my experience (limited with auto cameras to be sure) is that most of this
gee-whiz automation makes what is a simple no brainer to an experienced
photographer a hassle and a half.
Not only do you have to figure out how to make the camera do what you can do on a manual camera with a twist of one of the three controls, but you also have to remember to shut off the feature after you have used it. Things that are mindlessly simple to do with a manual camera require you to go through seemingly innumerable menus. My new (to me) Oly C-5050 comes with a 300 page reference manual to tell you how to use all those features. My MX's came with 36 page manual that most photographers probably never even looked at.
For example to simply open up a stop I have to at a minimum push a button,
select a sub menu with the jog wheel, then use the jog wheel to set the
exposure compensation. Then I have to go back and reset everything to normal
after I have taken the photo. I could leave the camera set to reset everything
to default every time I turn it off, but then I have to reset all those
defaults I do not want to use every time I turned it on. I hope high end AF
SLR's can be set to work like any manual camera, but prosumer cameras can not.
As a point and shoot it works well, leave it on factory defaults, set to P, and
shoot. If you want more control you have to fight Oly's software engineers
every step of the way. Sure with a lot of practice I will be able to work
around all that fairly easily, but it actually requires more knowledge of the
particular camera than it it does of basic photography to operate a manual
camera. And you actually have to know the photography stuff to know when to use
all those features anyway.
When I first looked an auto-focus cameras a few years back the only one I could
figure out how to use intuitively was the ZX5n. Not only couldn't I figure out
how to use the others without looking in the big fat manual, but the sales
people could not either.
Shel, I assume you know the technique of focusing an SLR without fiddling; if
so you can focus manually faster than almost all auto-focus cameras in most
situations especially difficult ones. So you are correct an auto-focus camera
provides you with almost nothing worthwhile.
graywolf
http://www.graywolfphoto.com
"Idiot Proof" <==> "Expert Proof"
-----------------------------------
Shel Belinkoff wrote:
Hi Mike ...
Have you read all the crap that one must consider and go through to get the
5n to work while using auto focus. Suggestions included holding the camera
at an angle, focusing on something else in a similar location, using faster
lenses because of lighting conditions quickly come to mind. With all the
MF cameras I've used, I point, I focus, I snap the shutter. I've not had
to adapt my shooting style or technique to the camera. The camera responds
as I desire, when I desire. There's a more seamless integration of
photographer and camera.
What has been interesting for me is that the more automated a cameras has
become, the more information it provides and the more features it offers,
the more it gets in the way of my seeing and photographing the scene. The
simpler, older cameras, that provide no information in the finder, and
essentially mind their own business, are, for more, easier tools to
operate. My favorite cameras have no automation, no suggestions or
information in the viewfinder, make no decisions. The Leica M2, M3, M4,
the Pentax KM (with meter inactive), and the MX (also with meter inactive)
are my favorite cameras. There is nothing that I have to adapt to. The
cameras are essentially benign, neutral, in my hands. There's no concern
about turning them on or turning them off, or if the light is right for a
shot, or of the camera deciding whether or not a shot can be taken.
Whether or not a get a shot, whether it's properly exposed or focused, is
all my responsibility and a result of how I choose to set and use the
aperture, focus, and shutter speed. And for most photographic situations,
once the light is determined in an area, the rest is almost automatic
because I'm using a CPU with far more processing power than what is in any
of these whiz-bang cameras - the brain in my head.
Maybe others need or want to rely more upon the modes and features and
computers in their cameras, but if I have to work to overcome the
limitations of certain features in order to use them, what's the point of
having them in the first place? Perhaps when such features are more
seamlessly integrated into the cameras, as they may be in other models, or
when, for example, auto focus will work on subjects with any contrast or in
any light, I'd find it a totally acceptable asset. But to have to go
through machinations to use it, or first decide if the light is bright
enough, or the subject has enough contrast, or to consider any of a number
of other things before pressing the shutter, well, I'd just as soon turn
off the feature and shoot manually. And if I'm gonna do that, why bother
with an auto focus camera in the first place.
Shel
[Original Message]
From: mike wilson
From your comments, and those of others, it seems that the 5n is not a
camera I'd buy except for photographing in some specific situations.
I'd
sure hope newer cameras behave better - after all, what's the point of
autofocus if you're continually having to adapt to its limitations.
Surely, that's no different to manual focus. Or any other aspect of
photography.
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