Richard & Caroline's Blog

So what do I think of about camera ergonomics?

Traditionally, its all been about quick and easy access to the major controls, focus, shutter speed and aperture.  With a Large Format Camera, like my Ebony above, all the key controls are built into the lens.  The camera is just a big box, and focusing is even more simple, you just move the front lens bellow backwards and forwards, hence the leather bellows linking the front and back.

Ergonomic wise its all simple and easy but it is not the fastest way to work.  A major advantage is the huge glass viewing panel at the back.  The down side, once a film or digital back is mounted you can no longer see the viewing screen,and setting up is very slow.

My D200 is possibly the ultimate modern digital SLR with the typical controls of most high end cameras today.  With so much automation available the camera is covered with switches, dials and buttons but the basics are still there.  A manual focus ring for those who want to use it on the lens, and a dial on the front for aperture and a dial on the back for the shutter speed; with this being an electronic camera, if your not happy then you can swap round what the controls do.  Buttons for drive modes, the main program and semi program modes such as fully auto, shutter priority, aperture priority and finally manual for those who want it.  With it being digital you also have controls for ISO and White Balance.  While seeming very complex its actually very easy to use, the best of these would be the Canon 1D , 5D, the Nikon D3/4, D800.  All the control you need easy to get to, but they are big and heavy, compromised slightly in there image quality compared to Medium or Large Format, or even the simple lens designs in a 35mm Leica due to the retro focus design of SLR lens in order to accommodate the mirror box, but still the best all rounder.

Generally it seems to be the less you pay the fewer controls you get, with most compacts and a lot of the early Micro Four Third cameras having key controls missing or buried in a sub menu.

My Nikon V1 is much like this, all the key functions are hidden in the menu with just a few mode functions (not the ones you need) easily available.

There are a few compacts and CSC that are now getting better, and the tradition control layout does seem to be making a come back, with Fuji using its traditional control layout of a shutter dial on top and an aperture ring on the len. Most of them even have traditional optical viewfinders.

If I am honest, the traditional control layout while easy to see at a glance whats set on the camera as you pick it up, it not as good as some of the modern electronic customisable systems now available.  With your camera to the eye its not quite as easy to adjust the aperture of say a Fuji X100 as it could be, but the traditional layout is my favourite.

The Sony NEX range while having a terrible menu layout was not my faviorate to use camera, but with the introduction of the tri control layout with the NEX-7 it is now one of the best out there.  Very customisable, allowing you to adjust shutter speed, aperture, exposure compensation, iso etc, what ever there controls you wish, also with customisable buttons its arguably the best CSC camera yet available.  It needs very little improvement to make not only one of the best CSC’s around but one of the best all round cameras.

Would I buy one, no not yet.  For me the view finder needs to be better (though it is the best EVF currently available) a few button arrangement tweaks, but the biggest issue is the lens, while the 24mm is very good, they cannot do justice to the sensor.

When Fuji released the lens for the new X-Pro1, the 18mm was criticised for being the weakest of the set, but even that lens is better then the best lens available for the Sony NEX range currently.

Camera manufactures need to consider the whole system, its an area that not only new starts like Sony are weak at, Nikon released the Nikon System 1 over a year ago now and where are the fast zooms, the fast primes, the small pancake lens.

When all cameras are to a degree compromised then for me my choices are simple, i’ll take the bad ergonomics of the Nikon V1 but with its very small lens and very fast auto focus, excellent EVF, and if wanted the best quality, i’ll use my Leica M’s, with lens that are un-compromised.  Still if set up time allow and your willing to carry the weight a Large Format Camera cannot be beaten.

TF, used to be called TFP now often TFCD.

It means Time For Print or Time For CD.

Basically the photographer and the model both work for free unpaid, each covering their own costs. Both work hard to get some great images that would benefit both their portfolios.

At the end both get copies of the final edited images for their own use.

I don’t often do TFCD but I have some testing I want to do, so in return for an hour of your time modelling for me while I test some equipment and lens, i’ll then shoot you for an hour producing the shots you want, a full studio shoot, two hours in total with the shots then going through professional post production.  A selection of at least twelve shots, sent to you via cd or available by download at a resolution suitable for printing.

See my website rbphotographic.co.uk for my contact details or reply to this post.

Its always fun testing a new camera. It seems to inspire you. 99.9% of the time we less need a new camera and more often then not need inspiration or training to get better results from what we have.

Most of us do not get anywhere near the capabilities of our current cameras, buying a new camera is generally an excuse, but sometimes it can help ones photography.

Testing a new camera general involves three things for me. How it feels in the hand, its user controls and ergonomics and of course lastly but often most important image quality.

Now if image quality was all important then we would all be using large format 10 x 8 cameras, capable of shooting about 1 fame every 15 seconds but taking about 20 minutes to set up on a big heavy tripod.

Often the image will not wait that long, so we sacrifice image quality for speed, ease of use and portability. The invention of the 35mm camera back in the thirties by Leica showed that the majority of us were perfectly willing to trade off image quality against portabilty and weight. Then in the sixties the West discovered the Nikon F SLR, and we have never looked back, until now.

How many photographers in the last couple of years have given up carrying a big heavy SLR and now carry a Sony NEX-5, NEX-7 or Panasonic/Olympus micro four-thirds camera.

I am unusual that I have all of the common formats: Small format covered by my tiny Nikon V1, moving up in size to my Leica and my big Nikon Digital SLR’s. All of which can be carried over ones shoulder and wielded without the need of a heavy tripod. Moving up I have my Medium format equipment, my Hasselblad, while it can be used handheld, its much easy to use on a tripod. Finally there is my Large Format camera, my Ebony 4 x 5 camera. Impossible to use handheld, needing a big heavy tripod and slow to use, but the ultimate in image quality.

