Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/07/31
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Sorry, Mark, I meant "splash" guards as the analogy to DSLR camera technology that still wants to stay in the last century. Re the shape of camera bodies, the classic SLR configuration needed a prism in the middle because the body needed the sides for film and take-up spool. The DSLR has kept that old SLR "look" mainly, I believe, for marketing reasons. Managers calling the shots at Canon, Nikon et al have kept camera body design in the 1960's since DSLRs first appeared. One of the main reasons I switched to Olympus was because of the side-swing mirror on the E-330 DSLR, which gives a very handy flat-top body and optical viewfinder on the top-left, much like a Leica M body. Two of those 330 bodies really fit easily into a carrying case, too - no humps to take up space. DSLR camera designers cannot seem to get "out of the box", both figuratively and literally. I don't think I have every seen such a bunch of moribund engineers with an attitude of "we have always done it that way." Also, look at the SIZE of most DSLR cameras! What other digital designs have "advanced" with equipment that has steadily become LARGER instead of smaller? The Olympus E-330 is now three years old, and I still consider it the high point in DSLR camera design. Nobody else has done the instant-shutter live view since, not even Olympus. And EVERBODY is still stuck on 1960's body design. The Olympus E-P1 doesn't count, because it only has an arms-length LCD finder. I can't even begin to say how disappointed I am in Leica's SLR-on-steroids-hump-backed S2, when they could have spent all that R&D on a combination M/R digital camera that could have rocked the market. Gary Todoroff http://northcoastphotos.com/Lympa.htm At 10:11 AM 7/31/2009, you wrote: > > > >> The prism doubles the weight of the camrea in many cases. And > makes them far > >> more bulky. Top heavy. > >> Mark William Rabiner > > > > Exactly my sentiments about DSLR cameras that are still being builtw > > to be retrofitted to hold film. Olympus broke the mold with the > > flat-top, side-swinging mirror E-330, then went right back to the > > same old mold. What a shame that DSLR designers are holding onto an > > obsolete body design for a longer time than early automobiles kept > > the slash guards up front for the horses! > > Gary Todoroff > > > >Olympus has gotten smart though bringing back the Pen but with the wrong >format. >The more Yoshihisa Maitani we get the better off we are going to be. > >http://www.geocities.com/maitani_fan/home.html > >We need an OM1 DSLR >And Clamshell full frame or at least 1.5 crop > >You don't like the classic SLR configuration which the DSLR emulates? >Not following....