iiiNelson
Well-known member
Personally I believe the whole “user interface” dynamic is completely overblown with all cameras. When you use it enough then you will familiarize yourself with it no matter the system or camera. The other “issue” if you will is that hybrid cameras are the current and the future of all system cameras. People are just going to have to get over the fact that the menus are going to be deeper as the cameras become able to do more. You can’t expect a camera menu to be “4 pages long” when there’s video and photo settings to sort out. We are seeing that now with the new Canon EOS R now where people are realizing that there’s more depth to the menus compared to the DSLR’s and there’s going to be an initial learning curve... Same with the Nikon Z cameras where they didn’t work “just like Nikon’s of the past.”If E-M1 had a "standardised" DSLR user interface, I would have been an Olympus user now. Unfortunately, I think that they allienated many potential users by insisting on a retro and rather chaotic user interface. They got away with it with the E-M5, a charming camera for hobbyists, but the E-M1 is supposed to be a work tool, and for anyone coming from a traditional SLR camera other than an OM-1 or 2, it lacks the logic needed for a fluent workflow, and I say this as an OM-1 user through 30 years. Panasonic, a company with no tradition for stills cameras, made the smart decission and went for a conservative user interface. I don't think Panasonic makes many more cameras than Olympus, but they have so many legs to stand on and their models also play together with their video gear, a totally different situation.
If a new top model is to materialise from Olympus, I sincerely hope that they have fixed it. I'll be interested.
I don't doubt the OM-D is more complicated than a film SLR but it’s unreasonable to expect to to be THAT simple as well. When I tried the OM-D I found them to be initially as complicated (or more so than Sony supposedly is). I found the Fuji XH1 and XT line pretty much to be nearly identical to the Sony menus with a bit less depth and customization options. Also if you don’t think Panasonic has deep menus then go pick up a GH5... they’re deep because that’s what professional videographers expect so that they can control all aspects of capture. Now they’re similar to what’s in a Panasonic pro cinema camera... but there’s a level of complication to them that’s present in literally every modern camera that’s not one of those stripped down Leica cameras that literally only has one function - still photography.
Dont mean to be argumentative but insee so many pass off subjective viewpoint as material fact. If you can operate a computer, setup a Lightroom Catalog, operate a smartphone... personally I have very little sympathy/patience/understanding for people complaining about the menu system of any digital camera that only do a few functions. Either they’re lying, didn’t try it out to test seriously, technically inept, and/or should probably just stick with their older working cameras - it’s just that simple. At this point I personally am starting to lean towards thinking of all these people that claim to own these cameras and can’t figure out how to use them or have the inability to learn how to operate a camera that they claim to own as morons but I get that is sort of a harsh outlook on others. Oh well.