A Look into Canon’s Ergonomics

[neuroanatomist]

One quick glance from above and you immediately see aperture, shutter speed and Iso.
Without the need to raise the camera to your eye.
I always shoot "M", and a camera without a top LCD is a camera I'll never even think of buying.

Ergonomics is such a personal thing. I pretty much never use the top LCD. I suspect that’s because unlike many people, I have never used a neck strap, where one can simply look down at the top of the camera.

Most of the time in use, the camera is either in my hand (I use the E1 hand strap on gripped bodies) or on a tripod, with no long strap attached. If I want to carry it and have my hands free, I either use a Blackrapid shoulder strap (where the camera hangs upside down) or rarely it’s attached to a spider holster (where the back of the camera faces up).

 

[GMCPhotographics]

One quick glance from above and you immediately see aperture, shutter speed and Iso.
Without the need to raise the camera to your eye.
I always shoot "M", and a camera without a top LCD is a camera I'll never even think of buying. I continuously adjust my settings depending on the light and motives.
My first digital was a horrible Sony A 7 soandso (forgot the model). Apart from the terrible ergonomics and menu, I did bitterly miss the ability to see the settings from above. I sold it in a matter of weeks to buy the wonderful 5 D III.
That's why it's good to have cameras with and without top LCDs. Not 2 photographers have identical preferences...

I agree, I miss the option on the R6ii. However, functionally, I have trained my muscle memory to compensate.
As I reach for my camera in my Think Tank UD 40, I turn on the camera using my right hand and index finger. As I lift the camera out of the bag, the camera has booted and the back screen illuminates, I have it set to the display mode / settings and i get a detailed display of settings (including modes, AF modes, metering modes, battery life, card slots, and iso / aperture / shutter speed and exposure compensation). Way more than i would have with a top LCD. As I bring the camera to my eye I can easily evaluate any settings that need to change.
I like to shoot in AV mode and have done since the early 80's and I instictively know how the Canon meter will react and I use the exposure compensation accordingly. I have the camera in Auto Iso, but i have my red video record button re-mapped to iso / auto iso selection.
However...as the car brochure used to say....your milage might vary.

 

[GMCPhotographics]

Ergonomics is such a personal thing. I pretty much never use the top LCD. I suspect that’s because unlike many people, I have never used a neck strap, where one can simply look down at the top of the camera.

Most of the time in use, the camera is either in my hand (I use the E1 hand strap on gripped bodies) or on a tripod, with no long strap attached. If I want to carry it and have my hands free, I either use a Blackrapid shoulder strap (where the camera hangs upside down) or rarely it’s attached to a spider holster (where the back of the camera faces up).

Me too with the neck strap. It gets in the way, creates too much toil and flaps about when doing long exposures on a tripod.
And it screams...hey! I'm a hobbiest!
My shoulder bag / backpack is my camera strap / lens holder / lens changing bag. I usually have two camera bodies on me too.
If I'm in a rare situation where I HAVE to use a strap, like you, I use a Black Rapid.

 

[Del Paso]

Ergonomics is such a personal thing. I pretty much never use the top LCD. I suspect that’s because unlike many people, I have never used a neck strap, where one can simply look down at the top of the camera.

Most of the time in use, the camera is either in my hand (I use the E1 hand strap on gripped bodies) or on a tripod, with no long strap attached. If I want to carry it and have my hands free, I either use a Blackrapid shoulder strap (where the camera hangs upside down) or rarely it’s attached to a spider holster (where the back of the camera faces up).

I guess if I used a Blackrapid or a similar carrying system, I would need/use the top LCD far less. Yet, I don't.
My cameras are either clipped on a Peak Design clip, or, when using only some light gear (1 camera and 1 small lens), hanging from a neck belt.
Carrying habits seem to have a strong influence on camera design preferences...

 

[Nemorino]

The R5/R3's top LCD is a lot smaller and carries a lot less information than the old 1D/5D series

I just did some long time exposure in bulb mode and the display has shown the time.
Very convinient if you want to expose 4 min with the timer.

 

[Bonich]

Frankly, I can live with the power switch to be operated by the left hand or the right hand (but I still prefer as it was done with the EOS1 series DSLRs)
But this mirrorless Canons give me some daily pain in the a..:

a) Retracting a lens in the hand without the camera attached was no issue with close to all EF-lenses (not the EF 50 1.2).
Today we have plenty of RF lenses you have to do this job when the lens is on the camera. e all non L primes.
You can let the camera do this job, but this will cause you permanently loosing the pre-focus in wildlife, landscape, macro, ... photography which makes you loosing shooting opportunities.
Why the hell Canon, yes why the hell can't we sign this function to dedicated lenses? Again, please why, Canon!

b) Has anyone ever used exposure bracketing with a EOS camera?
Yes I did it with EOS 1 xx back in the film era, nice UI. I did it with the EOS 1D several iterations, great UI, accessible within a second.

