 |
Photo courtesy of Digital Photography ReviewTrouble ahead for that combined joystick/rear dial module on the EOS R7 |
There has been much excitement about the announcement this week of two new Canon RF mount crop sensor bodies, the R7 and R10. The interest in these cameras is hardly surprising in a year which has seen the fewest new product releases in over a decade. The photo and imaging press are getting just a teensy bit desperate for something about which they can write and vlog.
So the R7 and R10 are like manna from product heaven.
This is the camera ergonomics blog in which I try to offer constructive comment about features of various cameras which I think are ergonomically desirable or undesirable.
Disclosure: I have not yet had my hands on either of these cameras. However I have spent many years studying how cameras work and I also have considerable familiarity with various Canon EOS control layouts, having owned and used many of them over a 30 year period.
Sometimes the innovators in the product development team get it right and sometimes they get it wrong. Canon’s teams mostly get things right which is a big factor in Canon’s long standing market dominance.
An example of getting it wrong is the strange [M-Fn] bar on the back of the EOS R. When I had the R I had to disable this odd thing, finding no use for it. The innovators on the team messed up. They failed to properly road test this new control module before production.
Moving crop sensors into the RF mount is absolutely the right thing to do. I have no doubt that the EF-M system will quietly fade away as more RF-S lenses are added to the RF crop sensor catalogue.
Looking at the product photos It appears to me that they got the R10 just right. The size is only just barely larger than the M 50, the handle and overall layout are ergonomically just right and the controls are thoughtfully positioned and designed. Bravo Canon.
Now look at the R7. OOOPS !!!
They let those innovators out of the cage again and they have messed up the controls again.
The item in contention is the combined/co-axial Joystick/rear dial module.
There are a few basic principles of ergonomics which all control modules on cameras need to follow.
1. The module must be located where the finger(s) want to find it having regard to the functional anatomy of the fingers and hands.
2. There should be no problem operating any module without inadvertently nudging another one.
3. The tactile experience of operating the module (haptics) should provide clear feedback to the user as to when the module is activated.
In general control modules are best positioned separately. I have used many cameras on which the designers sought to co-locate controls. In every case this resulted in failure to follow each of the three principles above.
It appears to me the R7 is just fine ergonomically with the exception of that joystick/dial module.
1. The Joystick is slightly higher up the back of the camera than optimal. Check out the R5/R6 which have the joystick in the right place. I know this from making thousands of pix with the R5. But the joystick on the R7 has to be raised a bit to accommodate the rear dial. Small changes in the location of items can have great ergonomic significance.
2. Already in first-looks reviews, even ones sponsored by Canon USA with a frolic to Florida, we are seeing reports of users inadvertently nudging the rear dial and therefore setting some unwanted amount of exposure compensation while operating the joystick.
3. The haptics are confusing. The joystick is correctly shaped but the thumb on the joystick will often also touch the rim of the control dial, thereby sending two different tactile signals to the user.
So the joystick/rear dial module on the R7 fails on all three ergonomic counts.
It’s a messup but I think there could be a workable fix which Canon could implement in production.
One thing they could do without having to change the body structure is raise the height of the joystick (not the height up the back of the camera, the profile height, so it protrudes more) by a guesstimated 3mm so the thumb working the joystick will not be likely to touch the rim of the dial.
That would not be ideal but I think could rescue the situation ergonomically.
Oh ……and Canon………In the next model….please….revert to the tried-and-effective layout as seen on the R5/6/10, with the joystick all alone and the rear dial back on top of the body, with or without an On/stills/video lever protruding to the right from beneath the rear dial.
Photo courtesy of Digital Photography Review