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Are menus and cameras in general too complicated?
This is prompted by a blog post I've just read, the poster has moved from FF digital to a high and bridge and then to a smartphone because cameras and menus are too complicated... and I think that even if they are maybe it doesn't matter...
I've read many complaints on forums about menus and to be honest I never really understand what people are complaining about as multi page menus with lots of options are surely a good thing as they allow you to set the kit up pretty much exactly as you want it. I do think they can be a pain when you're unfamiliar with new kit and it's annoying when the option you want isn't in the section you thought it would be but it shouldn't take too long to wade through them, work them out and set the kit up and once that's done how often do we really need menus? I honestly can't think of anything I do even remotely regularly in the menu other than format the card (regularly) and set the clock (not very often.) I do everything else with a dial, a button or with the custom menu I've set up which contains just about everything I need to do.
As for the camera itself, I'm sure all of my cameras have features I don't use and possibly don't even know are there but as long as I can set the aperture, shutter, ISO and exposure compensation, move the focus point, set the metering mode and do all of the other basic stuff like that does it really matter if there are exotic features and abilities in there somewhere that I wouldn't use even if I knew how to? And of course if I was interested I could RTM or Google it.
For people who can't be bothered with aperture priority and metering and the like most cameras have some sort of automatic (green square?) mode which turns the camera into a point and shoot. Easy enough?
So really I'm struggling to see how people could be so put off by camera or menu complexity that they'd give up. Personally I think that using a phone is a more complex thing to do than using a camera but I do also realise that's because I have zero interest in phones and I'm sure that if I could be bothered I could eventually work out how to do the more clever things you can do with one.
All in all I'm just a bit phased at the thought of people giving up on cameras because of complexity because IMO you can just ignore the complexity and just get on with using it with the basic stuff or just stick it in green square mode. I suppose we could get annoyed that we're sometimes paying for features that we're not interested in but that's probably true of any electronic thing these days, and for me that includes phones definitely. The lack of easy camera connectivity to social media and problems sharing are other issues and will no doubt add to the complexity.
So, what do you think? Is the complexity enough to put people off? Seriously?
This is prompted by a blog post I've just read, the poster has moved from FF digital to a high and bridge and then to a smartphone because cameras and menus are too complicated... and I think that even if they are maybe it doesn't matter...
I've read many complaints on forums about menus and to be honest I never really understand what people are complaining about as multi page menus with lots of options are surely a good thing as they allow you to set the kit up pretty much exactly as you want it. I do think they can be a pain when you're unfamiliar with new kit and it's annoying when the option you want isn't in the section you thought it would be but it shouldn't take too long to wade through them, work them out and set the kit up and once that's done how often do we really need menus? I honestly can't think of anything I do even remotely regularly in the menu other than format the card (regularly) and set the clock (not very often.) I do everything else with a dial, a button or with the custom menu I've set up which contains just about everything I need to do.
As for the camera itself, I'm sure all of my cameras have features I don't use and possibly don't even know are there but as long as I can set the aperture, shutter, ISO and exposure compensation, move the focus point, set the metering mode and do all of the other basic stuff like that does it really matter if there are exotic features and abilities in there somewhere that I wouldn't use even if I knew how to? And of course if I was interested I could RTM or Google it.
For people who can't be bothered with aperture priority and metering and the like most cameras have some sort of automatic (green square?) mode which turns the camera into a point and shoot. Easy enough?
So really I'm struggling to see how people could be so put off by camera or menu complexity that they'd give up. Personally I think that using a phone is a more complex thing to do than using a camera but I do also realise that's because I have zero interest in phones and I'm sure that if I could be bothered I could eventually work out how to do the more clever things you can do with one.
All in all I'm just a bit phased at the thought of people giving up on cameras because of complexity because IMO you can just ignore the complexity and just get on with using it with the basic stuff or just stick it in green square mode. I suppose we could get annoyed that we're sometimes paying for features that we're not interested in but that's probably true of any electronic thing these days, and for me that includes phones definitely. The lack of easy camera connectivity to social media and problems sharing are other issues and will no doubt add to the complexity.
So, what do you think? Is the complexity enough to put people off? Seriously?