Analog vs menu-based controls

[NZDavid]

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....I think one challenge in camera design is to implement ergonomic controls, as well as possible, for all of the new features that are included...

 

Absolutely!

 

Which new features are actually needed and which merely included is another matter.

 

Sounds like your needs for night time shooting and high ISO are specialized, and of course everyone has to choose what works best for them. What I don't like is design being imposed on one just because it's the current trend.

 

As I said earlier, it's not a case of either or, but which works best. I agree with Pico that the Info setting on the M9 works well. But I see no point in changing tried and true designs just for the sake of it.

 

The big challenge, IMO, is to avoid unnecessary complexity. With today's software driven products and ever increasing features (many of which are gimmicky), that's becoming very difficult.

 

The RD-1's dials look neat! Deciphering graphic clutter on an LCD can be considerably harder. Some of the icons even have plain English explanations, which rather defeats the point.

 

One other point in favor of analog controls: They feel better! A positive click, a well-damped focus control or aperture ring operates with silky smooth precision. There is no such feel with digital controls.

[AlanG]

 

One other point in favor of analog controls: They feel better! A positive click, a well-damped focus control or aperture ring operates with silky smooth precision. There is no such feel with digital controls.

 

Digital controls can have exactly the same or better tactile feedback as a mechanical control. They are mechanical interface devices after all. The M9's shutter speed dial changes the shutter speed digitally. I don't think the feedback from moving the aperture blades is anything special either. The mechanical control of the M lens's aperture rings still makes sense since there is no communication with the body or method for auto aperture exposure control. But it makes little sense in other camera designs.

 

Using a mechanical/digital control dial to set the f stop gives good mechanical feedback (depending on camera) and allows for 1/3rd stop precision that would be harder to achieve with a traditional aperture ring, spring, ball, and indent. (And some lenses are more crude than this and just use a bent piece of springy metal and some indents.) The Nikon lens ring aperture indents often felt pretty rough to me by comparison. Leicas may be better but all of these mechanical aperture rings have some mechanical slop that can cause a difference in results depending which direction one turns the ring before hitting the indent. Electronically controlled aperture blades can be more precise.

[PhotoPro]

Analog.

 

Concentration on the subject matter is of primary concern. Anything that impedes this process is distracting.

[lct]

Exactly.

[giordano]

Analog.

 

Concentration on the subject matter is of primary concern. Anything that impedes this process is distracting.

 

Yes - so it really helps to have controls that can be worked by feel, with the settings displayed in the viewfinder as you adjust them. Just like on a DSLR.

[NZDavid]

Different control systems compared:

 

1) Analog. Examples: Shutter speed dial, aperture, focus, zoom rings. Non camera: dial watches, microwave ovens with two rotary dials, one for power and one for time. All are one-touch controls: Align the desired setting with a marker and that's it! Simple. However, numbers or symbols need to be large enough to read and there is only room for so many settings or they become too fiddly.

 

2) Analog dial plus LCD. Examples: ISO control on M9, shutter speed/aperture wheel on many cameras. A four-touch process. 1) power on, 2) press mode button, 3) look at LCD and rotate dial to choose desired setting. Quick and easy one you know how. Depends on clear single menu design. Good if well executed. Still fiddlier than one-touch process.

 

3) LCD and multi-menu controls. Examples: most digital cameras, many other products from DVD recorders to breadmakers. A multi-step process. 1) power on, 2) press menu button, 3) look at LCD and navigate through menu options using cursors, 4) lock in desired setting pressing set or OK button. Fiddly process, best suited for settings you don't need quickly. Much depends on layering and clarity of menus. Simple vertical menus are easiest but the process is still slower than option two, above. (Illustrated below: a nest of remote controls, zillions of buttons that are seldom needed; fiddly and baffling onscreen menus.)

 

4) Touchscreen controls. Some digital cameras (Panasonic G series), iPhone and imitators. Multi-step process. As above with menus but no separate dial, menu or mode or OK buttons: You tap the screen instead. looks sleeker with no buttons or dials, but multi-menu options can be confusing. No tactile feedback or "haptics". (sorry, not illustrated, don't have one.)

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[NZDavid]

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A slight correction to the above: 2) Analog dial plus LCD. Examples: ISO control on M9, shutter speed/aperture wheel on many cameras. A three-touch process. 1) power on, 2) press mode button, 3) look at LCD and rotate dial to choose desired setting. (However, four elements involved: power button, mode button. LCD, and dial.) Quick and easy one you know how. Depends on clear single menu design. Good if well executed. Still fiddlier than one-touch process.

[rosswaugh]

David, if you look at the Apple Remote:

 

Apple Remote - Apple Store (U.S.)

 

Then you will get a handle on where really top notch interface design is heading. Very minimalist, very tactile and nice to use, high quality materials.

 

Apple are very good at blending analog and digital design. This remote allows you to scoot around an Apple TV very quickly due to completely intuitive design and very good interface on the TV. The trick is the combination of simple analog controls working seamlessly with a very well designed digital interface.

 

When you get those two elements right then you will have a winner in terms of your interface question.

 

So I reckon it is not either / or - it is a very well executed combination of both.

 

Ross

[NZDavid]

Thanks Ross, I certainly the like the look of Apple products and have always used Macs at home and for work. Much of the design was done by Jonathan Ive, a Brit, and in my view owes a lot to earlier industrial design by Dieter Rams, a German, who was heavily influenced by Bauhaus principles of form and function. I like it!

 

However, although sleek and simple on the surface, not all Apple products are intuitive to use. How do you delete songs from an iPod? How, if you plug somebody else's iPod into your Mac, do you prevent it downloading all your songs and deleting theirs? (It's happened). Setting up the iPhone necessitates plugging it into the computer. Probably easy once you know how, but not straightforward.

 

I guess I really like simple but top-quality products (concentration on the essentials). Which is why I am drawn to Leica.