Pecole Posted June 23, 2010 Share #1 Posted June 23, 2010 Advertisement (gone after registration) I just found this photo of the left hand release I had in my collection, and thought it might interest some of you, collectors-historians. Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/124412-left-hand-release/?do=findComment&comment=1359512'>More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted June 23, 2010 Posted June 23, 2010 Hi Pecole, Take a look here Left hand release. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Michael Hiles Posted June 23, 2010 Share #2 Posted June 23, 2010 Very interesting. I am right handed, but this looks to me like a solution for a non-existant problem. I am constantly amazed by the gizmos and gadgets that Leitz made over the years - some are so arcance that they cannot be identified without serious detective work. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luigi bertolotti Posted June 23, 2010 Share #3 Posted June 23, 2010 Very rare !!! Btw, i think it's one of the few accessories that, for what I know, had NOT a 5-letter code... maybe was available only on special order... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pop Posted June 23, 2010 Share #4 Posted June 23, 2010 solution for a non-existant problem. I have a left-handed co-worker who owns and uses several cameras. He wouldn't call this problem non-existant as he can not possibly use his right hand for such fine work as pressing a shutter release. For practically all intents and purposes he's one-handed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted June 23, 2010 Share #5 Posted June 23, 2010 Very interesting. I am right handed, but this looks to me like a solution for a non-existant problem. It's a very real problem to those of us who are left-handed along with can-openers, cheque books, fountain pens and a myriad of other things that right-handers take for granted...! Regards, Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hiles Posted June 23, 2010 Share #6 Posted June 23, 2010 I have a left-handed co-worker who owns and uses several cameras. He wouldn't call this problem non-existant as he can not possibly use his right hand for such fine work as pressing a shutter release. For practically all intents and purposes he's one-handed. Oops. Sorry. Short list for the insensitivity award. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert J Posted June 23, 2010 Share #7 Posted June 23, 2010 Advertisement (gone after registration) Very rare !!! Btw, i think it's one of the few accessories that, for what I know, had NOT a 5-letter code... maybe was available only on special order... According to Dennis Laney's book it was only available on special order,which is why it did not have a 5 letter code or catalogue number. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pop Posted June 23, 2010 Share #8 Posted June 23, 2010 Oops. Sorry. Short list for the insensitivity award. So you've just found one more question worth asking. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Geschlecht Posted June 23, 2010 Share #9 Posted June 23, 2010 Hello Michael, Approximately 10% of the world's population is left handed. Not such a small problem. Try putting your right hand in a mitten and see what happens. Even better try 1 day, somewhat less than a lifetime, doing everything with your left hand. Not as easy as you might think. One of the world's largest unspoken predjudices and forums for discrimination. Right handed: Dexterous. Left handed: Sinister. It continues. Best Regards, Michael Whose left handed sister lives in Montreal. BTW around half of the world's notable people have been left handed, ie: Leonardo Da Vinci. Michael, don't worry, nobody is beating you up. Structural anti-left-hand-ism is like structural racism. Many who do it are upset to be considered members of the group they are in. That's why it's called structural instead of intentional. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lars_bergquist Posted June 24, 2010 Share #10 Posted June 24, 2010 It's a very real problem to those of us who are left-handed along with can-openers, cheque books, fountain pens and a myriad of other things that right-handers take for granted...! Regards, Bill I shoot rifles from the right shoulder (awkward to reach across for the bolt handle, and I don't like having assault rifles ejecting cases right in front of my nose) but revolvers and automatics with my left hand. I write with my left hand, courtesy of a very enlightened schoolmistress way back in the 1940's. I also wag the mouse with my left hand -- but my right-handed wife does not move it over to the other side when she uses the computer! I flew sailplanes with my right hand on the stick, as per regs; when on the way up, I had to keep my left hand constantly on the tow cable release, and the airbrakes were left hand only. Can openers? I always used the bayonet. And beer bottle openers are laterally symmetrical. And I always found a Kine-Exakta extremely awkward. The most demanding motoric task with a Leica, or any camera with the classic Barnack layout, is actually focusing -- which we