't have to worry about one eye effectively looking through a telephoto or wideangle lens. Just my two cents, and thank you for reading my mail.

[oldwolf]

I shoot with both eyes depending on if I'm using McNally's grip or a conventional grip.

[jocelynaz]

Thanks Sybren for this video! I'm left eye dominant and enjoyed this.

Originally Posted by sybren

This is for you lefties:

[pikchaser]

So which eye dominant is the majority? left or right?

[sybren]

Originally Posted by pikchaser

So which eye dominant is the majority? left or right?

AFAIK right. I'm right-dominant, but sometimes switch to my left eye if I'm using Da Grip.