Top Panel Design "When we talk about the camera's operability, we are most concerned with two important factors of the camera design: accessibility and readability. Accessibility involves the shape and position of switches, buttons and dials; readability is mostly affected by the body design and display method. We knew from our experience that, in order to improve these factors, we must do something drastic to the MZ-S camera body design. After some research and discussion, we found the ideal solution rather easily: we just needed to slant the top panel toward the photographer by approximately 30 degrees and position the control dials on this slanted plane. Imagine, for instance, that you have a computer, a clock, stationery and several family pictures on your desk. You feel more comfortable by positioning some of them diagonally, so all of them are facing you, rather than setting them parallel to the front edge of the desk. Or imagine your car. It's much easier to drive and get the inf! ormation you need if all the meters and switches are facing toward you. Likewise, we concluded that this unconventional design could considerably improve both the accessibility and readability of the controls and displays on the top panel. We also figured the rest of the body design and the interior layout would follow accordingly. But it was easier said than done. This drastically slanted top panel was the core of our body design concept. It allows you to read the settings and make changes more easily from various angles: there is no need to raise your eye level when you take your eye from the viewfinder, and you don't have to stand on tiptoe or use a chair or box during high-angle shooting with the camera set on a tripod. "Next came the design of two control dials. It's unusual to have a digital-type dial on one side and an analog-type dial on the other, but this was the result of our extensive review of the camera functions. We concluded that the functions that the user decides by absolute numerical value, such as shutter speed, aperture and exposure frame number, were better accommodated by digital operation. Consequently, these factors were assigned to the digital dial on the right side and their settings are displayed on the LCD panel positioned inside this dial. In comparison with the Z-1p's centralized display system, which is positioned on the top of the pentaprism and away from the control system, this in-the-dial display system makes data reading and setting changes much easier. On the other hand, the factors that are decided by relative value, such as exposure compensation factor and auto bracketing factor, were assigned to the analog dial on the left side. In addition, the two ! reference points of this analog dial (the "zero-point" index on one side and the "PF" mark on the opposite) are colored with green and red, respectively, for at-a-glance confirmation. Exterior Design "Once the design of the top panel was completed, we turned our attention to the overall body design. The MZ-S's novel top panel design greatly affected the rest of the body design, and we had to design everything from scratch using our advanced three-dimensional CAD technology. Most of the pentaprism housing was set into the raised front line of the top panel - in other words, protruding less over the line - creating a unique appearance from the front. Unlike conventional cameras, we designed the MZ-S to be asymmetric on both sides of the pentaprism because it looked a little awkward when we first designed it to be symmetrical. The two dials were sized differently because, due to an optical illusion caused by the difference in color and shape, the digital dial looked much smaller than the analog one, even though they were the same size. So, we designed the digital dial to be considerably larger and added a small protrusion right in front of the digital dial to refine the ! design. Finally, we made other minor design adjustments here and there to make the MZ-S look sharp and pleasing from every angle. The Control System "Our next assignment was to decide the best layout of buttons and levers, apart from the two large dials, to ensure optimum operability and accessibility. By this time, we were more confident with our design concept and became much bolder in designing these parts than we were at first. The shutter release button, for example, is not only slanted toward the front, but also tilted slightly outward because we felt it was a more ergonomically efficient design. We moved the electronic preview lever from its traditional position on the lens mount section to a spot right next to the shutter release button for easier access at the shooting position. Because of the unique top panel design, some of other buttons and levers had to be slanted to a certain extent as well. For instance, the exposure mode button, which is used to instantly jump the exposure mode from the Shutter-Priority AE back to the Programmed AE, was placed on the slanted plane on the upper right side of the front p! anel - an area which previously was seldom used for such buttons. We also installed the shutter-speed hold switch on the back panel, which locks the digital dial in order to prevent the accidental shift of exposure modes or shutter speeds. - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
