Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/12/23
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]- -----Original Message----- From: Chris Fortunko <fortunko@boulder.nist.gov> >In one of the photos, Black and White (no doubt Tri-X), we see a fellow with >a Leica CL and a Hasselblad 500C. One of the sentences states "These people >simply believe old technology makes them better thinkers, more efficient >workers, and just a little more comfortable." I agree. > He said, as he posted the message to an email discussion group :-) In The Design of Everyday Objects, Donald Norman suggests that some folks have trouble coping with the new, because many designs are pretty to behold, but not at all intuitive. As an example, he mentions doors: Badly designed doors need a sign telling you whether you should push or pull. Worse doors also need to indicate which side needs to be pushed or pulled. The worst ones can't be distinguished as doors at all! But, he goes on to say, people can often become used to even a bad design, if it becomes a standard. The beauty of many older camera designs is that their dials, meter needles and levers convey a wealth of info in a fairly intuitive manner: A digital display of "EV -0.5" may not have quite the seat-of-the-pants feeling as seeing that your meter needle's pointing downwards a bit. On certain older cameras, such as the Olympus OM-1, additional, tactile, feedback is given--as you twist the shutter speed ring to 1/30th or below, you can hear and feel the slow speed mechanism being engaged. Most modern, electronic cameras provide very little feedback at all, and 99% of it is visual. But I don't necessarily shun new cameras; I just have a tough time paying for them! New cheapies with iffy long-term serviceability aren't so cheap.