Thread: An incident at Thanksgiving dinner prompts a question

Bill,

So you look for the "Cyrano" model camera . . .

Cheers, Jock

tdp,

I think you are looking at this all wrong. You should consider photos of the inside of your bag, your feet, and other random bizarre stuff as part of your style. Someday you could have a one-man show featuring it, and some critic could discover you and gush about how avant-garde you are . . . bravely confronting the essential randomness of life . . .

Cheers, Jock

One further thought that I had on this, based on the two touchscreen cameras that I have used so far (E-M5 and NEX-5N), is that if they are going to become more widespread then the touchscreen interface should be comprehensive and not the half-baked efforts seen so far. The touchscreen on the 5N seems a bit weird in the way it responds to touch input so I don't rate that one very highly at all. The E-M5's screen on the other hand feels and responds just like a smartphone and the touch shooting interface is excellent but I don't get why the menus can't be operated through the touchscreen, and why the zoom function in playback requires moving a slider rather than the standard pinch gesture. A camera touchscreen should follow the same formula as that on a smartphone so that they are immediately intuitive and familiar to use.

Originally Posted by Jock Elliott

Bill,

So you look for the "Cyrano" model camera . . .

Cheers, Jock

Would the be the Leica Cyrano? No, that's right - the Canon Cyrano. It was an offshot of the original Canonette rangefinder.

I've one camera with a touchscreen and although moving the focus point can be useful it's just an engineer's idea of what we want.

Originally Posted by nippa

I've one camera with a touchscreen and although moving the focus point can be useful it's just the marketing dept.'s idea of what we want.

Fixed that for ya...

I can see the usefulness of a touchscreen on a camera, as long as it does not impinge on the user's ability to adjust the camera via more traditional methods.

Originally Posted by nippa

I've one camera with a touchscreen and although moving the focus point can be useful it's just an engineer's idea of what we want.

As an engineer....I believe our mission is to give you not what you want, but rather what you SHOULD want! ;-)

Originally Posted by Luckypenguin

One further thought that I had on this, based on the two touchscreen cameras that I have used so far (E-M5 and NEX-5N), is that if they are going to become more widespread then the touchscreen interface should be comprehensive and not the half-baked efforts seen so far. The touchscreen on the 5N seems a bit weird in the way it responds to touch input so I don't rate that one very highly at all. The E-M5's screen on the other hand feels and responds just like a smartphone and the touch shooting interface is excellent but I don't get why the menus can't be operated through the touchscreen, and why the zoom function in playback requires moving a slider rather than the standard pinch gesture. A camera touchscreen should follow the same formula as that on a smartphone so that they are immediately intuitive and familiar to use.

Using a "pinch" gesture starts down a road of patent issues that I'm not sure if camera manufacturers are wanting to go down. Personally, I'd rather use a tap to zoom in and out. Hrm, so who's waiting for the Android based mirrorless system?

Originally Posted by Crsnydertx

As an engineer....I believe our mission is to give you not what you want, but rather what you SHOULD want! ;-)

Lot's o' great comments in here... I should have hit the Thanks button for you all!

I've only got a touch screen for focus on my iPhone4. I like that sometimes but often I don't use it because it changes the lighting to what I don't want it to be. Who knows whose fault that is.

Not sure what I'd think of having one on one of my real cameras... I'm left eyed so that even though I don't have a big nose, my nose does get on the LCD of the X100 when I use the EVF/OVF but I don't mind a few smudges.

Originally Posted by Djarum

Using a "pinch" gesture starts down a road of patent issues that I'm not sure if camera manufacturers are wanting to go down. Personally, I'd rather use a tap to zoom in and out. Hrm, so who's waiting for the Android based mirrorless system?

I think that the Canon EOS 650D and EOS M both use the standard pinch-to-zoom guesture that I am used to from iPhones and Android phones. I haven't tried either camera yet but from what I have seen and read they appear to have the most comprehensive and "smartphoney" touchscreen interface in their class.