I am not sure it is that complicated Graydon. What you have is a
bunch of on-off switches, sometimes three-position switches. Currently
there is a thin layer of UI that allows menu navigation and switch
flipping within the camera itself. All I am suggesting is to allow a
substitute UI layer via the USB interface to the camera that allows
you to flip those switches from a computer representation of the menu.
It would be trivial to add the "help/info" elements. Bill (and I) did
mention customizing the on-camera menu structure itself, I can see
that that would be slightly more complicated to engineer, but just a
remote menu option would be simple and a great marketing tool. Re-
setting "defaults" to your personal preferences is just a group switch
flip, shouldn't be too difficult...
stan
On Sep 19, 2009, at 10:42 AM, Graydon wrote:
On Sat, Sep 19, 2009 at 10:33:24AM -0500, Stan Halpin scripsit:
Bill's comment got me thinking... This may be too geeky, but why not
an option to connect the camera to my computer (Mac or Windows) and
walk through an initial setup on a big screen. Including options for
rearranging menu items, setting defaults, etc. It might not make
sense for an entry-level camera, but for someone who knows what they
want, it would be a great tool. Take the UI beyond the bare minimum,
and you could have a Help/Information screen linked to every setting,
with explanations of the implication, e.g., of an other-then-neutral
setting of the Saturation slider, and how it matters more if you use
jpeg than if you use PEF or RAW.
The problem with this is that it is really hard to do.
Instead of having a single fixed, heavily tested menu structure, you
have to test the general case of component interaction in your
interface, plus each component.
It can be done -- see www.eclipse.org/ -- but Eclipse is a _huge_
project, too big for Sony or Samsung, never mind Pentax, among camera
makers. Especially since there may not be an abstraction layer between
the menu and the chip.
Even something like video card management software is notable for
being
the work of a lot of people -- engineering teams on the "about a 100"
scale -- and having both limited customization capability and for
never
quite being exactly what anyone wants.
Imagine a camera store (remember camera stores?), the customer
service
guy (remember service?) plugging your new camera into the computer on
the counter and walking you through the menu options...
Imagine having to train all those camera store guys....
I'm not saying this wouldn't be a helpful, handy thing; I'm just
saying
that it's seriously hard to do.
-- Graydon
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