Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/04/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Larry, I bet my Canon DSLR has even more settings than your Olympus. And you know what? I never fiddle with them! I did look in the manual when I first bought the camera, to set it up the way I want it: auto white balance, RAW, using the center focus point only, one-shot mode, etc. Once done, my shooting is no more complicated than with an analogue camera. I use aperture priority, which is familiar from the M7 or R8. If the scene has difficult light, I may change the mode to manual to set the shutter speed and aperture to my liking; and otherwise, it is just pointing and shooting. Nothing complicated at all. Oh yes, the only other setting I use with reasonable frequency is to change the ISO speed--but that is a lot easier than rewinding a partially exposed roll of film, taking it out, and replacing it with a faster (or slower, as appropriate) film. In fact, this ability to change speed on a shot-by-shot basis is one of the major advantages of digital capture. So, you can make it simple or you can make it complex. I prefer simple :-) Nathan lrzeitlin@optonline.net wrote: > As a DSLR neophyte I was astonished by the number of decisions I had to > make using my new Olympus E-500 once I ventured out of the AUTO mode. > > In more than 50 years of Leica RF camera use all I had to attend to was > focus, lens opening, and shutter speed. And these were pretty well > determined by the nature of the picture and the light level. The only real > degrees of freedom in using the camera were film and lens selection. Once > you mastered the basics and learned to thread the film into that narrow > loading slot, you could devote the rest of your attention to scene > selection and composition - that, and which single malt scotch you were > going to order at the pub. As I recall, my Leica M manual had 48 pages, > and six of those were devoted to loading and unloading the camera. The CL > manual (which I still have) had 32 pages, mostly pictures. > > The Olympus "easy to use" DSLR has five selectable modes of automatic > shooting and 15 different scene modes for a full range of pictorial s > ituations. In addition there are four different "advanced" modes offering > various degrees of automation down to full manual control. There are three > focus modes, fixed, continuous, and manual. When using automatic focus > there is the possibility of selecting several focus sensor modes. Exposure > metering can be by spot or scene averaging. The built in flash can be > selected as a fill in, full illumination with varying intensity, or turned > off altogether. And, of course, picking ISO speed can be left to the > camera's massive electronic brain, or set manually. Noise control can be > in or out by user choice. The scene can be imaged in vivid color, natural > color, muted color, grayscale, or sepia. I can set the form of image > capture from RAW through various degrees of JPEG compression, or both at > the same time. Naturally I can change the pixilation from super high > quality to Web quality in a dozen different steps. And that's only on the > picture taking side. There are many different way > s I can display the image that I can't yet comprehend. The Olympus manual > is 215 pages, dense with print too small for my aging eyes to read. All in > all, the camera offers over 1000 possibilities for picture taking. > > Now I realize that I performed many of these functions unconsciously with > my film cameras but I was never aware of making so many of the decisions > up front. Except for scene selection and composition very little of my > prior experience transfers to the DSLR. My God, the thing has 15 buttons > on the back and menus three levels deep displayed on the LCD. > > I suppose that in time it will all be clear to me, but with the loss of > 300,000 brain cells a day, I hope that it will happen before I'm reduced > to a gibbering idiot. If the long awaited digital Leica ever comes out > with no more controls than an M3, I'll buy it in a minute. > > Failing that, I might buy an ergonomics textbook for the engineers at > Olympus. > > Larry Z > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > -- Nathan Wajsman Almere, The Netherlands SUPPORT FREEDOM OF SPEECH, BUY DANISH PRODUCTS! General photography: http://www.nathanfoto.com Picture-A-Week: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws Seville photography: http://www.fotosevilla.com Stock photography: http://www.alamy.com/search-results.asp?qt=wajsman http://myloupe.com/home/found_photographer.php?photographer=507 Prints for sale: http://www.photodeluge.com Blog: http://www.fotocycle.dk/blog