Notice something about most of the new DSLR releases?

On Sat, 20 Sep 2008 21:16:32 -0700 (PDT), RichA wrote:
: NO major body design changes. Lots of internal stuff, very little
: exterior. So, have we reached some kind of ergonomic plateau? I
: don't think so....

Ergonomic consistency is important to most users. Few want to re-learn where
everything is every time they buy a new camera. One reason my wife and I
bought Canon DSLRs is that we already had Canon P&Ses, and the controls were
pretty much the same. If you're a professional, it's even more important,
because time is money and because a mistake that causes you to miss a shot has
greater consequences. So it's very understandable that body designs change
slowly.

Bob

On Sun, 21 Sep 2008 10:38:17 -0700 (PDT), RichA wrote:
: On Sep 21, 10:18*am, Robert Coe wrote:
: On Sat, 20 Sep 2008 21:16:32 -0700 (PDT), RichA wrote:
:
: : NO major body design changes. *Lots of internal stuff, very little
: : exterior. *So, have we reached some kind of ergonomic plateau? *I
: : don't think so....
:
: Ergonomic consistency is important to most users. Few want to re-learn where
: everything is every time they buy a new camera. One reason my wife and I
: bought Canon DSLRs is that we already had Canon P&Ses, and the controls were
: pretty much the same. If you're a professional, it's even more important,
: because time is money and because a mistake that causes you to miss a shot has
: greater consequences. So it's very understandable that body designs change
: slowly.
:
: Bob
:
: Notice also how they are all made for right-handed people too?

I did notice that and almost commented on it. But I'm nearly ambidextrous
myself, and I figure a lot of it is just what you get used to. All trumpets
are right-handed and all French horns are left-handed, but I used to play
both. Right-handed and left-handed automobiles aren't provided for their
drivers' convenience, but to accommodate the traffic conventions of the
countries in which they're used. I'm equally adept at using a mouse with
either hand and could undoubtedly learn to use a camera left-handed if that's
how they were made. If you're left-handed and have trouble using a
right-handed camera, I'll try to feel your pain. But I won't get worked up
about it on your behalf. ;^)

Bob

In article
,
RichA wrote:

Notice also how they are all made for right-handed people too?

I'm left-handed, and I've never really noticed a problem. If anything, it
seems to me that the standard SLR body design favors lefties. You hold the
camera in your right hand, and manipulate most of the other stuff with your
left (focus, zoom, and even on a DSLR, most of the buttons). The ONLY
significant action you perform with your right hand is to push the shutter
release, and I guess after close to 40 years of pushing shutter release
buttons with my right hand, it seems like the natural thing to do.

This is exactly the way I would use any hand-held device like a calculator,
cell phone, GPS, radio, etc. I'd hold it in my right hand, and perform the
more precise operations with my left.

Some things are blatantly handed. The obvious examples are scissors and
notebooks (well, the three-ring binder variety anyway).

I recently ran into a new example of a handed object -- a soda machine! My
office moved, and in the new place, the soda machine is right-handed. The
coin slot is embedded in a beautifully sculpted face plate. The only
problem is that if you hold a coin in your left hand, there's no way you
can put it into the slot; there's no room for your fingers. The only way
to insert the coin is to hold it in your right hand. Don't the people who
design these things do any real-world testing?

Roy Smith wrote:
In article
,
RichA wrote:

Notice also how they are all made for right-handed people too?

I'm left-handed, and I've never really noticed a problem. If anything, it
seems to me that the standard SLR body design favors lefties. You hold the
camera in your right hand, and manipulate most of the other stuff with your

Actually one holds the weight of the camera in ones left hand and uses
same for focus, aperture* and zoom. The right hand to stabilize and
operate the controls.

*apertu on many cameras now, aperture is a right hand thumb or
index-finger control-wheel.


left (focus, zoom, and even on a DSLR, most of the buttons). The ONLY
significant action you perform with your right hand is to push the shutter
release, and I guess after close to 40 years of pushing shutter release
buttons with my right hand, it seems like the natural thing to do.

