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| Pentax Spotmatic showing the aperture and focus rings on the lens barrel and the shutter speed dial on top. Leica M cameras to the present day have the same control layout but with a rangefinder instead of a pentaprism. To change shutter speeds the right hand must release grip altogether so the shutter speed dial can be turned. It is all very logical and simple but ergonomically awkward, slow and inefficient. That's my Spotmatic in the photo with me using it. I have a very long experience using this camera. For a modern camera to return to this control system seems to me one of the silliest decisions in the history of photography. |
Why the traditional control layout is not optimal for a modern camera.
I have been using cameras for 60 years. In that time I have had the opportunity to work with almost every kind of camera on the market from 4x5inch large format to 16mm subminiature and just about everything inbetween.
I have found that some cameras are much more user friendly than others.
About five years ago I started investigating why this might be so.
This led me to study the ergonomic aspects of camera design. I have concentrated on Holding, Viewing and Operating, which are the three things you do with a camera to make it work.
I examined many actual cameras and also made many wooden mockups to test my ideas about what works well and what does not.
Through the middle part of the 20th Century the most popular camera type for the enthusiast or professional was the single lens reflex (SLR). Many such cameras looked very similar to the Pentax Spotmatic shown in the photo, 50 years old and still working.
You can see the control layout which is very typical of the mostly manual (no electronics, no automation) cameras of the era.
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| Here I am holding my FZ1000 in operating grip. Notice the position of the right index finger on the shutter button and the right thumb just to the left of the rear dial. This is a very comfortable hold. From here changing aperture, shutter speed or exposure compensation require a few very small finger movements. |
In due course electronics, digital capture and much more came to the world of cameras which gradually changed shape and control layout to become the typical DSLR of the current era with a full handle, shutter button forward on the top of the handle, a Mode Dial and one or two Control Dials.
This layout can be seen on the Panasonic FZ1000 featured in this post. This camera is not a DSLR (it is a fixed zoom lens camera) but looks like one and in several respects works like one.
Then a strange thing happened. We started to see ‘retro’ cameras with a hybrid control layout which tried to retain elements typical of old style manual cameras but with modern electronic operation.
These cameras tended to reprise the appearance of a 1960s SLR or a Leica M rangefinder of the same era. Fujifilm is the main exponent of this trend but Nikon and Panasonic have tried their hand at the hybrid/retro look. The Panasonic LX100 seen in the attached photos is one such camera.
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| Now my right thumb is changing aperture or shutter speed depending on mode dial position. You can see this requires but a slight movement without disrupting grip with either hand at all. I have only to move my right index finger forward 5mm to change exposure compensation. Finger logic in action. |
The key features are an Aperture ring around the lens barrel, a Shutter Speed dial on top of the body on the right side and an exposure compensation dial top right on the body.
Why ? The makers have never given any explanation which makes sense to me. I have read their promotional blurb which as best I can tell seems to be an emotional appeal to the supposedly glory days of the mid 20thCentury.
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| Now I am holding my LX100 in landscape orientation. If I want to get my left fingers onto the raised lands of the aperture ring I have to use this hand/wrist position which I find cramped and awkward. The whole left hand must move to turn the ring. compared to the FZ1000, suboptimal posture, more movements each of greater magnitude. |
Head Logic
Some reviewers and some users in forums have expressed the idea that the traditional control layout is ‘logical’.
They say you don’t need a Mode Dial.
For Program Mode just set the Aperture ring and Shutter Speed dial each to A.
For Aperture Priority auto exposure simply turn the Aperture ring on the lens.
For Shutter Priority auto exposure turn the Aperture ring back to A and turn the Shutter Speed Dial to a marked position.
For Manual exposure turn both the Aperture ring and the Shutter Speed dial.
They say: see, it’s logical. And indeed it is.
The problem is that it’s head logic. That's the wrong kind of logic.
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| LX100 Comfort hold. This camera has a viewfinder top left on the body. This allows stray light to interfere with my view of the EVF. So I make a kind of eyecup using my left index finger. But now I can't work the aperture ring at all and my 4th finger keeps bumping the lens ring which is set up to change ISO. |
Finger Logic
But cameras are operated by fingers and the best way to ensure efficient streamlined operation is to employ finger logic.
This involves conducting a time and motion study of the actions taken by a user in the process of operating a camera.
That data is used to design a control layout which allows the operator to complete the tasks of use with the fewest and least complex movements with the least disruption to the capture flow.
This is a completely different process from the head logic often used to defend the traditional control layout and it leads to a completely different and more ergonomically efficient design.
I have tried to illustrate some examples of the different approaches with the attached photos.
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| Changing Mode with the FZ1000. I have dropped the camera down for the photo but I can just as easily do this while looking through the EVF. I have retained a good grip on the handle with the other three fingers of the right hand. |
Consumer sentiment
Some months ago I posted on this blog a two part review of the Fujifilm X-T1 camera. This uses a hybrid Traditional/electronic user interface which I found much less ergonomically efficient than cameras with a well implemented modern interface ( it has to be well implemented, some are not, the original Sony A7 cameras for instance) based on the Mode Dial/Control Dial model.
I had the temerity to post a link to this review on a Fuji X-Camera user forum. The response was ‘interesting’ and I have to say a sad reflection on some of the less appealing aspects of human nature.
The fuji fanboys attacked me like a pack of hyenas defending their pups.
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| Working the shutter speed dial on the LX100. I have to release grip with my right hand altogether. A very practiced user might be able to do this while looking through the viewfinder but after six months and several thousand photos I still find myself needing to drop the camera down so I can see the dial. Then I discover that only about a third of the shutter speeds available to this camera can be selected from the shutter speed dial. The rest require an additional trip to the rear dial. Who on earth thought this was a good idea ?? |
Confirmation bias
Of course these people were expressing a manifestation of confirmation bias in connection with a choice which they had made or in some cases were considering.
Unfortunately the sometimes vitriolic manner in which this is expressed makes pursuit of sensible discussion difficult and meaningful dialogue with that group impossible.
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| LX100 Operating the rear dial. I have to release grip completely with the right hand to do this. That's not the end of the world but with the mockup below and with the FZ1000 I can retain a firm grip on the handle with three fingers. |
Summary
Some people say that ‘ergonomics is all subjective’ or words to that effect as if any camera design might be just as good as another if it can just find someone to ‘like’ it.
That is nonsense, an escape from thinking clearly about conceptually complex issues.
I use the concept of ‘finger logic’ to help myself and hopefully others to evaluate a camera’s ergonomic effectiveness.
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| This mockup is exactly the same size as the LX100 but has much better ergonomics. Here I am working the rear dial while holding the handle firmly with three fingers of the right hand for good control of the camera. I can do the same thing with the FZ1000 even though this is a considerably larger, heavier camera. |
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