[Leica] camera controls

["Gary and Dawn Klein" <gdklein@bytehead.com>]

In looking at all the new cameras, I am so pleased to see that Leica saw fit
to keep the shutter speed dial  in the R8 a dial and not a mode that you
have to thumbwheel to.

Case in point,  at work, I use the Canon Eos cameras (1n and an A2e).  They
do work rather nicely, but have you ever tried to use one of these on manual
all the time?  If I had an M6 for ever time the shutter speed "dial" got
moved when working a fast paced event, I would probably have a years
production.  I ended up using the auto modes, such as aperature priority and
programmed, more often on these cameras as I have fewer problems in that
regard.

However, with the older style shutter speed dial button on top, I can keep
complete control of my exposure.  I cut my teeth on manual 35mm (leica IIIf
and Nikon SLRS) and don't really see the to do about auto exposure.  There
are times, due to experience, that I do not agree with the meter reading and
I adjust from there.  When I was J school, we were taught to make sure to
change the shutter speed and f stop settings even as we walked out of a
building to match expose correctly for the outdoors.  One less thing to
think about if that plane comes out of the sky.

I think most manufacturers that produce these kinds of buttons and knobs
maybe don't think too much about how busy we are when we switch from one
body to another.  If things were thought out right in the first place, I
wouldn't be grumbling about the manual mode woes.

gck