It is one thing to design something beautiful. To design something that is beautifully functional, is a rareness. How to show big boys to show?
Sigma has just unveiled remarkable BFA grand, clean-interested full frame camera that has thought of anyone possible. It introduces a large LCD on the back (in particular, one that does not outspoken or fold out) and a control dial. Nothing is strange so far. The physical buttons, however, are different. One of the three is for power, leaving only two buttons for everyone else. This is a bold step, unlike Hasselblad X2D, it is not back to video features. Apparently, this is not for everyone, but there is nothing like it on the market.
You can give a similar argument for hasselblad. Swedes do not have a style of style like there is no other, because their furniture design (and prices) will test, so it was not surprising to see the company making an interface, which clearly clarified the shortcomings of almost every other camera on the market. Only leaka comes closer, but again, they do not have to worry too much about video functionality.
You can get an idea of ​​menu on BF This short video From Gordon Linga. Sigma has given the industry a lesson in the minimum design, not only with aluminum body clean lines, but also with creating a menu system, which does not want you to take out your eyes with a fork.
Where is the Japanese design ethos?
Photographers have grown over menu systems over the years, and the manufacturers were satisfied to let these complaints be largely unanswered, not feeling any real pressure to make people’s lives easier. Over the years, we have been punished by ugly, confused layouts, Sony has clearly determined to produce the most maze and aggressive menu system that its developers can muster. The sensations of photographers were not only worth the idea – cut a terrible font, stick white text on a black background, strangely choose a hierarchy by throwing broken darts in the strangely brief words list, and then forget about it for ten years. The argument was that the cameras could be designed to be thoroughly designed, but the menu system could remain a dilapidated. Given how this Japanese design opposes ethos, I have long been wondering why something used to care about it.
Five years ago, I asked if it was Time button and dial time for manufacturers And simply use a large -scale LCD touchscreen instead. Comments were a brilliant “no frightening way”, which makes sense for most cameras for two reasons: first, it is not practical, although a touchscreen can be good; Second, people such as button, as suggested further by the use of a haptic button on Sigma’s BF’s back. Getting rid of buttons has no meaning to the overwhelming majority of cases of use, and yet minimalism has its own place.
Photographers deserve better
Every time I mourn the camera menu and poor design, people in the comments say that it doesn’t matter and once you set your camera, you rarely have to dive into it. For some, the experience of using a tool does not matter, but for others, like me, the feeling of using something beautiful enhances the experience of creating image and shapes the way I make photos. Some camera manufacturers get this; Not others. The line of Sigma’s lens started indicating this a few years ago, considering that a non-mechanical aperture ring is not to feel non-mechanical.
Of course, a tool is a device; If something is functional, it is often sufficient. And, to an extent, people who do not see any value in pleasing design are correct. However, just because the cameras can be ugly, it does not mean that all cameras should be ugly. Only because the menu can be a horrific pit of brief name, furious colors, and badly designed icons do not mean that we are not better. Thanks, Sigma, to show us what is possible.
As usual, tell me your views in the comments below.
