pesfls wrote:
I’ve been using a digital body about 18 months and have been amazed, frustrated & what not by all the options, menus & complexity of these machines. I use a Nikon Df fwiw.
What I’ve noticed is that sometimes ec doesn’t seem to do anything I can see. After fiddling around with this I’ve learned that the phenomenon is related to shooting in full manual. What I now understand is that in full manual mode using the ec dial only changes the meter scale, not the exposure itself. So one must readjust exposure manually after entering ec mode to recenter the meter reading. In the other modes such as aperature priority the ec dial functions as I expected. I had no idea this was the case when in full manual.
So I pass on my admittedly naive notion as false. Perhaps this thing I’ve learned will be of use to another shooter. That’s my only purpose in bringing this up. It seems one could spend years mastering all the options built into these modern cameras. A good day to all.
I’ve been using a digital body about 18 months and... (
show quote)
You are the victim of a "mode" In user interface design, modes are considered
a (sometimes necessary) evil.
In your car, the windshield wiper knob turns on the winshield wipers because
it is wired to the wipers and the headlight knob turns on the headlights because it
is wired to the headlights. Simple.
But in an embedded system such as your digital camera, any knob or button can
control any function. They are just input devices to a computer.. So a switch
different modes of operation, or work in combination with other switches.
On a digital camera, unlike an automobile, there are very few physical buttons and
switches, becaue they are expensive and take up space. So these few are generally
"overloaded" with functions. If your car was a digital camera, it would work
like this:
"In foobar mode, to turn on the headlights, hold down Button A while pushing
Button B twice. But in barfoo mode, to turn on the headlights, push Button B
then turn Knob C clockwise. Holding down Button A while pushing Button B
twice turns on the wipers."
In other words, some very smart Japanese engineer figures out what he thinks each
control should do in each mode. He may have a degree from pristigious Tokyo
University, but in all likelihood doesn't actually own a camera (he uses his smartphone
to take pictures). And he doesn't have to remember what the camera controls do--
he' s just designing it.
Back in the 1980s, people used to complain about programming their VCRs. Little
did they know what was coming....