I have heard that a left handed person in the USA is taking legal action against Leica because the person feels discriminated against due to the right handed wind lever on the M6.

Is this not a great marketing opportunity for leica to make a reverse M6? Winder on the left and viewfinder on the right. I wonder if they could make it in green?

Then again, all you really have to do is turn the camera upside down....

-- wayne murphy (wayne.murphy@publicworks.qld.gov.au), April 18, 2001

Answers

Well, as a left-handed Leica user in the USA, I hope it's a class- action suit ; ) Fortunately, I'm right-eyed, which is lucky as otherwise I might poke myself in the eye with that uncooridinated right thumb ; ) Perhaps Cosina should start making Exaktas alongside their "Voigtlanders"; as I recall from the very hazy past, Exaktas had both the shutter release (which incorporated the stopdown mechanism for the lens diaphragm along its travel) and wind lever on the left.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), April 18, 2001.

I've been left-eyed for 52 years, and a Leica user on and off since 1968, but have never had a problem. In fact, with the wind lever way over there on the right, and the viewfinder as far as you can go on the left, it's the left-friendliest camera I've ever used. I guess you just can't protect some people from themselves, if they really have it in their tiny minds to put out an eye.

-- Michael Darnton (mdarnton@hotmail.com), April 18, 2001.

As a left-handed Leica user in the US, I say it's about time something was done about this social practice of right-handed preferential treatment.

Aside from the shutter release, wind lever, and viewfinder positions, I'm also appalled at the position of the lens release button (makes no sense to a left hander), the right-hand lens mount, the right-hand filter thread, the left-to-right film wind direction, and the left-to-right lettering splattered all over the camera.

Somehow all this right-handed madness has to be stopped before all social decency and moral values are consumed.

LEFT ON, BROTHER!!!

-- Ken Shipman (kennyshipman@aol.com), April 18, 2001.

Although I am left handed, I think that right handers should sue Leica for putting the viewfinder on the left. I have been using 'right handed cameras' for about 47 years. I would not want to develop a new set of reflexes.

-- jay goldman (goldman@math.umn.edu), April 18, 2001.

In my opinion, the best answer is to get rid of all left-handed people. We've got enough whiners now without perfectly healthy people, who made a conscious decision just to be different, bringing more lawsuits.

-- Alec (alecj@bellsouth.net), April 18, 2001.

...typical right-handed solution. QED

-- Ken Shipman (kennyshipman@aol.com), April 18, 2001.

Ya know, it's kind of interesting... I happen to be left-handed as well, and was actually quite surprised to learn how many of you fellow Leica-philes were lefties too -- which of course also means we use the right brain! But, then again, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised -- after all, it IS a documented scientific fact that we're smarter than right-handers... Probably explains why so many of us shoot with Leicas!

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), April 19, 2001.

There was a discussion in Photo.net some months ago about right hand--left eye dominance, with interesting results.

And it's true, the Leica M is probably the best choice among 35mm manual cameras for for left-dominant users. BTW, I am left- eyed, write with my right, made my sparring partners fear my left, and cannot even imagine focussing with my right.

Come to think of it, I should sue Nikon for the advance lever of the FM2 that always hit my right eye.

-- Oliver Schrinner (piraya@hispavista.com), April 19, 2001.

This is absurd. Isn't it obvious, left handed users are to turn the M6 upside-down, then the viewfinder is on the rights, and the shutter release and film advance are on the left. Not to mention that the M can be very nicely braced against the user's forehead.

-- Dan Brown (brpatent@swbell.net), April 19, 2001.

"...I am left- eyed, write with my right..."

Oliver,

You write with your right eye? Man, I'm impressed!! Doesn't that hurt?

-- Steven Hupp (shupp@chicagobotanic.org), April 19, 2001.

I´m left handed and eye too, and that adds a lot to any photographer, we are always seeing things from a diferent angle, and thats something you can´t just learn; sorry Alec your left brind side betray you, next life, if you wanna get rid of us you better close your eyes.