Now with theses EOS R bodies:
- Had you ever tried this with a R, R5 R6, R7, ....? You always have to go a disgusting long way in the menu to dial this in. This function is reset with every power down, so even a custom function does not help at all.
- With the R1 in the hand I have this nice UI back in my hands: Now I have a fast action camera with fast access to exposure bracketing and a high resolution (i.e. landscape camera) which hurts me whenever thinking about exposure bracketing.

So I now have a camera with accessibility of this function but no need at all and a camera with the need of access but no accessibility?!?!?!

Who can borrow some brain cells to Canon Japan?
(Sorry, I do know this last sentence not to be OK in the Japanese culture. But it is not OK as well if a product is designed to hurt me on a daily basis.)

 

[WoodyWindy]

Why is the R10 completely ignored in this article, except for apparently contributing to the "4 APS-C" cameras count. The R7 and R50 are mentioned multiple times, and even the "lowly" R100 gets a call-out.

 

[David - Sydney]

Me too with the neck strap. It gets in the way, creates too much toil and flaps about when doing long exposures on a tripod.
And it screams...hey! I'm a hobbiest!
My shoulder bag / backpack is my camera strap / lens holder / lens changing bag. I usually have two camera bodies on me too.
If I'm in a rare situation where I HAVE to use a strap, like you, I use a Black Rapid.

The only time I use a strap is shooting from a Cessna/ helicopter which is pretty rare. Either on a tripod which I carry in my arm when moving or in my lowepro backpack quick access. I even sold my canon Australia custom designed R5 strap for preordering without using it. No need to advertise…
https://luckystraps.com/blogs/the-l...the-limited-edition-canon-eos-r5-camera-strap

Ps: in New York and my wife thought that the B&h store was like Disney land. Wanted to immediately trade in my R5 and get a R5ii. The eye controlled af was cool though
Maybe another time

 

[ashmadux]

I really hate the idea that you can't get a top LCD mode screen unless it's the R5 and up, especially when you had it in the 20D, 7D and 6D. I'd really like to see it in the R6ii and R6ii along with the grip options for the R7. I think most people would be happy. I think Sony has set the bar for mirrorless cameras however it doesn't mean you have to copy their style. Anyhow, that's just my 2 cents.
Oh! and another thing, I know a lot of people didn't like the move of the power button, I think once they make it standard between all the new cameras it will be fine however, I hate the new joystick thingy button, I think having the jog wheel doubled as the joystick (like in the 80D) would have not only free up some real estate but because of the distance between the directional buttons, it gave better control of the autofocusing points when moving them.
In all Canon is still the king for ergonomics and menu design.

Canon marketing doing it's thing. On a small compact camera i can understand, but not on a FF body that costs 2500.00, wtf.

Also, i personally hated being in video mode + tv/avetc mode. It drove me nuts. Smashing the on /off into the right hand side slider...just grrrr.

 

[David - Sydney]

Would I be crazy not to buy a R5ii for equivalent usd2850 ex tax in Australia with 5 year warranty?
10% gst, exchange rate of 0.6

2 authorised retailers have it for aud5515 with additional aud300 canon Australia rebate.
I will need to buy another new battery and usd850 underwater housing upgrade though.

 

[Jethro]

Would I be crazy not to buy a R5ii for equivalent usd2850 ex tax in Australia with 5 year warranty?
10% gst, exchange rate of 0.6

2 authorised retailers have it for aud5515 with additional aud300 canon Australia rebate.
I will need to buy another new battery and usd850 underwater housing upgrade though.

It's a really good deal - I've been tempted too (but resisted so far). The housing would eat up the whole discount though - although you could certainly look on that as "the discount WILL PAY FOR the new housing" ...

Georges will throw in a Canon backpack as well

 

[mmmm]

attached to a spider holster

Hello fellow Spider Holster user. Gosh I love this life changing carry method. I shoot portraits and I’m always having to fiddle with my models. It’s brilliant to be able to just ‘put down’ my camera.

Plus, all the weight of two bodies plus lenses plus extra stuff hanging off it all around my waits instead of my shoulders.

Talk about ergonomic solutions.