JohnFrim Loc: Somewhere in the Great White North.

Modern digital cameras have a plethora of adjustment features that I expect a lot of people do not use much, or even at all. I would hazard a guess that they are included because they are simple software adjustments that can be touted as selling features. But in my case I found them to be a liability that accidentally -- and negatively -- affected a lot of my photos.

I was on a trip to Iceland in November when the weather was quite cold, windy and rainy. I often stepped out of the car holding my camera under my coat for protection against the elements. I was also wearing gloves, so my sense of touch was compromised. Had I left the camera on full AUTO I would not have been able to change certain settings, but I often shoot in Aperture Priority or Program modes where the user is in control of many adjustments. And adjust I did...

On my camera (Sony A57) the White Balance control is the right side of the four-way controller. It turns out my gloved thumb was hitting this button while I was holding the camera under my coat, thereby activating the WB adjustment; and further accidental presses of the four-way controller changed the settings to all manner of different values for colour temperature, A-G, and G-M colour balance. I noticed the odd colours in the viewfinder and LCD screen, but did not clue in as to what was going on because my EVF and LCD displays are usually configured for a clutter-free view of the image. I really thought something had gone seriously wrong in the camera. Yes, there are view/display options that give a lot more detail about the camera settings and that would have shown me the actual settings being applied, but I find these info-rich displays distracting for the most part. Luckily I am able to recover the photos in PP, but it required tabulating the WB settings for each image to determine which had been affected (some adjustments were small). More than 200 of 1100 photos were "off" to varying degrees.

So I guess one point of this thread is to let off steam and express my frustration with some of the "useful features" and ergonomic design aspects of my camera. Are these fine tunings of colour balance really useful, given the capabilities of PP? Do folks actually take the time to adjust these settings before a shoot?

A second point -- and probably the main point -- is to vent my anger with myself for not understanding my camera better and for not being more familiar with its capabilities AND information displays. I now know that there are EVF and LCD display settings that provide virtually ALL of the shooting parameters of the camera, and maybe I just need to get more comfortable with using them at the appropriate times. I will probably continue to shoot with the minimal EVF/LCD info overlays, but I now know how to quickly determine why a photo might not look quite right.

Thanks for listening... I feel better now.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

For me, both the digital cameras I use have only three important adjustments, ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. The rest, except for formatting memory modules, are pretty much useless. And, yes, they can prove detrimental if accidentally manipulated.
--Bob

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

That does not make any of the features useless! Well, user mistakes can happen, but don't blame the features of a camera for it!

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Sounds like a Sony problem.
I used to have problems accidentally turning the top selection knob on my Canon 20D, but it has been redesigned and I don’t recall problems with any other cameras I have used.
The 20D is from about 2004 so that design was a long time ago.
The newest Canon bodies are almost fool proof and the modes in them seem pretty relevant to the likely targeted experience level of the users of certain level bodies.
I use a lot of modes and a lot of the camera, depending on the shooting situations.
No complaints!!!
SS

Haydon

Does your camera have a lock for controls? I use that frequently when I'm working a long set of images with my Canon.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

You know the sort of answeres you are going to get! so I won't add the obvious ones.
The features are what most people buy a particular camera for.....errornessly thinking that they will need/ learn how to use them.
They are only dangerous if they add weight when you smash the camera into some smart alec's face!

hope your hands have warmed up by now.

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

What else is there?

Mike

JohnFrim Loc: Somewhere in the Great White North.

Yes, there is a “lock” for a lot of the buttons — it’s called AUTO mode.

I think it comes down to ergonomics in the end. Lots of features and settings are deep in menus but someone decided to put a few of the more “important” ones at user’s fingertips. I don’t find myself adjusting WB regularly or frequently.

The camera, and probably most cameras, are NOT designed for operation with thick gloves.

JohnFrim Loc: Somewhere in the Great White North.

I certainly blame myself for the problems, both for being fumble fingers and for not realizing right away that it was a white balance issue. My comment on the feature being useless is based on the capability to adjust in PP when necessary.

n3eg Loc: West coast USA

Dangerous? Really? I expect the next post to say something like "Micro Four Thirds will leave you crippled!"

JohnFrim Loc: Somewhere in the Great White North.

I suppose it depends on interpretation. “Dangerous?” with a question mark invites speculation (in my mind, at least) and for me the danger was in possibly ruining many photos. Luckily this was simply some color control that was easy to fix in PP. What if I had been hitting “Delete image?” followed by “All images?” I wouldn’t expect camera menu design to be quite that bad, but I had no idea that I was pressing buttons.

As for the Micro Four Thirds leaving you crippled, my Sony is small enough already that I feel my hand slightly cramped at times. So yes, those cameras should all carry arthritis warning’s.

blackest Loc: Ireland

Maybe user modes might mitigate the problem. At least on Pentax a user mode locks the settings to some initial values not that they can't be changed but i think if you shift from 1 user mode to another and back the initial settings for that user mode are back to how they were saved. With regular modes if you set say 3 stops of exposure compensation than it will remain that way even changing from aperture priority to shutter priority say.

I'm sure other cameras will have some similar options short of a full reset.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Feast your eyes on the same issue or almost same issue.

And on this thread... (Updated the thread)

I have been playing with the setting for fun with... Disastrous results but I enjoyed the experience as nothing is of any importance.

Oh, both threads created today, before this one. Weird.

jcboy3

The lock button I use is the ON/OFF switch.

If you shoot RAW, then you can recover from many settings problems, including white balance, over and under exposure.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Any accomplished smartalec has learned to parry VERY quickly, only to further frustrate the camera swinger...., at least I sure have!!!
SS