How come there are no left handed cameras?

I'm not left handed, however my wife is.  This morning she brought up this question and I had no clue there were no left handed cameras.  Actually never thought about it.

Would you happen to know if anyone made one, or why never done?

G'day Brody

This topic comes up every couple of years too
yes- it seems that the camera makers believe that everyone across this whole wide world are -all- right handed and also -all- right eyed when it comes to using the eyepiece

There was an east-german company years ago who offered the Exacta (film) camera - an excellent design and totally setup for left handers / left eye dominant users ... and it sold reasonably well back then. However, in the days of mass production with computer controlled machines, it seems that the makers of cameras -along with just about everything else- have decided on one basic shape and "that's it mate ~ take it of leave it".

Hope this helps
Phil from the great land Downunder
www.flickr.com/photos/ozzie_traveller/sets/

A left hand version — as for any kind of version — will be very often
produced in lower quantities increasing the retail price.

Is it really an activity that's so demanding on your dexterity to require a left-handed version? I get it for a guitar or even a pair of scissors, but photography is mainly pressing a button down. I mean I manage to focus and zoom the lens using my left hand, so left-handers should be able to click the shutter button with their right.

G'day P

There are exceptions to every 'rule'

Some years ago I had a student who had lost her right hand in an industrial accident. She held the camera left-handed but upside-down and used her thumb for the shutter button !!

Phil from the great land Downunder
www.flickr.com/photos/ozzie_traveller/sets/

Us "lefties" have been coming up with "work arounds" for as long as we live in this backwards World. 

I use a right hand mouse on the left side of my keyboard and click with my ring finger, and scroll the center wheel with the middle finger. If the right button is needed, the index finger operates it. I used to go through the software to reconfigure the mouse for left hand use, but then I worked in a place where we had lots of computers where we frequently had to enter data into any one of them. If us "lefties" changed the software to make a left handed mouse, it caused all kinds of fussing from the "dominant righties". We were out numbered, 2 lefties, and 9 righties, so we gave in and just did our own work arounds for using the right handed mice. It still irritated them when they found the mouse and pad on the wrong side of the keyboard. Now, even my home computers have right handed mice, located on the left side of the keyboards, because it's more comfortable for me to use it the backwards way since I have had to for years.

I have learned to do many right handed things with my right hand, because there wasn't an available alternative. Many right handed things, like operating a camera, I instinctively do with my right hand. Maybe I could take better shots with a left handed camera, but I have never tried, actually I've never even seen a left handed camera, let alone tried to use one.. I learned to shoot guns with either hand. Bolt action guns are always used right handed, because it's so difficult to use the right handed bolt action with the left hand, but the hot cartridges flying in my face when I use a semi-automatic pistol now have me usually using them right handed too. I have mastered using right handed scissors with my left hand, although I'm certain that they are more comfortable to use if you are right handed. I was given a pair of "left handed scissors" one time, and I had all kinds of trouble using them, because it wasn't my "natural way". Most of us "lefties"  have learned "work arounds" like this over our whole lives. It comes quite natural for me to do things "backwards" and "upside down" now, since I have lived with this problem all 78 years of my life. 

I'm certain that there are other Lefties" out there. Come on, let's hear from you. How have you remained a "Lefty" in a "Righty" World? Probably the same way that I am coping with it. Do you use it right handed, or upside down?. How about a hand saw (I can do it both ways)? 

Charley 

Piechura wrote: Is it really an activity that's so demanding on your dexterity to require a left-handed version? I get it for a guitar or even a pair of scissors, but photography is mainly pressing a button down. I mean I manage to focus and zoom the lens using my left hand, so left-handers should be able to click the shutter button with their right.

I'm quasi-ambidextrous, so which hand I'm using doesn't matter a whole lot as far as dexterity goes.  But I get a repetitive-use strain in my shoulder blade from seemingly innocuous activities that I do frequently—like opening doors, turning a key, or even measuring tablespoons of water while cooking.  It can become unbearable if I don't stop whatever activity is triggering it.

Doctors always say the same thing: just switch hands, which is what I usually do.  (My left side has no such issue with repetitive actions.)  

It acts up when I'm taking pictures a lot.  But holding the camera with my left hand covers the screen, and I've yet to figure out how to actually reach the button from the left.  (I'm going to have to try out that upside-down trick someone mentioned.)

I also had a friend who blew off his right hand with a firecracker...  He'd have more trouble than I do.

So, it's not always as simple as you might think.  I would LOVE to have a left-handed camera.  It would save me a lot of pain, without requiring me to give up photography.