Re: Canon EOS 80D Specifications
LDS said:
MayaTlab said:
But you don't design cameras because of historical designs and lineups. You design a camera so that everything you put on a spec sheet is matched by a coherent controlling scheme.
You also design for a given target user base. The 1DX has plenty of configurable buttons because that's what its pro user base expects and is able to use. More consumer oriented cameras may prefer now a touch screen UI more friendly to users actually used to smartphones (ah, I would kill for "answer"/"decline" physical buttons on smartphones!), and too much buttons/dials/joystick may just confuse them. A touch screen is also cheaper, especially because it simplify assembly a lot.
I'm going to take a little exception to that
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First, even Canon's own entry-level cameras are as removed as possible from the current photo app experience in a typical smartphone. You don't have scene modes yet on iOS
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Second, if the idea is to avoid confusing people, why then Canon insists on giving on (some, not even all !) entry-level cameras, for example, the older menu tab structure, or even worse the older custom function menu UI, with its rather arcane and obfuscatory terminology (C.Fn 1, C.Fn 2) and a layout that looks like you're having a conversation with a computer (000100101110001000010111100010010001), while the newer one does away with a number of abbreviations and follows a more typical UI layout ?
Frankly, I've never found camera manufacturers really good at making cameras easy to use. Some people even get lost in the scene modes, which probably add even more confusion to the whole thing ("hey, I want to take a picture of that frog, so I've got to put the dial on the flower ? What ?" "What is SCN ? - It's scene modes. - But, you told me that scene modes are the flower, the guy doing sky or the portrait ? - Yes, but it's more scene modes, the ones they couldn't put on the dial. - Oh, great, you mean there could be a frog mode too ?").
Also, are we really sure we want to play the game of "let's count how many buttons this thing has ?" Because I'm not sure the 80D would prove to have a lot fewer buttons than a 5DS for example
.
Third, if the idea is to design for a target audience, I've witnessed some 1DX users who were clueless about some functions of their own cameras which would be easily understood by somebody who might happen to shoot with a 6D because he doesn't need the technical wizardry of a 1DX or can't afford it. It's not a dig against them though, since I don't think there is much correlation between somebody's technical proficiency and the artistic qualities of the pictures they take, and might have an excellent understanding of another feature. Just that I haven't seen as big a technical literacy gap as some would imagine between 1DX or 6D users. In fact, frequently, a 1DX user might use a 6D as well !
And finally, if a camera, which, in the end, remains a pretty mono-functional, basic thing, feels complicated, it might not be because it actually is complicated, but just because it's poorly designed. I mean, a 5DIII probably is, overall, as customisable as an Olympus OM-D E-M1, yet I'm fairly certain a majority of people would find the 5DIII's menus and customisation functions easier to understand and set up. And that's only because of Olympus' catastrophic menu design skills (including until recently the incredibly idiotic use of a double negative logic in setting up a menu item *rolls eyes*).
Anyway, 42 AF points : that's not bad news.