I take with me the camera best suited to the occasion. If carrying the Medium or Large format camera then I generally have the V1 with me as a light companion.

Still, despite all of these cameras, I have once again bought another. I have been really enjoying my film Leica M4 and getting some great pictures from it.

But the cost of 35mm film, developing and scanning means that it does not take long before you could have purchased a high end digital camera.

Yesterday I visited the Lincoln Photography Show, I had no intention of buying a camera unlike last year where I wanted a new compact and came away with my Nikon Series 1 V1 system, but this time was just intending to have a good look around.

It was a good show, I got to try the new Nikon V2, a great improvement but not significant enough to want to replace my V1, and I got to try out lots of the latest new Nikon and Canon telephoto glass; 200-400mm zoom at f/2.8 anyone?

The Sony R1 was also there, it felt great in the hand and it was fitted with the optional EVF which really made it a great usable camera.

The big suprise for me was the second hand stalls, lots of equipment, Large Format, Medium Format and even the odd Leica S2 and M8 on the stall belonging to  www.stephenspremier.com.  The S2 was stunning; if I ever gave up the day job and became a full time professional photographer unlike the part time photographer I am now, then it would be the camera for me; one of the best, no the best studio camera I have ever used. Though at £15,000 for a second hand body with no lens its hard to justify the cost.

The M8 was a great surprise, in mint condition and a good price.  I opened up the box and had a good look, interestingly the shutter dial only went up to 1/4000 second,  a standard M8 goes to 1/8000, and the shutter was very quiet, a few questions asked and it came to light that this was an M8 but upgraded to full M8.2 spec with the new M9 shutter, but in many ways better then a M8.2 as it did not have the stupid snapshot mode.  This made it a bit of a bargain.

Well I had to have it, and www.stephenspremier.com, were even kind enough to post me out two new IR filters free of charge which arrived today. Great service.

Now I only have the problem of trying out the camera and doing it some justice. With Winter on its way and the low dull light we have, I may have to arrange a studio test shoot to really give it a try, until then I just have these few test shots taken today.

There just quick snapshots really and not really processed well yet, I still have a lot to learn about getting the most out of the files using Adobe Lightroom V4. What ever camera you have light is key and can make or break a picture.

Still I am having a lot of fun getting used to its Feel, Ergonomics and Image Quality.

The purpose of the view finder is of course to enable you to compose the image; many feel that the new EVF or electronic viewfinders are the ultimate viewfinder and what we should all be using them and get rid of our big heavy DSLR’s.

Currently even the best EVF’s do not come close to an optical viewfinder.  The best of the current breed of EVF’s now are 60 frames a second refresh, that means you can have a lag of up to 200ms, this is no where near as good as a modern DSLR, you need a frame rate of about 240 fps to match the black out period of a SLR.

So for a least the next two to three years we are still going to have optical viewfinders out perform evf’s.

The SLR is great in that you have a view that accurately depicts what the end picture will be like, but because of the large mirror you are never going to have a small light quite camera.

If your going to get rid of the mirror then for now an optical viewfinder is still the best, but then you have focus issues and parallax issues.

Camera’s like the Leica M range and the Fuji X range try to over come these issues but neither actually shows the image you are going to get.

Many though say that the range finder view finder which does not accurately represent the photograph is an advantage.  For a start it shows more then 100% of the image, what can see around the frame, everything is in focus and you can see what is about to enter into your image.  The ‘decisive moment’ is easier to judge.

In many ways the Fuji X100 and X-Pro1 with their hybrid viewfinders that can be optical or an EVF depending on which you want, the best of both worlds.

I have been seriously tempted by the Fuji’s but have concerns over the image quality, but the idea of a hybrid viewfinder, being able to switch from an optical to an evf when needed is very tempting.

http://chromasoft.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/demosaicing-fuji-x-pro1-and-its-x-trans.html

They say the equipment is not important but how you use it, and to be honest there is a degree of truth to that.

Most of us would be better of using our current equipment more and dreaming of the latest, newest equipment less.

Still new equipment is exciting and can help inspire us to take better photographs. While a artist should not blame his equipment it is true some equipment is easier to use then others.

So what inspired me to write this blog post today, well I made the mistake of visiting my local camera store today and managed to get my hands on the new Sony NEX-6.

Like the NEX-7 it has a build in electronic viewfinder (EVF) and decent handling. It many respects the handling is better then the NEX-7: the biggest problem I have with most none DSLRs can be summarised by three things.

• No Viewfinder
• Tiny sensor
• Poor Ergonomics

Over the last five years we have gone from having no decent small cameras to a large number that our very close.

The one camera I currently own that ticks all of my boxes is my 40 year old Leica M4, stunning large optical viewfinder, perfect ergonomics and class leading lens available. The down side for most people is that it takes film, and running a film camera now a days is not cheap, unless you develop and scan your own results, and then it’s the time factor to do all of this.

So it was with a great deal of interest that I tried out the NEX-6. I don’t know if the viewfinder is the same as the one in its big brother or not but it certainly seemed better to me. The menu system of the NEX is still one of the worst going. My Nikon V1 has a very simple menu system that’s quick and easy to use, then it has to be as the external controls are poor in comparison to the NEX-6 & 7. Sony should really think about porting the menu from the Alpha Range to the NEX.

It was a very brief play but I have to say I was even more impressed with the NEX-6 then I was with the NEX-7, currently the two cameras are very similarly priced so the NEX-7 is the better value but it certainly made me think.