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What is the proper way to focus? One eye? Two eyes? Do you wear your glasses if you normally wear them? Wether you are farsighted or nearsighted (I am both). Have I used up my number of questions yet?

Hi Monelle, great question!

The proper way to focus is whatever feels most comfortable to you!

You should first adjust a little dial or lever by the viewfinder until the numbers and markings in the viewfinder look sharp to you. This will differ from person to person and whether they use glasses or not.

As for eyes, like most people, I tend to close my right eye and use my left to look through a DSLR viewfinder. But if I'm composing for a long period I often open both eyes as it's easier on them.

The important thing is to find a technique that's comfortable to you and works with your eys and glasses / contacts if necessary.

If you can't see the whole frame with a black border around it, then you'll need to get your eye closer to the viewfinder. And when the camera focuses on a subject, it should also look sharp to you.

Some cameras have poor eye-relief which means they're not as easy to use with spectacles. Some have optional viewfinder accessories which make them easier to use. Again it all starts though with experimenting to see what's comfortable for you and what also produces the results you're after.

What would other people recommend, especially in terms of wearing glasses?

Gordon

Oh, those crazy Brits: the drive on the left, they look through the left
I believe that most people - like me - close their left eye and look through the right. This has one clear advantage when you're right handed: In portrait mode you normally turn the camera body 90° counter clockwise, holding the body with your right hand (at your forehead) and supporting the lens with the left from below. In this case the cam-body and your nose comfortably get along. Otherwise you'd end up with further smear on your lcd(-cover)

But in earnest, Monelle: For me, it is imperative to look through the camera with my glasses on, because I don't want to fiddle around with my glasses, when shooting - too much hassle. With that, the viewfinder should already be optimally adjusted, as they build them for people without need for correction. But if you have a camera like the D80 you can even adjust the viewfinder for maximum sharpness - see Gordons comments.

When it comes to sunglasses (I have some clip-on shades) I am very happy to report, that the D80 viewfinder is even bright enough that you don't necessarily need to remove the sunglasses. In fact the D80 viewfinder is one of the best in the industry. But when push (bright sunlight) comes to shove (darkened viewfinder due to sunglasses) I tend to take off my shades to have a better view of my subject.

B.t.w. my wife is very critical when it comes to closing one eye (or the other). She really can't do it! But nonetheless she is absolutely happy with the D80 viewfinder and prefers it very much over composing on lcd-screens no matter how bright they made them.

Hope that helps!

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Wow, what very interesting answers, Gordon and Tom--thank you! I was all set for there's-only-one-right-way answers. This is good news. I did decide on the D80 with the 18-200 lens. The viewfinder tipped the scales--it's fabulous. I guess the diopter only gets adjusted once, when you first get the camera. I close my left eye, Tom, but I turn the camera clockwise for portrait mode. Now if only I can remember not to close the eye in front of the viewfinder...

Wrong, wrong, wrong turn

Try both positions for portrait mode and tell me that holding the cam turned clockwise, trigger down, right hand from below is better than turning the cam counter clockwise, trigger up, right hand from above!

I won't believe you

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Hang on, two out of three people in this thread say they close their left eye and look through a DSLR viewfinder with their right!

I am really the odd one out?!

Tell us which eye, if any, you close when composing with a DSLR!

Gordon

Close my left, look through the viewfinder with my right.

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Nikon D80, Nikkor lenses: 35mm f1.8 G AF-S DX, 50mm f/1.8 AF D, 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G ED-IF AF-S DX, 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S VR, SB800 flash
My photos on SmugMug

I just checked on you, Gordon, and you do use your left eye to focus with. Just in case you weren't sure. Tom, I tried it your way today, and I do think it's easier. But change comes so hard, ugh. However, I will endeavor to persevere.

Like the rest on this thread I use my Right eye to focus with and close my left. Did the same as Monelle and checked on a couple of your video tours and yes you do use your Left eye to focus with but I think I have found out why you do this mate... it's that Shirt LOL.
What's Tom on about us Crazy Brits driving on the left, think you will find we are not the only country to do so ie. Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Malta... to name but a few.

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Roy
EOS 350D, 40D + BG-E2N, EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM, EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM, EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM, 430 EX Speedlite




My Fotopic

Ok Roy,

to be politically correct I should have said "Those crazy Brits, Kiwis, etc.".
My apologies for this blunder
But at least some of you focus with the right eye. That's a big relief for me

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

focus with the left eye...naturally!

Hurrah! Thanks Tony! At last another leftie! I was beginning to feel like the odd one out...

I guess a lot of it depends on who first teaches you. My father used his left eye with his SLR, so I followed, and it's always been my left eye that I've used when looking through telescopes as well - although again I often have both open for comfort.

Gordon

I wear contacts, so no problems with glasses, but my left eye is more dominant than my right - so I tend to use the left eye to focus with. I sometimes keep both open, it's easy for me to ignore my right eye's input.

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flickr

Olympus E510, Zuiko 12-60 SWD, 50-200 SWD, 14-42 and 40-150

Now "left" vs "right" stands at 3:3.
Would be interesting, if people who use different eyes to focus also shoot different photos, as both eyes are connected to different halves of our brains, which have different roles

Monelle, you should see what you have done with your seemingly simple question...

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Wow, Tom, what an fascinating thought! I had never thought of that. There is an interesting forum on this topic at http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=002qOr . Someone says, "The optic nerves cross over between the eyes and visual cortex, but in addition the optic nerves split and send SOME information from each eye to both halves of the V.C. as well," and "There is also a cross-connection in the brain called the corpus callosum, and information (including visual info) gets transmitted across this 'bridge' so that both sides of the brain get info from both halves of the visual cortex." Someone else says we have a "dominant eye," which I assume is the one we use to focus with, without really thinking about it. I think I hear my mother calling. Good night