Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/04/04

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

Subject: [Leica] Re: DSLR confusion
From: lrzeitlin at optonline.net (lrzeitlin@optonline.net)
Date: Tue Apr 4 13:38:11 2006
References: <200604040432.k344Vdwp038532@server1.waverley.reid.org>

<<At 06:20 PM 4/3/2006, you wrote:
>I suppose that in time it will all be clear to me, but with the loss 
>of 300,000 brain cells a day, I hope that it will happen before I'm 
>reduced to a gibbering idiot. If the long awaited digital Leica ever 
>comes out with no more controls than an M3, I'll buy it in a minute.
>
>Failing that, I might buy an ergonomics textbook for the engineers at 
>Olympus.
>
>Larry Z
Larry -? Do as Ted suggests and KISS - keep it simple!? If you shoot 
in RAW, none of the other settings matter.? RAW is your digital 
negative.? It captures exactly what the camera sees with no 
adjustments or changes.? Save the RAW file and play with it later 
when you are learning Photoshop.? If you think the camera is 
complicated, wait until you see all of the options you have in 
PSCS2.? But it's fun!!
Have fun!
Tina

-------

Tina and all,

I don't mean that I can never master the Olympus DSLR user interface. After 
all, I started computer programming in assembly lang
uage 50 years ago (really) and I can almost work my HP Reverse Polish 
calculator.
What I'm really pissed at is the fact thal all my hard learned film camera 
skills don't really translate well to the new camera without first recasting 
them in the digital context. It's like figuring out what I want to do in 
English, then translating to Japanese (where the camera was designed) then 
to Chinese (where the camera was made) before pushing the right buttons. 
Case in point: When I want to take a close up portrait in film, I focus on 
the eyes, open the lens wide to blur the background, set the shutter speed 
higher to compensate for the wide lens opening, compose, then click away. 
It's almost instinctive. With the digital, I must first recognize that the 
shot will be a portrait, then select the portrait mode. I have no idea what 
part of the face the lens is focused on or what the background will look 
like. I just have to trust that the electronic elves inside the camera will 
get it righ
t.

So far I have not been disappointed. At least for most of the shots I've 
made so far, the elves have done a good job. Once in a while I'm surprised 
by the flash popping up because the head elf decided that the light was too 
low and I neglected to inform him that I didn't want to use flash today. 
Picture quality has been excellent. No complaints here. But having worked in 
the applied industrial design field for many years, I do have to say that 
the interface is not intuitive. It is not just a question of offering a lot 
of possibilities, but of presenting those possibilities in a logical order 
which follows tha photographer's though process. This is a camera whose 
control interface was deisgned by engineers, not by users. What happened to 
all that Olympus OM experience? The OM  SLRs were paragons of convenience 
and usability. The E-500 is more like the Leica III series than the Leica M. 
Too many fiddling little adjustments although the picture quality is just as 
good.

Oh w
ell, I suppose in ten years, the Olympus 4/3 cameras will be thought of as 
classics. Right now I'm going to follow Ted and Tina's recommendation and 
shoot everything in RAW. This will transfer decision making to the 
complexity of Photoshop, the program with the steepest learning curve in the 
history of computerdom. I can hardly wait.

Larry Z


Replies: Reply from nickbroberts at yahoo.co.uk (Nick Roberts) ([Leica] Re: DSLR confusion)
Reply from images at InfoAve.Net (Tina Manley) ([Leica] Re: DSLR confusion)