am i really about to return my first camera to the store?

emraphoto

emraphoto

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is it just me or are the manufacturers missing the boat these days? i have had an EP-1 with 17mm and optical finder for a little under a week and i just can't understand why it is so difficult to build a compact camera with a decent sized sensor that behaves like a bloody camera?

how difficult would it have been to make manual focus (with distance or dof indicators) part of the whole package? firmware?

i like the art filters. cool idea... however one can't simply tape over the little flashing light at the bottom because a little (bright) line grows across the screen when writing to the card. can't tape that up. two lights? really?

shutter priority is "on" yet the bloody camera still waits (i presume to figure aperture) before the shutter releases.

ae mode today, under consistent artificial lighting and the exposures were all over the map.

you can set it up to shut the screen off but if you are using art filters and the camera goes to sleep... screen back on as soon as you touch the shutter.

hey all manufacturers! the christmas lights you add to your cameras are getting out of hand. do we really need a ssw light?

i am frustrated really. i wanted so bad for the little oly to work out but i find i just want to stomp on the bloody thing. it brings a new meaning to the "using a computer to shoot" mantra the film folks like to toss about.

seriously, all i read in the reviews is the 'serious amateur' thing but i am not seeing it. this camera is so out of touch (my opinion folks) with what a serious shooter needs their camera to do i can't stomach it.

anyhow, so it goes. i'll pack the bugger up, return it and buy some more film.
 
I did have a honeymoon period with my Nikon D700... until I realized it tends to overexpose. But then, I knew that, because I've seen it and read it elsewhere: all dSLRs do it. It's in their algorithm, it's their nature, it's stronger than anything... After a while, I went back to shoot Leicas and now I shoot a Nikon S2 as well. Sure, I won't lie, I kept the big rig. After all, it's convenient...

But your case is really drastic. You sound like this camera has taken the ginger out of you and the fun out of photography. Return it and go back to your film ways. Best of luck if you stray again! 🙂
 
i am not really a film or digital kind of guy. i shoot it all. it's just the performance qualities and interface of these compacts i can't quite comprehend. so close in idea but so far in execution.
 
You sound like buyers remorse.
Didn't you do your homework before buying the thing?
 
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well i am afraid you are right. i bought it and now i regret it.

homework is homework, handling it is a totally different endeavor.
 
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Not every camera is right for every photographer. You just have to try the darn things and see if they work for you, personally. Contrary to what Jaques wrote, in many cases there is simply no way to know but to actually try it.

The feature map is not the territory.

I thought I'd love the Pentax K20D. I did my research. I even went to the camera store and handled one.

I bought it. I hated it. I hated the bulk. I hated the sound of the shutter. I hated the grinding loudness of screw-drive focusing with the "best" Pentax lenses available (FA 50/1.4; DA 21 Limited; FA 31 Limited). I was annoyed by the fact that Pentax weather seals their bodies but not their sweetest lenses.

I returned it.

I grumbled for a while. Then I got an Olympus E-620, with the 12-60 SWD. Its silent, accurate, lighting-fast focus and wonderful optical performance won me over. Plus, the lens is weather sealed (and I'd much rather have a sealed lens than camera, if I've gotta choose). I love it. On paper the K20D and those cute little primes should have been the camera best suited to my needs. In use, that setup wasn't even close. There is simply no substitute for seeing what works in your own hands.

[Edited to add: I am not saying that the K20D is a bad camera. I am saying that it was not the right camera for me. I know that many people have them and love them.]
 
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i agree, the reviews all say the same bloody things anyhow. i am not interested in tech data... i want to know how it handles and works. can't really sort that out until you use it for a bit.
 
Oly gave me one of those for a month when it was first launched to test drive and give them a couple hundred photos in return to use for promotion. Man, I couldnt wait for that month to finish so I could send it back!

Focusing: I used the 17mm lens exclusively. 17mm means gigantic depth of field at all apertures. I'm a street/people photographer, so all I wanted to do is set the damn thing to 3m and stay there. Nope, no distance scale anywhere! For chrissakes, even my LX3 has a distance scale! I thought of putting a mark on the focussing ring. Nope, the ring has no infinity stop, it just keeps turning and turning! I got to a stage where I'd look for an object at roughly 3m away, focus on that and leave it there. Nope, the lens would reset itself after a few shots! Unbelievable 😕
I thought of mounting a proper old lens on, but I shoot wide and with the crop factor... forgedabaddit. So I was stuck with p&s grade autofocus, missing shot after shot. I mean, people move, I dont shoot flowers and brick walls. And when it got a bit dark? AF would go gzt-bzt-bzzzzzzzzzzzt
AAAAAAARGHHHHH
😀

The other thing I hated was the noisy shutter. I mean its a small shutter, about 1/4 the area of a real camera shutter, why does it have to be so loud? Cheap construction/materials was the only thing I can think of.

