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06/11/2006 09:12:46 PM · #1 |
Just sitting down to my third cup of coffee - enjoying the Queens Birthday holiday.
Yes, we Australians have a Queens Birthday (not Dame Edna)holiday. Enjoying the day off - but I wonder when Australia is going to grow up. For our foreign members, who maybe don't know, the Queen of England is still our official head of state. No power - but stil officially boss.At least we get the holiday - see, you Americans should have asked the British to leave nicely, like us Canadians and Australians, - at least we get a holiday ! I have English friends who claim that Britian will be a Republic even before Australia - how embarrassing !!
Enough of the silliness. What I am posting about is camera design and whether others feel the same way as I do.
To give a bit of background. I started out with Pentax SLR's. Small design - no problem, great for travelling, handled well, mainly used fully manual -easy to adjust.
Though it was time to change so bought a Canon 500n. Heres where I hit my first complaint. To adjust the aperture setting - you had to press a tiny, little (I mean tiny and little) button on the back of the camera. It must have been designed by 14 year olds with Peter Pan hands and eye sight of an owl. I perserved.My wife found with her hands and nails found it just about impossible. Canon is a reasonably company, they listen to the complaints of their customers, - they will see the fault in the design and change it in the next round of cameras. Wrong !!
I got a 350 XT at Christmas time. The design ? Same as the 500n. At least they are consistant. Same set up for fully manual mode. Hey - I'm a modern guy, I don't necessarily want them to go back to the old aperture ring on the barrel (although it sounds like a good idea), but there must be a more user friendly way of doing it.
I suspect that a lot of other people out there have the same complaint. From other threads I have noticed that most people set their cameras to AE or TV setting - only using manual on occassions. I would suggest that either consciously or unconsciously people are opting for these settings because they are quicker (to adjust) and less fiddly.
Do Nikon owners have the same design problem ? I suspect that all modern cameras have the same complaint.
By the way - this is meant as a light hearted complaint. I do love my 350XT and have come to grips with the design but I still think it could be done better.
Aw well - back to my fourth cup of coffee.
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06/11/2006 09:37:30 PM · #2 |
We don't get a holiday here in Canada!! (I want a holiday)
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06/11/2006 09:40:11 PM · #3 |
We don't get a holiday in England either! :/
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06/11/2006 09:40:13 PM · #4 |
The 20D is a lot more sensible. It has two wheels for adjustment, one on top and one on the back, a nice big one. In Av or Tv mode, the wheel on adjusts whichever of the two parameters is targeted. In manual mode, the wheel on top adjusts shutter speed and the one on back adjusts aperture. Super-smooth :-)
R.
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06/11/2006 09:40:55 PM · #5 |
Karen
Something went wrong ! Did you offend Phil or Charles ? Maybe the French mucked it up for you. |
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06/11/2006 09:44:51 PM · #6 |
Rob
Nice to hear they adjusted the design for the other canons. I have to admit I wasn't game to look at one and check (envy - and I don't want to give myself high desires on limited income).
Do the Nikons have the same situation ? |
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06/11/2006 09:57:29 PM · #7 |
what happend this morning, i got up and the sun is OUT..?????..
i was really enjoying al that rain...!
those poor people 'camping' this weekend, it's the day to come home.. LMAO....
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06/11/2006 11:38:43 PM · #8 |
Hi everyone,
I am really enjoying the Queens Birthday holiday, as my sister has come to visit me. She came up a cuople of days early, to help celebrate not only the Queens birthday holiday, but to also celebrate my birthday as well, on the 14th June.
No, I am not telling you my age, as I actually feel ten years older lately.
Boy, it is a beautiful sunny day here, at the Sinshine Coast in Queensland Australia. I do hope you are all envious of us. The sky is just so blue and so clear.
I am going out this afternoon, to take some shots for one of the challenges coming up.
The past two days, we have had so much rain, so it a good day for going out and taking photos.
Wish me luck.....
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06/11/2006 11:49:40 PM · #9 |
Originally posted by Tajhad:
I have English friends who claim that Britian will be a Republic even before Australia - how embarrassing !! |
I agree that's where the safe money would be - One of the few time Oz got on the main US news and it was basically reported as Oz deceided to keep the queen as head of state - with the added quisical somewhat disbelief. Trust me, if the US newcaster thinks it's odd then it's bloody well Alice country :-). Didn't know what to say about the outcome; still don't :-/. Enjoy the holiday anyway....
Originally posted by Tajhad:
Canon is a reasonably company, they listen to the complaints of their customers, - they will see the fault in the design and change it in the next round of cameras. |
Brought to you by the same people that insist on having a "print" button on high end SLR's and no mirror lock-up without menu jumping. Don't hold you breath... |
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06/11/2006 11:53:27 PM · #10 |
Originally posted by KarenNfld:
We don't get a holiday here in Canada!! (I want a holiday) |
it's called victoria day here (in canada). second weekend in may. the first long weekend of summer - if it had stopped raining. it's just on a different day, but it's still the same thing!
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06/12/2006 12:37:13 AM · #11 |
Queen'S Birthday Holiday long weekend, grrr - it means my sister isn't at work to have her turn in our Scrabble game... (She doesn't have internet at home.)
(Oh, that's right, I must be winning. ;-)) |
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06/12/2006 12:42:42 AM · #12 |
I like the 20D/30D method better, but had a 300D for over a year and it has the button thing on the back - no problem - it sits under my thumb, normal sized and easy to push. I have not tried a 350XT but it looks about the same in the pictures.
I don't want to be a queen for day, so i will be working. Wait, did i get that right?
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06/12/2006 12:47:43 AM · #13 |
Originally posted by xianart:
Originally posted by KarenNfld:
We don't get a holiday here in Canada!! (I want a holiday) |
it's called victoria day here (in canada). second weekend in may. the first long weekend of summer - if it had stopped raining. it's just on a different day, but it's still the same thing! |
Third weekend in May actually and it is called Victoria day because it was originally meant to celebrate Queen Victoria's birthday on May 24th, and used to move with the actual date and not be a long weekend.
You should have stuck with Pentax Tajhad, there is a nice little wheel to turn right beside the viewfinder to adjust both aperture and shutter speed! |
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06/12/2006 12:51:03 AM · #14 |
| Nikons have two wheels, one on the front and one on the back to adjust aperture and shutter in manual mode. |
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06/12/2006 01:14:38 AM · #15 |
Enjoying a nice relaxing holiday today. :) The downside though is that, being a contractor, I don't get paid for public holidays like permanent employees do.
But yes, it's ridiculous that we're still a monarchy. For all the people who couldn't understand why - our Prime Minister, a staunch monarchist, basically rigged the result by playing two sides (republican with citizen-elected president vs. republican with government-elected president) against each other so that neither would get the required majority - and somehow convinced many people that it was better to stay with the status quo than get the "wrong" republican model (whatever an individual's definition of "wrong" is). The proportion of Australians that actually want to stay as a monarchy is somewhere around 10%. Whether you love John Howard or hate him, you must admit he is a world leader at playing politics.
As for camera design... DSLRs, with all the additional functions, will never quite have the elegant simplicity of film SLRs. But some brands seem to spend more time thinking about useability and good interface design than other brands. And yes, hand size comes into it too - I quite liked my (film) Minolta Dynax 5, but some of my Minolta-loving friends found it a bit small and awkward to use comfortably.
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