do with the left hand! I am probably slightly ambidextrous. I know that there are bad cases of southpawism. But a shutter release ... Now even the rewind lever is gone! The leftist old man Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roydonian Posted June 24, 2010 Share #11 Posted June 24, 2010 It was my understanding (and I can't recall where I read this) that the left-hand release was developed to allow the camera to be used by persons who had lost their right hand. In the 1920s and 1930s the German populace contained a significant number of war veterans who had lost limbs but who were still fairly young. Best regards, Doug Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest umshausumzu Posted June 24, 2010 Share #12 Posted June 24, 2010 The first ones were delivered in 1939. 3 different kinds: - for screw Leicas - for Leica Standard - for Leica M Claus Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pecole Posted June 24, 2010 Author Share #13 Posted June 24, 2010 It was my understanding (and I can't recall where I read this) that the left-hand release was developed to allow the camera to be used by persons who had lost their right hand. In the 1920s and 1930s the German populace contained a significant number of war veterans who had lost limbs but who were still fairly young. Best regards, Doug As far as I know, the release developed for one-armed people in 1954 was the MQUOO mouth release. In any case, the mechanical left-hand release was only offered as from 1939, not the 1920s Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
huubl Posted June 30, 2010 Share #14 Posted June 30, 2010 I'm in a group of my own: right-handed, but left-footed. I mount the bike on the "wrong" right side, play the ball with my left foot and do other footsy things the "sinister" way. However, I write with my right hand and fire the camera without the use of the above device. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Geschlecht Posted June 30, 2010 Share #15 Posted June 30, 2010 Hello Again Everybody, There are also Left eye dominant and Right eye dominant people (The same pertains to squirrels, giraffes, etc by the way. Interestingly they also have around a 10% variation within many categories; the same as people). Eye dominance is often an issue in photography since the dominant and lesser eyes see different things with the dominant eye being effectivly the viewfinder (Framing) and the secondary eye being the rangefinder (Binnocular Vision). This is why sometimes a person with one hand (Or Foot) dominant needs to use the other eye to focus or frame correctly. Try changing for a while. It's interesting. Sometimes helpful. BTW Lars, you were lucky. My sister grew up @ the end of the time when schools still taught that left handedness was "wrong" and was something to be "corrected". Best Regards, Michael Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bocaburger Posted June 30, 2010 Share #16 Posted June 30, 2010 I'm a leftie and operate left-hand-drive stickshift cars, play guitar, use cameras, scissors, guns, and certainly can openers right-handed without any problem. Most lefties do it and don't whine about it, but a few do, hence the market for things like left-handed scissors costing 2x the price. I bought an Exakta years ago and it always felt awkward. I know far more right-handers with very little left-hand coordination than lefties with poor right-hand coordination. It probably goes to having needed to adapt to a right-handed world almost since birth. BTW I was told (this is hearsay from a collector, so not claiming it to be fact) the LH release for Leica was not designed specifically for lefthanded photographers, but for righthanded photographers who were amputees or lost the use of their right hand. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pico Posted July 10, 2010 Share #17 Posted July 10, 2010 I'm in a group of my own: right-handed, but left-footed. I mount the bike on the "wrong" right side, play the ball with my left foot and do other footsy things the "sinister" way. However, I write with my right hand and fire the camera without the use of the above device. That is quite interesting, and useful I'll bet. In college we had a math professor who would write equations with both hands simultaneously, a hand for each side of the equals sign, and sometimes he would write from right to left (which sometimes makes sense). It was so intimidating. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Geschlecht Posted July 11, 2010 Share #18 Posted July 11, 2010 Hello pico, I also know someone like your college math professor. Best Regards, Michael Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pgk Posted July 12, 2010 Share #19 Posted July 12, 2010 My wife is right-handed but uses an Apple mouse left handed and reversed! Drives me up the wall when I have to use her computer! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Geschlecht Posted July 13, 2010 Share #20 Posted July 13, 2010 Hello Paul, Sounds sinister to me. Best regards, Michael Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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