Memo to camera manufactorers

I figured I’d detract a little from my angst and inability to compliment someone successfully to write a rant in the general direction of the consumer electronics industry.

I have a 35mm SLR. I don’t use it much, because I hate film.. there’s just no instant gratification there.. but it has, without a doubt, the best user interface I’ve used on a camera. The shutter speed is a nice easy to spin dial on the top, the apeture control is right behind the focus control on the lens.. exactly where it should be, since the two are so intrinsicly connected. [If you’re not into photography, just tune out now.. ;-)]

I plan to buy a nice digital SLR, paying large chunks of money for it. That is, I plan to buy a digital SLR as soon as I find one that I can ajust exposure time and apeture/iris without having to wander through sixty menus.

It’s like the whole music and pc vs. mac thing. I like being geeky and wandering through menus and figuring out IRQs and things, yes, sure, but not while I’m trying to be artistic. A good test of a user interface for a artistic product, like a camera, is whether it ever requires one to refer to the manual. A properly designed artistic product shouldn’t, IMHO. Controls for exposure, iris, whatever, make ’em big fat dials, with clear labels and a clearly labelled ‘automatic’ position for when we’re feeling like letting the micro deal with it.

Please don’t make me figure out any more complicated user interfaces. My brain is full.

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