Both eyes open

[antigallican]

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I recently had to correct the rangefinder calibration on my M9. So this meant I have sent a couple of days taking hundreds of shots on an f2 50mm Summicron and being super critical of the results, first with targets then later with just whatever I found out on walks - flowers, notices, signs, benches etc.This has led me to the discovery that I am much more accurate and speedy rangefinder user with both eyes open. This is after years owning the M9 and before it an M6. I do nowadays wear variable contacts for photography, so maybe that makes a difference. I wonder if others have the same 'both eyes open' experience?

[jdlaing]

I discovered this years ago myself. It works very well for me.

[a5m]

Interesting. I remember trying this with DSLRs and it didn't work too well. Will have to give it a shot. Any technique to make me faster is much appreciated, as I'm sure it is by my family too 😂

Edited May 3, 2020 by a5m

[ianman]

Being left eye dominant, and hence focusing with that eye, I'm not sure this would help me. I'll give it a go though.

[antigallican]

12 hours ago, ianman said:

Being left eye dominant, and hence focusing with that eye, I'm not sure this would help me. I'll give it a go though.

Yes, maybe dominance is an issue. I hardly have any dominance in my eyes - when I wore monovision contacts it barely mattered which eye I put them in. I wonder if that’s having a strong effect on my rangefinder use.

[a.noctilux]

12 hours ago, ianman said:

Being left eye dominant, and hence focusing with that eye, I'm not sure this would help me. I'll give it a go though.

Ian, try not to close your right eye when you use your left eye in the M's VF.

 

Years ago ( can it be decades ? ), I managed to use my right eye in the M's viewfinder (with diopter correction screw-in),

and left eye in R viewfinder which has variable correction diopter built-in.

Numerous times I use the "wrong eye" to look in the R/M vf, so I've simplified my life by using only left eye.

I've tried this out some years ago, it took time, and now I just naturally let open the two.

[farnz]

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The M3 with its 0.91 viewfinder is very well set up for both eyes focussing and I often do so.  It's particularly useful for candid portraiture because I find that having the left eye open when shooting tends to put the subject more at ease because you can maintain eye contact with them and they are less conscious of the camera and often act more naturally.

I'm naturally a left-eye shooter but trained myself to shoot with my right eye when I started wearing spectacles.  It was much easier than I'd expected.  Now quite often I'll shoot right-eye in landscape orientation and left-eye in portrait orientation because it saves having my trigger-hand over my head, which attracts attention.

Pete.

[Ko.Fe.]

Not with M9 VF. Maybe with magnifier and 50mm, but I don't want to pay for another magnifier which gets lost from camera in no time.

 M3, Barnack Leica with SBOOI, Nikon FG20 with 50E lens those are for my two.