Camera Makers (Page 4): One of my first cameras was a Kodak box camera with 120 films in it. It was a used camera that came from a thrift store. About manuals, they are usually only a...

OwlHarbor Loc: Pacific North West USA

One of my first cameras was a Kodak box camera with 120 films in it. It was a used camera that came from a thrift store. About manuals, they are usually only a few pages long now but written in so many languages that its become a book. Some people are content to point and shoot much like our phone cameras while others learn or take classes to be able to use their cameras. Some people are content with the manual typewriter and if we had not moved forward we would not be having this conversation or post. Typewriters were what you typed is what you got much like cameras back in the day. The typewriter if you made a mistake you tried to correct it but they never perfected the autocorrect and whiteout had its limits. Photography was definitely harder and unforgiving. Thankfully we have camera systems that produce RAW that can be saved and converted to usable pictures. The coming of AI in processing has expanded our artistic and technical skills. Who remembers the early Microsoft or other companies paint programs moving pixels around the screen and changing colors? Although things have become more complex what we can do more is short of amazing and will continue.

Most manuals come in PDF format and we can search, and print parts of a manual that we need on a computer or phone. We now have the ability to take a picture and sometimes have the time to retake or have had the ability and equipment to have taken multiple pictures in short order to have captured the one or few that turned out great.

ELNikkor

[quote=NMGal]

NMGal wrote:

It appears that the only way to get a simple, picture-taking camera is to go with film cameras. It seems to me that the only cameras that take quality pictures are the more expensive ones, Leica, Hasselblad, etc.

I just reread my post and it is not what I meant. Quality photos can be made with practically any camera. It depends on the photographer. I meant cameras with simple, direct menus.

Exactly, already been planning to buy a Kodak Ektar camera this year prove this point. (no menu at all, don't expect much of a manual either).

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

OwlHarbor wrote:

One of my first cameras was a Kodak box camera wit... (show quote)

I do keep the PDF manual on my phone for quick reference.
I actually enjoy most of the features that I have explored but it seems like I generally fall back to the ones that get my type of photography done.
The FV mode and control ring for the EF lenses are 2 valuable new "Bells and whistles" that I have really embraced.
I am not against features but just wondering where it all leads to.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Architect1776 wrote:

...
I am not against features but just wondering where it all leads to.

More versatile equipment.

Remember Automatic Frequency Control (Automatic Fine Tuning) in the 50s/60s?
That was an innovation then. Didn't have to keep adjusting the radio tuner to keep a station.

petercbrandt Loc: New York City, Manhattan

I totally agree that cameras today have too many features. Many features actually confuse me. I use some masking take with short notes to remember where that a certain adjustment is. Sometime l have to 'reset' the camera because unwanted features are messing with me.

ELNikkor

Right

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

BebuLamar wrote:

There you go! Better make cameras that Jerry likes because he is the one that is buying.

Exactamundo! If I don't like it, I won't buy it.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

petercbrandt wrote:

I totally agree that cameras today have too many features. Many features actually confuse me. I use some masking take with short notes to remember where that a certain adjustment is. Sometime l have to 'reset' the camera because unwanted features are messing with me.

I remember a few years ago that posters were asking if it were possible to buy a camera but delete the video feature and save money or make it less complicated. Like lots of horsepower in a car, I don't use the video capability of a DSLR, but it's nice to know it's there.

Obviously, people have different preferences, but I like gadgets and lots of features. I find it challenging to learn all the features.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Architect1776 wrote:

...needing over 1,500 pages of instructions in some cases, to use them?

I downloaded 1,781 pages of text and 77 MB of software for my Z8. The box contained a small 70-page manual.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

jerryc41 wrote:

I remember a few years ago that posters were asking if it were possible to buy a camera but delete the video feature and save money or make it less complicated. Like lots of horsepower in a car, I don't use the video capability of a DSLR, but it's nice to know it's there.

Obviously, people have different preferences, but I like gadgets and lots of features. I find it challenging to learn all the features.

And you know at some point, someone will say "Wow, my camera doesn't do that!".....

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Longshadow wrote:

And you know at some point, someone will say "Wow, my camera doesn't do that!".....

Or, "Oh, your camera doesn't do that?"

radiojohn

Things got crazy when the camera industry was taken over by the computer industry.

Too much "we can do this because the chip will handle it."

Very much like the early Casio watches that had calculators and databases built in.

ronpier Loc: Poland Ohio

Architect1776 wrote:

Have camera makers lost vision of actually making photos?
It seems that like the nuclear arms race of the cold war, cameras have generally become overkill to the taking of photos.
Yes, some advances are welcome, especially in the realm of AF and fps. But overall does a camera need to be so complex, needing over 1,500 pages of instructions in some cases, to use them?
Or are all the bells and whistles truly needed and used?
Just wondering for a friend.

I agree that your friend is correct. Massive instructions like a car manual.

radiojohn

If I had a TON of money -as in Jeff Bezos amounts- I'd have some (probably) Chinese outfit put together a "digital Spotmatic." Add a more modern screen, maybe focus confirmation, common lens mount for old lenses.

It wouldn't sell, but I would be fun to use. Perhaps even stop-down metering with some lights instead of a needle like my old Chinon screw mount SLR.

MrPhotog

BebuLamar wrote:

. . .
I do want a nice looking camera but it seems nobody makes it.

Oh, these are made. It is just that they can be very expensive.