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| Mockup #13 General View |
Bringing the elements together
I have been building mockups to develop and refine my ideas about camera ergonomics for the last five years.
Mockup #13 brings together many of these ideas in one place.
To the casual observer Mockup #13 might look like just another DSLR shaped camera. Some might notice the unusual backwards cant on the handle. However I have discovered that good ergonomics is made up of many details which must be configured so they come together as a coherent whole.
Mockup #13 is a proper camera This has all the features required by an expert user for full control over the image capture process. Specifically it has an EVF optimally positioned above the lens axis which is well to the left (as viewed by the user) to make space on the right side for a fully anatomical handle of inverted L shape canted back 10 degrees. There is a built in flash unit which can operate as a commander for off camera units. The monitor is fully articulated. The control layout is based on the modern [Mode Dial + twin Control Dials] system with two additional set and see dials for Focus Mode and Drive Mode. The AF box can be moved instantly with a JOG lever in the upper right corner of the monitor area. The function of all buttons is user assignable from a long list of options covering Setup, Prepare, Capture and Review Phase actions.
Novices and snapshooters can leave all UIMs (User Interface Modules, buttons, dials etc) at default and the Main Mode Dial on Auto for immediate use with fully automatic function.
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| Mockup #13 showing canted back handle |
The size of Mockup #13 has been carefully considered. It is large enough to be held and operated easily by an adult with large hands. But it is overall quite small being 120mm wide and 80mm high.
The effective depth is lens dependent.
The design of the handle and controls have been developed so it can be used easily by children and small adults.
The small size allows it to be easily carried in a compact shoulder bag.
It would be suitable for a MILC (Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera) with sensor from diagonal 11mm to 28mm in size. It would also be very suitable for a range of FZLCs (Fixed Zoom Lens Camera)with different sensor sizes in the range of 11-21mm diagonal.
It allows a full sized EVF and a full sized handle with a monitor large enough for framing and review but not so large it overwhelms the back of the camera.
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| Back of Mockup with labels |
Photo: Rear view with labels
A total width of 120mm provides sufficient room for an monitor large enough for its purpose and a control panel (the rear of the camera to the right of the monitor) 42mm wide. This provides enough space for a moderately prominent diagonal type thumb support with embedded rear dial and enough clear space between the rear dial and the JOG lever for an average to large thumb without it impinging on any UIM (User Interface Module).
This ratio of monitor to control panel is smaller than you will find on some recent cameras. In the early days of digital, monitors were much smaller. Over the years they expanded to the point they now completely dominate the back of some cameras to the exclusion of a workable control panel.
Mockup#13 restores a more ergonomic balance.
The shape of the rear part of the handle has evolved over the years to provide a very comfortable hold, diagonal thumb support, protection from unwanted activation of the 4Way pad and adjacent buttons and a rounded shape which fits the palm.
The monitor is of the optimal fully articulated type. Having used fixed, swing up/down and fully articulated monitors I can say with confidence that the fully articulated type is easily the most versatile in landscape and portrait orientation and also when carrying ( the monitor can be turned in for protection).
There are 5 buttonsand a 4Way pad of rocking saucer design with raised edges for easy location and operation by feel with the thumb. The 4Wy pad shown on the mockup is just to indicate position not the fine details of shape which are beyond my construction skills.
There are enough buttons for the job, without cluttering the operating environment with more than required. Each button (which is a phillips head screw on the mockup) is sufficiently prominent to locate and operate easily by touch, aided by the roughly textured surface which is easy to feel. The buttons are larger than you find on many cameras, ranging from 8mm to 6mm in diameter.
The function of each button is user assignable from a long list of options although there is a default function which would be inscribed on or adjacent to the button on a production model.
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| Rear of mockup in hand. The thumb can swing right onto the rear dial or left onto the JOG lever without disrupting grip. |
The JOG Lever deserves some explanation. Its main function is to provide immediate control over the position of the AF box in Capture Phase, by pushing the lever up/down, left/right. It could reset the AF box to center with a short push directly forward or activate a ‘change size of box’ function with a long push directly forward.
The thumb can move easily to the left to operate the JOG Lever without disrupting grip and without having to drop down to the 4Way Pad as is the case with many cameras these days.
It could also be used for scrolling around menus or images in Setup, Prepare and Review phases.
Every time I make a mockup around this size my thumb wants to find it exactly where it is shown in the photo, right on the corner of the monitor. So that is the optimal ergonomic location. The diameter of the top of the lever is 14mm which is also ergonomically optimal.
But I am not entirely sure about the technical feasibility of this design and position.
First the top right corner of the monitor housing has to be clipped. That might reduce the effective size of the preview/review image.
Second the size of the module is smaller than I have seen on some high spec DSLRs.
I have assumed that clever engineers can solve these technical problems. Camera designers usually have much more difficulty with conceptual than technical problems.
Left eye viewers may find the right thumb bumps their nose when operating the JOG lever. The solution to that should it be a problem is to make the monitor and the whole camera wider.
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| General view front right side |
The Rear Dial is easily operated by the thumb simply by swinging the thumb to the right, without having to bend the thumb and without disrupting the right hand grip. The dial has sufficient rearward projection and is of sufficiently toothy shape that the thumb can turn it readily. It will not turn accidentally if the detail design is optimal.
So the thumb can move easily to the left for the JOG Lever or Right for the rear Dial while maintaining grip with the right hand.
The EVF eyepiece is large and the rubber eyecup is soft, deep and rounded in shape to match the shape of the human eye socket in landscape or portrait orientation. Some cameras have a little round eyepiece cup which allows excess stray light entry. Some have a rectangular eyecup which suggests the designers need to get out and about a bit more to check how many humans have a rectangular eye socket. Lets see……………..that would be………..none………….
