Using the “Wrong” Eye

After 65+ years of using my dominant left eye with my cameras. I finally decided it was time to try using my shiny new post-cataract surgery right eye.

Focusing a Barnack Leica was acceptable with my left eye, thanks to the adjustable diopter on the camera rangefinder and the Visoflex viewfinder. With my new right eye the diopters are set at the other extreme of their adjustment and focusing is easier, but not spectacularly so. The real advantage is that I can now adjust the diopters so I can take pictures without wearing glasses.

Focusing a Nikon F with my left eye had become almost impossible. I was very close to putting all of my manual focus Nikon gear up for sale. And my first view through the viewfinder with my new right eye was not encouraging. The view was brighter but I did not see an appreciable improvement with focusing. Then, for no particular reason, I tried without my glasses and WOW! The image now snapped in and out of focus as sharply as the auto focus of my Nikon F6.

For the last few weeks I have been trying to remember to take my glasses off and use my right eye when I take a pictures. I worried about holding the camera steady, but looking at my recent negatives I can’t tell which were taken with which eye.

What I have not worked out yet is what to do with my glasses. When I go out without a camera I wear my prescription sunglasses and have a pair of bifocals in my T-shirt pocket. Trying to put two pairs of glasses in one pocket is not going to work. I tried hooking the second pair through the neck of my shirt and dropped them more than once, so I usually hold one of the temples of the second pair in my mouth.