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sillette

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I damaged my right elbow a few weks ago and have discovered that none of my cameras can be used, with any sort of efficiency, left handed. The SLRs are totallt useless and the compacts are a short step away from being useless. Has any one else had this problem? Is there a left handed camera? Are the manufacturers being negligent and failing to spot a market potential?
 
I just tried and found I could focus and shoot my Nikon D90 in portrait mode reasonably well with my left hand. THe problem is an SLR isn't designed to be operated one handed. Your other hand is meant to be used to zoom and focus. I'm right handed but take away my left hand and it's still awkward, cumbersome and slow.

Is your elbow damage permanent? If not I'd consider taking a break from hand held photography. Perhaps shoot stills (landscapes? still life?) on a tripod for a while and use a cable release? Then again using a tripod would be tricky too.

--
Sammy
 
What about a pistol grip with a cable release for the shutter? Put it on automatic; You'd either have to use a prime or put it down to set the zoom, although perhaps someone could rig up an electronic rocker switch to control the zoom; on some cameras, can the zoom be controlled by a remote?
 
I've found vague mentions of prototype SLRs that were left handed or had shutter buttons on both sides.

I saw mentions of an EOS-1Ds Mark IIIA - A for ambidextrous

And this on one of Ken Rockwell's pages "The left handed Nikon F100 you see on my home page was loaned to me for beta testing in 1998 when Nikon was considering producing a left handed version of the F100."
http://www.kenrockwell.com/about.htm#lefty

There's this but it looks dinky:
http://www.sinistershop.com/c_camera.htm

This is getting a bit long in the tooth. You might be able to find one used?
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Cybershot-DSC-M2-Digital-Optical/dp/B000CSYZ1K

I was thinking if a camera has a tripod mount and allows a wired remote, it should be possible to make an l-bracket that goes from the tripod mount along the bottom then left side of the camera, where you could attach the remote. If the left hand side was fitted with a grip this way, that might work. If it was a point and shoot you might even find a remote with a zoom? Any chance of having someone build you such a contraption?

Finally take a look at this story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awuFSWRjoI0

--
Sammy
 
Why should camera makers spend design and manufacturing time on left handed cameras for at most 10% of their buyers and really probably more like 5%. You wouldn't be able to sell a left handed camera to a smaller camera store for fears nobody would buy it.
 
RedFox88 said:
Why should camera makers spend design and manufacturing time on left handed cameras for at most 10% of their buyers and really probably more like 5%. You wouldn't be able to sell a left handed camera to a smaller camera store for fears nobody would buy it.
Click to expand...
I'm not so sure it would be a dead play. Marketing wise any manufacturer who rose to the occasion with just one model would score 100% coverage with the media. The smaller stores could simply put a sign up indicating Left Handed version of this model available by special order in 7 to 10 days.

Pentax is particularly well suited to do this as witnessed by their multi-color editions in Japan.

Wouldn't it be cool if you could spec your camera from the factory like you do a computer like dell?

I good idea in my mind.

sT
 
I use 2 different DSLR's "tethered" to my laptop. You can shoot with either hand, focus crop etc. at will.
--

' You don't have to have the best of everything to get the best out of what you do have'.
 
sillette said:
I damaged my right elbow a few weks ago and have discovered that none of my cameras can be used, with any sort of efficiency, left handed.
Click to expand...
What I did was use a flash bracket that allows me to grip the camera with my left hand, and use a wired remote to trigger the shutter with my right hand.

Maybe for your camera you can also buy a grip from the camera manufacturer who makes a flash bracket with the shutter release built in.

After my hand healed I got the Hakuba Camera Grip PH with Wrist Support as I still needed support.
 
Sammy Yousef said:
I've found vague mentions of prototype SLRs that were left handed or had shutter buttons on both sides.

I saw mentions of an EOS-1Ds Mark IIIA - A for ambidextrous
Click to expand...
No. Just a bad joke. They wouldn't put an assistive tech feature on that high end a camera.
Sammy Yousef said:
And this on one of Ken Rockwell's pages "The left handed Nikon F100 you see on my home page was loaned to me for beta testing in 1998 when Nikon was considering producing a left handed version of the F100."
http://www.kenrockwell.com/about.htm#lefty
Click to expand...
Another joke. There are disclaimers all over Ken's site.
Sammy Yousef said:
There's this but it looks dinky:
http://www.sinistershop.com/c_camera.htm

This is getting a bit long in the tooth. You might be able to find one used?
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Cybershot-DSC-M2-Digital-Optical/dp/B000CSYZ1K

I was thinking if a camera has a tripod mount and allows a wired remote, it should be possible to make an l-bracket that goes from the tripod mount along the bottom then left side of the camera, where you could attach the remote. If the left hand side was fitted with a grip this way, that might work. If it was a point and shoot you might even find a remote with a zoom? Any chance of having someone build you such a contraption?
Click to expand...
That's his best bet.

--
Rahon Klavanian 1912-2008.

Armenian genocide survivor, amazing cook, scrabble master, and loving grandmother. You will be missed.

Ciao! Joseph

http://www.swissarmyfork.com
 
There are various brackets on the market, that will allow you (OP) to hold the camera with trig release on the left side or as a pistol grip - they are usually designed for a flash. Not sure if that will work for you.

Leswick
 
cellartroll said:
http://www.pbase.com/thecellartroll
Click to expand...
No. A camera is a two handed task, a stock model is easy enough for a left handed person to operate. One hand turns the zoom ring, the other presses the shutter button. Like a flute, piano, computer keyboard, or a car.

Since the quantities are smaller, the distribution channel for left handed cameras would change, the availability would decrease, and the price would skyrocket. People won't pay for the convenience, any more than they pay for the convenience of left handed musical instruments.

It becomes "assistive technology", and only disabled users are willing to shell out the premiums and deal with the availability issues.

--
Rahon Klavanian 1912-2008.

Armenian genocide survivor, amazing cook, scrabble master, and loving grandmother. You will be missed.

Ciao! Joseph

http://www.swissarmyfork.com
 
There is about as much market potential for a LH camera as there is for a LH screwdriver.
 
Just Call Me Stupid said:
Wouldn't it be cool if you could spec your camera from the factory like you do a computer like dell?
Click to expand...
Why don't they make left handed computer keyboards with the arrow keys, Home, End, keypad, etc. to the left of the main keyboard keys? There are far more keyboards than cameras because of business and home computers. :P
 
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