The lower right corner of the body is rounded so it sits comfortably into the junction between the ball of the thumb and the mid section of the palm. Many cameras have a rather sharp corner here. Do the designers not hold and operate their creations ??
Look at the height of the top plate to the right of the EVF/flash housing. That is as high as I could make it and still have the tops of the dials fall below the top of the flash housing.
Why ? To provide the maximum possible handle and shutter button height.
And why did I want that ? To provide a full five finger grip with the right hand for maximum comfort and stability.
You will note that DSLR designs in particular go for the ‘sloping shoulders’ look presumably to minimise the appearance of bulk. This is successful but at the cost of handle/shutter button height. On the smaller models the consequence of this is a smaller handle and weaker grip than could be provided within the overall dimensions of the device.
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| Top with labels |
Photo: Top View With labels:
The key item here is the location of the shutter button. It is set forward and the center is 32mm inboard from the right side of the handle. This is where my index finger wanted to find it. I shaped and reshaped the handle and entire top of the right side of the camera until that shutter button was in the right place for my index finger with all the other fingers arranged comfortably with no strain and the hand in the ‘half closed relaxed’ position. The shutter button is oval in shape to accommodate hands of different sizes. It sits up 4mm from the top of the camera and has a textured upper surface so it is always easy to locate and operate by feel.
Many modern cameras have the shutter button so smooth and so continuous with the surrounding skin of the body (presumably for reasons of styling) that it is un-necessarily difficult to locate by feel.
All the other UIMs (User Interface Modules) came in after the shutter button.
Next I positioned the Front Dial. This is behind the shutter button, at the same height and angled to match the natural line of the index finger. The center of the front dial is 12mm behind the center of the shutter button. This feels right to me although some users might believe they are too close.
Most cameras with a front dial behind the shutter button (typically Canon DSLRs) have excessive separation between the two which forces the index finger and third finger apart. This in turn makes reaching the buttons behind the control dial impossible without changing grip with the right hand.
In fact in the ‘half closed relaxed’ position those two fingers want to lie quite closely together, so that is what I allow them to do when designing my mockup handles.
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| Mockup #13 in hand top view. |
Buttons 1 and 2 are located to the right of the shutter button and Front Dial. I experimented with the actual position until it was just right, not too close, not too far.
They are set down below the height of the adjacent UIMs so they will not be bumped accidentally.
Yet they are easy to reach and operate simply by pulling back the index finger.
The Shutter Button, Front Dial and Buttons 1 and 2 together create the ‘Quad Control Set’. If the buttons are used for ISO Sensitivity and Exposure Compensation the camera can be driven from the Quad Control Set for most photos using just the right index finger.
There are three set and see dials on top of the camera. These are used for the most commonly required Mode settings in Prepare Phase of use, generally Main Capture Mode, Drive Mode and Focus Mode.
Note that set and see dials are used for adjustments in Prepare Phase when you can drop the camera down from the eye to see the dials. Set and see dials are not used for adjusting primary and secondary exposure parameters in Capture Phase when you are looking through the viewfinder and, obviously, cannot see the dials on top of the camera.
On the lens the zoom and focus rings are continuously serrated right around the circumference to allow the left hand and fingers to operate the rings in any of the 8 possible engagement positions of the left hand on the lens.
The EVF eyepiece projects back 16mm from the plane of the monitor so the operator can look straight ahead when viewing with either eye.
About the handle I have done a lot of work over several years on handle design. You see here the optimal ‘inverted L’ type the precise dimensions of which have been developed ‘in the wood’. Note there is minimal separation between the right index and third fingers. The width and projection of the handle have been arrived at after many trial versions. The third finger slips comfortably beneath the shutter button, which is located vertically above the left face (as viewed by the user) of the handle.
At least one camera maker (Canon) appears to have gotten the message about the inverted L handle, a rather nice implementation of which appears on the Powershot SX60. Its not perfect, the whole handle could easily be higher with advantage and the control dial needs to come forward about 5mm.
But still…. definitely a move in the right direction in the handle department. Other aspects of the SX60 ergonomics such as the 4 Way pad which is flush with the surrounds and therefore incapable of being located by feel, are to put it mildly, totally frustrating.
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| Holding at eye level both hands in comfortable position. Slight forward tilt of the right wrist. Right index and middle fingers close together laterally. Strong, comfortable relaxed hold on the camera ready for capture |
But wait, there’s more about the handle. That on Mockup #13 is canted back 10 degrees.
When a DSLR, MILC or FZLC with standard projecting or inverted L handle is held to the eye, the right wrist must be tilted forward. Camera users have been doing this for years without breaking anything so what’s the problem ?
Well, maybe not really a problem but there is a better way. A feature doesn’t have to be broken for a better design to be worth implementing.
One, possibly the only, advantage of the ‘top rear shutter button, mini handle’ style of layout seen on, for instance, Fuji X cameras and the Panasonic LX100 is that the right wrist does not have to tilt forward, or at least very little, when holding the camera to the eye.
So I figured to have the advantages of both control layout styles simply by using the inverted L and canting it back 10 degrees. It works. Perfectly.
The idea is not entirely new. You can see slightly canted back handles on current model Hasselblad cameras. However I have not previously seen a fully integrated version like that on Mockup #13.
All cameras above compact size should be using this handle design as demonstrated on Mockup#13.
Summary Mockup#13 brings together the fruits of several years work on camera ergonomics. It is my best mockup yet.
I hope you enjoy reading about it and thinking about the concepts which it embodies.
