A Question of Buttons

[Black Pearl]

You went out and tried your DSLR before you bought it.
You decided it was the one for you.
You've owned it xxx amount of time.
You still love it.

But

There must be something you want/don't want.

1. What button would you like it to have?
2. What button do you think should be moved/removed?

[Black Pearl]

Mine.

1. I had a D200 previously which had a dedicated Exposure Bracketing Button - used it regularly for HDR work. It is missing from the D300s so I've had to program the Function Button to do the same meaning the extra button the D200 didn't have is rendered pointless.
2. I kind of prefer the Metering Mode dial to be on the prism like the D2/3 series cameras instead of on the back. It's a minor thing but a cosmetic one I hanker for.

[rpcrowe]

First off the bat.... I once owned a 350D which had its mode button on the back of the camera right next to the LCD screen. Since the 350D was such a small camera, my right thumb rested over the mode button when I was shooting. I would frequently unknowingly trip the mode button and change the shooting mode from single shot to timer. This drove me crazy!

I basically like the button layout of my 7D but, I could easily give up the JPEG + RAW button since I always shoot RAW and never have a need to shoot JPEG. I would trade this in for a dedicated auto exposure bracketing button.

[herbert]

I have a Canon 7D.

Like Richard I have never used the raw+jpeg button. This function can be accessed in a few clicks via the quick menu anyway. This is also the much maligned direct print button when in playback mode. I have never thought about plugging my camera direct into a printer so this could be changed.

I also have never used the picture style button. I can get to the same functionality with only one more button click using the quick menu. Changing this to something else would be good. jpeg shooters may not be so happy though since this is their raw workflow button. The canned profiles for landscape and portrait are very nice and they may like to change between them easily.

At current on the camera it takes several clicks to engage mirror lockup: menu (opens at my menu screen) > scroll to mirror lockup > set > enable/disable. A single on/off toggle button for this would be nice. However I can see why Canon have not added it: it would be very annoying if you accidentally pressed it while critical shooting was in progress blacking out the viewfinder as the mirror locks up. Therefore if they did have one I would expect an additional menu option to turn the mirror lockup button off.

I actually like the idea of the rate button on the 5D mark 3. When I am out shooting I may take hundreds of photos. However I do look at the screen to review images and it would be nice to tag a few with a rating. I could then preferentially download those photos when I got back home. This would require support from the software vendors but I like the idea of quickly downloading my 2 star or above photos to view on the big screen, or downloading the photos in descending rating order. So I can quickly see the best images that come off the card first while the rest of the unrated ones download in the background.

Summary:

Remove raw+jpeg
Add a Rate button

Alex

[TobyMac]

Hehe my post would be identical to Richards, the layout of the 350D drove me crazy. And for some reason I always use to change the mode to timer just when the perfect shot moved into frame.
I also agree on the change you would make to the 7D, a very useless button indeed.

[ktuli]

At current on the camera it takes several clicks to engage mirror lockup: menu (opens at my menu screen) > scroll to mirror lockup > set > enable/disable. A single on/off toggle button for this would be nice. However I can see why Canon have not added it: it would be very annoying if you accidentally pressed it while critical shooting was in progress blacking out the viewfinder as the mirror locks up. Therefore if they did have one I would expect an additional menu option to turn the mirror lockup button off.

Alex,

The 7D has 3 user customizable modes. I just set one of mine to be the same as M, but with mirror lock-up. So if I start doing mirror lock-up work, all it takes is a slight twist of the mode dial.

- Bill

[Donald]

Canon 40D user - I very, very, very rarely ever go to the DoF preview button and don't really find it a great help when I do. Do others use it?

[ktuli]

Canon 40D user - I very, very, very rarely ever go to the DoF preview button and don't really find it a great help when I do. Do others use it?

I've used it rarely, but these days with Live View with the exposure emulation, it makes using the DoF button and its ridiculously dark results pretty well useless.

- Bill

[herbert]

Alex,

The 7D has 3 user customizable modes. I just set one of mine to be the same as M, but with mirror lock-up. So if I start doing mirror lock-up work, all it takes is a slight twist of the mode dial.

- Bill

Neat workaround. Thanks Bill. A dedicated button for mirror lockup is probably overkill anyway. It is used in conjunction with a tripod so it's not like you are in a rush and will be switching all the time.

Alex

[tclune]

1. What button would you like it to have?
2. What button do you think should be moved/removed?

I have a Nikon D5000. For the most part, I am satisfied with the camera once I set it up the way I wanted to use it. But there are two things that bother me about it: First, there is no single button that allows me to cycle through the metering modes, so I have to use the menu for that. And second, I can't lock the focal point to be the middle spot. That is the only one I normally use, and it is disconcerting how easy it is to bump the toggle to move the focal point, and how hard it is to move the damned thing back to the center point.

[rpcrowe]

We are not talking specifically about the User Selected Modes and they aren't accessed via a button. But they are really one of my favorite parameters of the 7D the mode dial is just as easy to change as a button.

I always have User Selected Mode #1 set up for action shots. I have Mode #2 set up for auto exposure bracketing I leave #3 for my anticipated needs such as mirror lock up. That along with how I have the camera set up without accessing the User Selected Modes gives me four shooting setups that I can access with a twist of the dial.

The User Selected Modes are one of the most handy features of the 7D and the 40D. Too bad Canon reduced them to two modes on the 50D and only one mode on the 60D.

A rating button would be great - it could save some editing time. However, I would really like a button that would initiate a voice recording snippet which could be linked to the image. That would be great for recording information about the shots...

I totally agree with the direct print button I have never talked to anyone using a DSLR who prints directly from the camera but I know several P&S shooters who print that way.

[marstar]

Its most likely just me, but I would actually prefer some colored buttons on the back of Nikons, or at least back lit like the D4.
For example, a green back lit play button, a silver key (lock) button, a red trash button....and seriously come on.. who wouldnt want a Nikon gold "OK" button!

[Donald]

We are not talking specifically about the User Selected Modes and they aren't accessed via a button. But they are really one of my favorite parameters

I couldn't agree more. And if we want additions, could we have a couple more please.

I very, very rarely use anything other than C1, C2 or C3 on the mode dial. Like Richard, I have the three of them set up for the way I shoot. They are all programmed for Manual shooting, but one has got the mirror lock and 2-second delay, one is for AI Servo and burst shooting and the other is just in one-shot.

[Glenn NK]

Canon 40D user - I very, very, very rarely ever go to the DoF preview button and don't really find it a great help when I do. Do others use it?

I use it frequently when doing closeups/macros of flowers. It helps in judging what images to take when doing focus stacking.

And it's nice to know what the background will look like before the image is on the computer screen - I try to get the BG into soft focus so it's not distracting.

Now if they'd just put the button where it wasn't so awkward to get at. If it was on the back of the body, it would suit me fine.

Glenn