The Importance of a Camera's 'Feel'

Tronhard — Mon, 01 Jan 2024 02:43:04 GMT

I have often maintained that the ergonomics of a camera or lens can make or break what would look like a great unit on paper. I have known people who have ordered from on-line from just the specs alone and been completely confounded by how the camera handles.

On the other hand there are some camera that just feel great in the hand and they have a value long past their technical acme. The EOS 60D model was one such for me, and sometimes I regret selling all of mine, but by the same token I have loved and kept the EOS 80D, even selling the later 90D as that just didn't have that 'feel'.

I still retain, and occasionally shoot with, the 80D and one of my other feel-good units, the EF-S 18-135 IS USM lens. The two sit well in my hands, have a great balance and are just fun to have. Yep, I have much more capable cameras on paper, but that's not the point.

Stepping outside the Canon world, I bought the Nikon Df camera some years back for similar reasons. It was a totally different camera from normal DSLRs - as Tetsuro Goto's swansong design after almost 40 years with Nikon's design bureau, it harkened back to the very camera I first used with the dial interface. Its name said it - unlike any other Nikon it didn't have a model number: in the Df, the f stood for fusion between the classic SLR ergonomics, combined with the stunning sensor from the D4 flagship camera. It came with limitations that harkened back to those early bodies and I love it for that. I have three of them and will never give them up.

I know there has been talk of Canon producing a similar legacy design and hope that they will do so, creating one on the design of the Canon A-1, which was my favourite body from the period.

Re: The Importance of a Camera's 'Feel'

zakslm — Mon, 01 Jan 2024 21:14:23 GMT

Trevor,

I agree on the ergonomics - you're spot on.

I'm not so sure about a new Canon camera based on a legacy design, but I'd really like to see a camera produced and branded with the legacy Canon logo like the logo on the A series cameras.

Re: The Importance of a Camera's 'Feel'

Tronhard — Mon, 01 Jan 2024 21:22:12 GMT

Well, if Nikon and Fuji are anything to go by, then the legacy interface has a significant market. The Nikon Df has a loyal following, and that is even more true for the Zf and Zfc - being the MILC versions, along with the Fuji X-T series, these are highly popular and all of these use the dials of classic bodies They are still fully-functions DSLR and MILC units.

topic Re: The Importance of a Camera's 'Feel' in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

The Importance of a Camera's 'Feel'

Re: The Importance of a Camera's 'Feel'

Re: The Importance of a Camera's 'Feel'