Godfrey
Well-known member
I do? How should what you say be interpreted?You take my ramblings far too literally, Godfrey.
I guess lack of standardization bugs you when you don't like it, and you don't like it on some things and like it on others.Most 35mm cameras loaded film the same way, from the tiny XA to the mammoth F5. Why then are memory cards loaded in umpteen different ways, print side out, print side in, from the side, from the bottom, together with the battery, behind a separate door. Yes, film has certain restrictions that memory cards don't have, but that shouldn't prevent designers and engineers from agreeing on a standard that works better than other solutions. Apparently, it does.
Medium format is a completely different story. Professional tools are made for people who invest time in getting to know their gear. I own a GX680 and I never expected it to work like other cameras, simply because it's a unique tool made for a unique purpose. An amateur camera, I expect to pick up and use without having to read any instruction manual, the same way I could with an SLR of times past. Unfortunately, some digital cameras, I can't even switch on without reading the first 22 pages of the manual.
Interestingly, if we look at mirrorless cameras, the company that makes cameras within that category that resemble traditional SLR ergonomics the most is Panasonic, who had never made photographic equipment before they joined 4/3. Their cameras are totally boring, mostly with a somewhat daft design, but they work as one would expect a camera to do. Apparently, they did some research before they started.
As for headlight switches, I haven't driven a car in decades, or since I gave up on Citroën, that doesn't turn on the headlights by rotating a stick attached to the steering wheel column, but I mostly drive Japanese cars nowadays.
35mm cameras all loaded film the same way? I have ten 35mm cameras in front of me right now, spanning the years from 1940 to 2006 in design: Robot IIa, Minox 35, Rollei 35S, Nikon F, Nikon F6, Leica M, Leica CL, Olympus Stylus Zoom, Leica R8, Leicaflex SL. They all load film differently from one another, the Leica CL and Rollei 35 are the most similar. The controls on all of them are in different places and operate in completely different ways.
Panasonic worked together with Leica to enter the still camera market (they were in video long before that) so it makes very good sense that much of their still camera design ethos came from that collaboration and resembles the traditional forms that Leica inspired.
I guess you consider the Olympus E-M1 an amateur camera. Funny, but Olympus regards it as their premium professional tool, which (in your all too literally taken statement) means they consider it "Professional tools .. made for people who invest time in getting to know their gear."
But I guess you and fotografz don't like my opinions on this subject since they disagree with yours ... just so much "argumentative rhetoric". I'll bug out of here and unsubscribe from this "not-to-be-taken-literally ramble" as it just seems to be*a lot of hot air—or perhaps that's what you intend it to be. I can't tell any more.
Sayonara!
G