Location of M8 frame counter

[AusDLK]

I dunno if in all the rants and raves about the M8 here on the RFf if this has been mentioned...

But is anyone else a bit perplexed and maybe even disappointed that the LCD frame counter/battery indicator isn't where the traditional film frame counter is?

Wouldn't that have made sense?

Wouldn't it have been preferred?

Make it more M-like?

Leave more room for fancy future special editions with engraving on the top plate?

Okay, not a show stopper for me but still I wonder why...

 

[rxmd]

I would have preferred it if there was an ISO selector somewhere apart from the menu.

Maybe they have that function somewhere (press one of the buttons and scroll the wheel, the ISOs could be displayed in the viewfinder)

Philipp

 

[jaapv]

I dunno if in all the rants and raves about the M8 here on the RFf if this has been mentioned...

But is anyone else a bit perplexed and maybe even disappointed that the LCD frame counter/battery indicator isn't where the traditional film frame counter is?

Wouldn't that have made sense?

Wouldn't it have been preferred?

Make it more M-like?

Leave more room for fancy future special editions with engraving on the top plate?

Okay, not a show stopper for me but still I wonder why...

Not really, had it been on the R hand side that part would have been rather overcrowded by controls etc, leaving the Lhand side rather bare. I'm totally happy with this solution.

 

[kbg32]

Doesn't really matter to me.

 

[EllitoGuy]

iso in the viewfinder is such a simple thing to implement, and so necessary... i really dont know why camera manufacturers always 'forget' to put it in... its like they dont realize the camera will be used by photographers... and in the digital age, a dedicated iso button is pretty much a requirement in my opinion..

 

[J. Borger]

iso in the viewfinder is such a simple thing to implement, and so necessary... i really dont know why camera manufacturers always 'forget' to put it in... and in the digital age, a dedicated iso button is pretty much a requirement in my opinion..

I agree 100% .... i find this the major design flaw .... more important than an exposure compensation button for me .....

Or perhaps the high Iso performance and internal meter are so briljant we do not need quick acces buttons 😀

 

[jaapv]

Although - in my experience, and this comes from using the Digilux2 which has an *interesting* high-Iso performance, I tend to shoot at ISO 100 for as long as I possibly can, even risking some camera-shake from time to time. So I do not change ISO all that often, as a habit, so it is not much of an issue. Having said that, of course, on the Digilux2 one can change ISO without removing the camera from the eye.

 

[Mark Norton]

I think you'll find putting additional information in the viewfinder display is far from straightforward. The LEDs have to be in the same plane of focus as the viewfinder masks and that entire LED display is something line 2.5 * 1.2 mm - minute. Space is really tight as well, so adding extra information would have been very difficult.

I'm happy with the frame counter where it is, but I would have preferred it to be larger. It would probably then have interfered with the viewfinder making the camera taller.

 

[rxmd]

Mark,

there is a four-digit LED display in the M8 viewfinder already. No problem using that for changing ISO. A lot of cameras do that.

Philipp

 

[Matthew]

I don't want ISO in the viewfinder--one of the things I like about the M-system is the lack of information in my field of view. That said, I would like to be able to check it at a glance without having to dive into any menus. Changing it via a menu and not a dial doesn't seriously impead me, I would just like to incorporate it into the frame counter/battery display. Perhaps you could hold down a button and the ISO would be displayed instead of frames remaining on the SD card. I don't know if there's room to display four digits at the current size of the display.

 

[rxmd]

I don't want ISO in the viewfinder--one of the things I like about the M-system is the lack of information in my field of view.

But you have lots of information in your FOV already: a rangefinder patch, a cluttery pair of framelines, shutter speed, and exposure information. Just about any 70s SLR is cleaner than this.

My idea was about pressing a button, then the ISO gets displayed in the viewfinder for changing with the wheel, in the already-present shutter speed display, then after five seconds or after pressing the button again it disappears. How about that?

 

[Matthew]

But you have lots of information in your FOV already: a rangefinder patch, a cluttery pair of framelines, shutter speed, and exposure information. Just about any 70s SLR is cleaner than this.

My idea was about pressing a button, then the ISO gets displayed in the viewfinder for changing with the wheel, in the already-present shutter speed display, then after five seconds or after pressing the button again it disappears. How about that?

I guess I have to be more precise: I don't want anything else in the viewfinder that isn't there already. Although your idea of pressing a button and it coming up for a few seconds would be fine. You could probably do the same thing with exposure compensation.

 

[jaapv]

But you have lots of information in your FOV already: a rangefinder patch, a cluttery pair of framelines, shutter speed, and exposure information. Just about any 70s SLR is cleaner than this.

My idea was about pressing a button, then the ISO gets displayed in the viewfinder for changing with the wheel, in the already-present shutter speed display, then after five seconds or after pressing the button again it disappears. How about that?

Firmware update? It could be done...