-- R Watson (al1231234@hotmail.com), April 19, 2001.

Shouldn't this dominance thing be discussed under the women/Leica thread?

-- Bill Mitchell (bmitch@home.com), April 19, 2001.

Jimi Hendrix was left-handed but chose to play a right-handed guitar and he was a pretty damn good musician! Beethoven was deaf and wrote a pretty symphony or two that has lasted its test of time for a good couple of centuries, and people without hands at all find ways of efficiently doing many of the everyday tasks many of us take for granted using other parts of their bodies. It’s not what you use but HOW you use that which is available because with sufficient practice anyone - whether left or right-handed - can do almost anything they want to do in life.

If this still doesn't convince the left-handed gentleman in the USA who wants to sue Leica, I would like to ask him to take a walk to the nearest mirror with his prized camera - if he has one - to raise it to his eye and photograph his reflection. You, sir, will then have clear-cut evidence - because the camera never lies - that a left- handed camera does, after all, exist so please do think twice about claiming your 15 minutes of fame for something so trivial. Oh, and you might even learn something about photography while you’re doing that!

-- Chrissie T (nowayout@btinternet.com), April 19, 2001.

Folks, enough already. I was only trying to be a bit light hearted. There is no left handed person suing Leica for discrimination (as far as I know). I really enjoyed your great responses but I don't want to compromise a great site.

-- wayne murphy (wayne.murphy@publicworks.qld.gov.au), April 19, 2001.

OK, Wayne - even we right-handers have been known to take a joke or two in our lifetimes!! But yeah - maybe Leica should think about a left-handed model!

-- Chrissie T (nowayout@btinternet.com), April 19, 2001.

Jack may have a point. I noticed that a significant percentage of my professors in college were left handed. SO maybe lefties do have higher than average IQ. Jack, where did you run across this? BTW, since we all know Leica photogs are smarter, maybe there is a strong need for an L6.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), April 19, 2001.

Awwww...I'm bummed. And I was all ready to crank up a new L.H.L.U.G. complete with fight slogan - "Left is Right and Right is Wrong". Send me $25 and a SASE for membership materials and a brochure of events, prizes, benefits, contacts, activities, litigation, targets, demonstrations, literature, catch-phrases, sympathizers, organizers, carbonizers, parties, phone numbers, subjects, objects, predicates, participles, adverbs, and menus. Call now - the lines are open.

-- Ken Shipman (kennyshipman@aol.com), April 19, 2001.

Bob:

Should they call it an L6TTL or an M6TTL-L? M6TTL2(squared)?

Anyway, to answer your question, I learned it in a psychology class years ago when I was in college... I also learned that lefties were more accident prone, because we live in a right-handed world -- oh well, ya can't have it all! BTW, a few famous lefties: Beethoven, DaVinci, Michelangelo, Newton, Einstein and even Ben Franklin -- So, except for the fact they're all dead, we're in good company!

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), April 19, 2001.

M6TTL^2 should do it. Several models will be needed to accomodate users with mixed lateral dominance. The left-handed/right-eyed users will need a special model, as will the right-handed/left-eyed users. These will need to be "stretch" models (like a Boeing 727) with about 62mm interocular distance added to the length. That's in addition to the one for left-handed/left-eyed users, which is simply the mirror image of the standard model. If Leica uses CAD/CAM machining, they should be able to just flip it left for right in the computer and machine it automatically in a few minutes. Of course, the frame selector will then be on the wrong side of the lens, making it hard to interface it with the cam. Might call for a whole new line of lenses.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), April 20, 2001.

Also lefties are pasionated people, so please take my apologises, and let me add I don´t care for another body configuration, I love it as it is.My most sincere apologies to you Alec.Roberto Watson

-- R Watson (al1231234@hotmail.com), April 20, 2001.

Actually, there was a left-handed Leica(-like) camera; it's the Kodak Ektra. (Another article here.)

-- Hoyin Lee (leehoyin@hutchcity.com), April 23, 2001.