An incident at Thanksgiving dinner prompts a question

[Jock Elliott]

We celebrated Thanksgiving at my wife's sister's house.

After dinner, we wanted to look something up on the Internet, and our niece brought out her MacBook Pro. While we were looking at an image on her screen, her Mom, who owns an iPad, did a swipe move that she normally uses on the iPad on the screen to enlarge the image. It didn't work, and my niece said, "Thanks, Mom, for putting at big thumbprint on my screen!"

We all laughed, but it raises a serious question: how much sense does it make to use the screen on the camera -- which is also used to view, frame and define the image -- as the touch screen for controlling the camera?

For viewing the image, you want as clean a screen as possible. For controlling the camera, you want to touch the screen with your potentially grubby paws.

Does anyone else see a potential conflict here? (Heck I put screen protectors on my cameras to keep them as pristine as possible).

Maybe somebody who owns a touch-screen camera can chime in with their experience.

 

[Yeats]

[video=youtube;cDGlN6mluGA]

 

[Biro]

I'm biased but I have never liked touchscreens on cameras. And, while I prefer viewfinders (OVF or EVF), I have no real problem using the rear LCD. But touchscreens, IMHO, are more trouble thatn they are worth. There are usually too many false commands detected and one ends up turning off the touchscreen - which defeats its whole purpose. Now, there are some useful advantages to touchscreens but I just don't think they are worth the trouble. I'm sure many younger people will disagree with me. If one is raised in the touchscreen era, one is likely to be more comfortable with them. And, with the proliferation of smartphones and the recent introduction of Android-based cameras, I suspect we'll see more touchscreens in the near future. I can adapt and have adapted, but Fuji's X series of cameras with their old-school external manual controls, have resonated with many for a reason.

 

[Gary]

With audio and visual focus confirmation, I find I don't need much viewing clarity/resolution. Sure, the cleaner/more detailed the better, but for me, it just isn't necessary. I already know what I'm looking at, the LCD/EVF is primarily used to select my subject, focus confirmation then frame. While a fingerprint on the LCD or laptop monitor is annoying, I seriously doubt it, either alone or with friends, will diminish using a camera or computer.

Gary

 

[Andrewteee]

The Olympus EM5 has touchscreen. The only thing I really found it useful for was taking a picture by tapping the focus point on the LCD. The screen is one of those that does not seem to attract dust or oil. It was always clean. But you could easily keep a microfiber cloth with you and do a quick wipe if necessary.

I also use screen protectors and I really never view an image on the camera's LCD except to confirm exposure or to make sure I got the shot.

 

[Luckypenguin]

Nowadays I pick up a camera and wonder why it doesn't have a touchscreen. Compared to a smartphone or tablet it feels to me like a wasted opportunity to better interface with the camera. Until touchscreen I basically never changed my focus point from the centre, but the ability to do that via touch AND fire the shutter as well is a brilliant addition to a camera.

Re, the potential of smearing the screen: I rarely have to clean the screen on my phone, and my camera (whose touchscreen doesn't get nearly as much use as that on a phone) is no different.

 

[Lili]

Nowadays I pick up a camera and wonder why it doesn't have a touchscreen. Compared to a smartphone or tablet it feels to me like a wasted opportunity to better interface with the camera. Until touchscreen I basically never changed my focus point from the centre, but the ability to do that via touch AND fire the shutter as well is a brilliant addition to a camera.

Re, the potential of smearing the screen: I rarely have to clean the screen on my phone, and my camera (whose touchscreen doesn't get nearly as much use as that on a phone) is no different.

this is one thing i like about my camera phones

 

[Ray Sachs]

I'm fine with the touchscreen on the OMD. I don't use it a lot, but I use it to trigger the shutter sometimes, whether in auto or manual focus (where touching anywhere on the screen triggers the shutter). Not a huge deal, but I'd rather than have it than not.

-Ray

 

[Tdp]

I use the touch screen to take photos of the inside of my camera bag, my feet and other random bizarre stuff. Then I turn it off.

 

[Lightmancer]

I don't want a touch screen on a camera, to the extent that I wouldn't buy a camera with the feature. But then, I have a big nose...

Sent from another Galaxy

 

[Jock Elliott]

Bill,

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

Cheers, Jock

 

[Jock Elliott]

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 . . . <grin>

Cheers, Jock

 

[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.

 

[Biro]

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.

 

[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.

 

[Yeats]

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.

 

[Crsnydertx]

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! ;-)

 

[Djarum]

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?

 

[BBW]

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.

 

[Luckypenguin]

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.