And to top it all off, although ISO400 was good and 800 acceptable, ISO200 was full of noise 😕
I thought I might have a faulty sensor or something, but I emailed a couple of files back to Oly and they said they looked normal to them. No worries.

Anyway I absolutely love my film Oly's, I appreciate the effort and the options they gave people with m4:3, but... not for me, thanks. Happy I didnt pay for it 🙂
 
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The reviews will only tell you so much about a camera, and sometimes I wonder what the "reviewers" are smokin or drinkin. Way back when, I wanted a Nikon F100 badly because all the reviews said it was the best thing since sliced bread. I mean everyone loved it. When I finally got one I screwed a lens on it and fired the shutter. Klank! Took the lens off, shot some photos of it, and listed it on the auction site 20 minutes later. Went back to my old N8008s which looked, and sounded, like the camera I really wanted. So you never know sometimes until you buy it.
 
There are a couple of things you can do that will help you work around the limitations of the camera:

In the Cog | AF/MF menu
Set AF mode to S-AF+MF then use <AEl/AFL> to pre focus.
Set Reset Lens to OFF

This will allow you to prefocus the lens and have it stay where you last focused it even when the camera is turned off.
It will also fire as close to instantaneous as it can now.

If you want to see how a camera user interface should be done, with full manual controls , have a look at the Ricoh GRD-III.

Donald.
 
The Oly interface sucks, the Sony sucks worse.

Panasonic is best of the breed, but could always be better.

Apple needs to buy a camera company and design a proper interface...
 
If Apple would introduce a camera:

a) you couldn't install a new battery
b) it would use a memory card that you can only buy from Apple store
c) it would use some stupid proprietary Apple computers-only image format
d) you could download your photos only with an Apple computer
etc.
 
A lot of the negative stuff being said about the camera in this thread is simply the owners fault for not knowing how to set it up... Just so you guys know.

I find the e-p1 interface pretty damn good for a P&S.

Then again, heaps of people rave about nikons menu systems - I have never seen anything so unorganized and retarded in my life.
 
Mablo said:
If Apple would introduce a camera:

a) you couldn't install a new battery
b) it would use a memory card that you can only buy from Apple store
c) it would use some stupid proprietary Apple computers-only image format
d) you could download your photos only with an Apple computer
etc.
Click to expand...

I have a MacBook:

a) I can install a new battery
b) I can use any CD-ROM or DVD-ROM I like
c) Apple has a long standing support for TIFF, (to be viewed from Finder directly) and Apple supports DNG (not like other manfacturers, that incorporate their own stupid proprietary image format in thier cameras)
d) Apple computers are better anyway, so what's the problem? 😛

Guess Apple might be able to build a camera that allows for simple setup, so that 'owners fault for not knowing how to set it up' does not have to occur. At all.
 
Maybe an M adaptor is the way forward? My brother has used one on a GF-1, the crop factor obviously makes the lenses quite long, but if you set it to Program, then you've basically got aperture priority with a real aperture and focus ring. Alternatively, maybe look at R-D1 if you're still after digital.

I do agree with you 100% though, it's amazing the mistakes the manufacturers make when designing these things. But I guess they would rather a sleek design which looks good in the shop than a usable design which looks complicated to the man in the street.
 
I was on a wait list to get the EP-1, and couldnt wait for it to arrive. After I played with it for a couple weeks, I returned it as well. The size of the unit and the M mount capability were the draws, but realized there were too many other negatives for me to keep it. I'm pretty happy with the RD-1s I have now, its the best choice out there for me right now.
 
Mablo said:
If Apple would introduce a camera:

a) you couldn't install a new battery
b) it would use a memory card that you can only buy from Apple store
c) it would use some stupid proprietary Apple computers-only image format
d) you could download your photos only with an Apple computer
etc.
Click to expand...

a) true
b) i think it'll have fixed memory
c) false (would be stupid)
d) I think you'll need iTunes to do that 😛

This topic got me thinking about the Oly.. didn't know it was that bad.. Dpreview has some pretty extensive reviews though. And they even show screenshots/ani gifs of almost every menu..

I think i'll wait some generations of micro4/3 before buying one, i have the feeling panasonic will be making the perfect one for me in a couple of years..
 
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