No. See above.
I recently ran into a new example of a handed object -- a soda machine!
design these things do any real-world testing?

Soda drinks are loaded in sugar. Avoid them.m They make you nervous
and fat and you can't hold your camera steady.

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On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:48:40 -0400, Alan Browne
wrote:

Roy Smith wrote:
In article
,
RichA wrote:

Notice also how they are all made for right-handed people too?

I'm left-handed, and I've never really noticed a problem. If anything, it
seems to me that the standard SLR body design favors lefties. You hold the
camera in your right hand, and manipulate most of the other stuff with your

Actually one holds the weight of the camera in ones left hand and uses
same for focus, aperture* and zoom. The right hand to stabilize and
operate the controls.

*apertu on many cameras now, aperture is a right hand thumb or
index-finger control-wheel.


left (focus, zoom, and even on a DSLR, most of the buttons). The ONLY
significant action you perform with your right hand is to push the shutter
release, and I guess after close to 40 years of pushing shutter release
buttons with my right hand, it seems like the natural thing to do.

No. See above.
I recently ran into a new example of a handed object -- a soda machine!
design these things do any real-world testing?

Soda drinks are loaded in sugar. Avoid them.m They make you nervous
and fat and you can't hold your camera steady.

And, per my kindergartner nephew, my hands are "wiggly" enough.

(Lest anything untoward be read into that, he noticed my hand tremor
from across the restaurant table the other day and asked me why they
were "wiggly.")

On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:48:40 -0400, Alan Browne
wrote:

Roy Smith wrote:
In article
,
RichA wrote:

Notice also how they are all made for right-handed people too?

I'm left-handed, and I've never really noticed a problem. If anything, it
seems to me that the standard SLR body design favors lefties. You hold the
camera in your right hand, and manipulate most of the other stuff with your

Actually one holds the weight of the camera in ones left hand and uses
same for focus, aperture* and zoom. The right hand to stabilize and
operate the controls.

*apertu on many cameras now, aperture is a right hand thumb or
index-finger control-wheel.


left (focus, zoom, and even on a DSLR, most of the buttons). The ONLY
significant action you perform with your right hand is to push the shutter
release, and I guess after close to 40 years of pushing shutter release
buttons with my right hand, it seems like the natural thing to do.

No. See above.
I recently ran into a new example of a handed object -- a soda machine!
design these things do any real-world testing?

Soda drinks are loaded in sugar. Avoid them.m They make you nervous
and fat and you can't hold your camera steady.

To make matters even worse, the sugar molecules are right-handed.

See http://americanhistory.si.edu/kids/molecule/05drug.htm



Eric Stevens

On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:48:40 -0400, Alan Browne
wrote:
: Soda drinks are loaded in sugar. Avoid them.m They make you nervous
: and fat and you can't hold your camera steady.

I thought it was beer that did that.

Bob

Robert Coe wrote:
On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:48:40 -0400, Alan Browne
wrote:
: Soda drinks are loaded in sugar. Avoid them.m They make you nervous
: and fat and you can't hold your camera steady.

I thought it was beer that did that.

That explains tilted horizons.


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Eric Stevens wrote:

To make matters even worse, the sugar molecules are right-handed.

There was something in SciAmer about the handedness of organic chemistry
and 'handedness' in evolution.

Wonder how all the Bible thumpers reckon with our bodies being 'left'
handed at the molecular level, eg: the devil's hand...

Evolution: 3,496,238,516,231,294,333
Creationism: 0


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-- r.p.e.35mm user resource: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm
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On Tue, 23 Sep 2008 18:30:41 -0400, Alan Browne
wrote:

Robert Coe wrote:
On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:48:40 -0400, Alan Browne
wrote:
: Soda drinks are loaded in sugar. Avoid them.m They make you nervous
: and fat and you can't hold your camera steady.

I thought it was beer that did that.

That explains tilted horizons.

So all this yammering about the media leaning to the left was just
about film and sensors? I knew it!