photographers eye?

Do any of you photograhpers get this issue I have when shooting for long periods?

My closed eye gets blurry after a while, and it's very annoying. I tried using two eyes open, which does help, but habit makes me close it without realizing. When it gets blurry, I have to close it to see properly. It is even making it hard for me to drive home after a day shooting, which is not good. The only way to make sense of the LCD screen on my camera is to close that eye, otherwise they all look like they were handheld at 5 seconds at 400mm!
My eyesight is good, no glasses needed otherwise.

If I didn't think i'd look like such a tool with an eyepatch I would wear one!

Is this common or am I just messed up?

My first guess is that you are closing the non shooting eye too tightly. If this is so, gently, barely closing the non shooting eye and keeping a relaxed face may help.

If that does not work, I'd consider a routine eye check up, just to be on the safe side.

Good luck.

Hmm eyes bad. How are your palms? Itchy? Hair growth on them? It might not be the photography you know. Sorry I couldn't resist.


Go to an opthamologist. The ones that check the eyeball pressure and all that good stuff. Probably is not a big deal but always good to check as eye problems usually can be treated especially if caught early.

Which eye do you shoot with? I shoot with my left eye, so the right eye is mostly looking at the back of the camera body and doesn't get distracted by too much light.

Try getting used to shooting with both eyes open, it helps a lot. I used to get pressure after a long time of shooting, especially something like macro where you really have to concentrate.

I learned to shoot with both eyes open at short course off-road racing events to avoid getting run over by a racer off track.

i recall getting this when i first started... I think it might hae something to do with the diopter setting on your viewfinder. Try playing around with it -- the lowest setting that'd allow you to see clearly.

+1 on the two-eye shooting method. It's allowed me to capture many more shots by being situationally-aware.

I thought I responded to this thread already..weird.
It may help to use eyedrops, I often get this problem too, it's called dry-eyes.

I lost where I posted this thread for a bit!

Thanks for the replys. Just to confirm, the blurry vision is only in the eye I shut and only after I have shot for a few hours.
After reading the replies, and after thinking about it some more, I think I am closing my right eye too tight...... Also I am a bad winker, my whole face squelches up when I close one eye!

I will try and relearn to shoot both eyes open. I know what you guys mean about having more situational awareness by doing so, and I do if I know somethings outside my viewfinder of interest, I just need to make it a habit t do it all the time.

I'm surprised that no one else seems to have this problem??? Maybe I do have "issues"!

I have this happen to me too. My camera is new so I'm hoping it's just that I'm not used to keeping that eye closed so much.

I'm surprised too that this doesn't happen to many other people.

A great way to learn to shoot with both eyes open.. pretend that there is a 4000lbs, 800 hp trophy truck approaching you from the side of your eye closed, and you can't miss the shot.

The same thing happens to me but my blurred vision doesn't last as long as yours. I try to shoot with both eyes open but that doesn't last long and before I know it I am closing my left eye again. Usually I just blink a bit and after 2 or 3 minutes the blurriness goes away.

Have you tried shooting with the other eye? I haven't had this issue with photography, but I had a similar problem when learning to shoot a rifle. Then, I figured out I was left eye dominant, so I switched the rifle over to my left side, and problem solved. There's a simple test to determine left/right eye dominance, but I'm afraid I can't remember how to do it. This may not be your problem, but it may be worth trying if you haven't already. I think I actually have both eyes open most of the time when I shoot.

IslandCrow wrote in post #7720931
Have you tried shooting with the other eye? I haven't had this issue with photography, but I had a similar problem when learning to shoot a rifle. Then, I figured out I was left eye dominant, so I switched the rifle over to my left side, and problem solved. There's a simple test to determine left/right eye dominance, but I'm afraid I can't remember how to do it. This may not be your problem, but it may be worth trying if you haven't already. I think I actually have both eyes open most of the time when I shoot.

I was camping with my son & his cub scouts a couple of weeks ago and they did training for shooting bb guns. The instructor explained how to determine which eye is dominant, you hold your hands up in front of you at arms length with your hands together making a triangle between your thumbs. You close one eye and look through the hole and move your hands to your chest. They do it again with the other eye, you know which eye is dominant when your hands go over your heart. Or something like that...

A quick Google search brought a different method with a better explanation.

Your Dominant Shooting Eye?
I have been shooting pictures for twenty-some years. Last night, a friend showed me this technique to find out your "dominant eye". I had never heard of this. Have you?

1. Stand up.
2. Hold your arm outstretched in front of you at "eye height".
3. Raise your index finger, pointing upwards, like a "1".
4. Open both eyes and look at your finger.
5. Alternately, close and open each eye separately.
6. With one eye, (the dominant eye), the finger will appear to stay in the same place. With the weaker eye, the finger will "shift" noticeably to the right or the left.
7. You should use the dominant eye to view through the camera viewfinder.

My dominant eye was my right eye. Her dominant eye was her left. (I was shaking in my boots, before I determined the dominant eye, for fear that I'd been shooting for all these years with the wrong eye...)

I shoot with both eyes open as much as possible. But I've noticed that I always seem to shoot with both eyes open if the camera is in the vertical position and not as often when I shoot horizontally.

Jon.