RexGig0
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 p.3 #5 · Do folks use Leica M cameras "naked" (ie without grips of any kind) and are still happy with the ergonomics? | |
When shooting with the Leica M system, the lens is my "add-on accessory grip." One of my considerations, when acquiring a lens, is the ergonomics of the lens body, and its hood, if I plan to use the OEM hood.
Why? Well:
For starters, I am left-handed. Holding something in my left hand feels natural. I do throw right-handed, and better perform some other gross motor skills that require use of the whole arm, right-handed. So, holding a delicate item, such as a camera/lens combo, in my left hand, leaves my right hand and arm free to do other, bigger things.
Then, there is that whole "long lens technique" thing, from my DSLR days, when wildlife and birds were priorities. Long lenses require the support of the left hand and upraised left forearm, with the back of the upper left arm against the torso. Long lens technique works for shorter lenses, too.
Police training emphasizes keeping one's primary pistol-shooting hand free, as much as possible. For more than seven years, most of my images were captured while on duty. Crime scene photography was an added duty, during the final part of my police patrol career. Hefty revolvers were the mandated duty handgun, when I was originally being trained, in 1983/1984. Drawing from the then-mandated low-slung duty holster was much like throwing underhanded. So, being a right-armed thrower, I established my right hip as my handgun carry position. (Though a native Texas, I had not grown-up around guns, so, was learning from scratch, as a young adult.)
Being a right-armed person meant that my right hand, wrist, arm, and shoulder experienced comparatively more cumulative physical trauma, over the decades. Carrying things in my left hand spares my right hand much physical discomfort.
OK, back to being left-handed. My right hand being that small bit more clumsy, when multi-tasking, such as gripping an item, while also carefully pressing a small button, well, by holding the camera and body and lens left-handed, and keeping my right hand as relaxed as possible, I am more likely to achieve a clean press of the button, at the most-important moment.
Some may "accuse" me of being ambidextrous. I think not. There is nothing that I do absolutely equally well with each of my hands. I did take piano lessons, as a child, and, played a clarinet in the middle/junior school band, for two years. Playing a musical instrument does develop ambidextrous skills. A camera/lens combo can be seen as analogous to playing a musical instrument.
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