OwlsEyes wrote:I hope that you do not see my comment as disrespectful, as I do respect your opinion.
I take very few things personally, and I didn't take your post as disrespectful. I simply have a ton of actual, real world experience with a ton of digital camera brands and models, and have refined my opinions of them into a sharp sword by which very few cameras can survive being sliced apart.
Just as you apparently see top-dial cameras as gimmicks, I see them as having a useful place, especially for street photography. It's very handy to be able to set your exposure triangle before you ever turn the camera on. Some people, myself included, simply enjoy manipulating a camera in that way for certain styles of shooting.
I don't understand the comment about top dial cameras pretending to be something they aren't. They are a stylistic subset of modern cameras that derive their control scheme from film SLRs, nothing more. That said, every single control of a classic film SLR was physical. The closer any top dial digital camera can get to that standard, the better for that particular style of body and for the people that enjoy that method of interaction with the camera controls. Auto ISO is the easiest thing to harp on here, because it's an extremely basic setting for a modern digital camera, and to exclude it from a manual control when you're designing a top dial camera is head scratching at best and infuriating at worst. You don't have to shoot any particular brand to recognize this, and it's certainly not a "Scott-centric" issue. Every other camera I've had either has a dedicated ISO button or a dial with Auto ISO, and to sacrifice a Fn button on a camera with limited customizability is just silly.
I took umbrage with Fuji for removing the normal rear LCD on the X-Pro 3 as well...now, did a classic film SLR have a rear screen...no...but did Fuji needlessly make life harder for the X-Pro 3 users? Absolutely. The same applies with Nikon adding a flippy screen to what looks to be a unit emulating a stills-centric film SLR. Fuji was at least smart enough to put the 3 way tilt screen back on the X-T5 because they realized their blunder and that stills shooters don't want flippy screens. Nikon biffed it here. They lost MY potential purchase because of my two main issues with it, and I suspect others as well. Does it mean the camera is a failure? Nope. I just suspect what was already a niche product has less appeal now and will flood the second hand market in a short time when people get their hands on them.
I am curious to hear impressions from the film-lens-adapting folks when they get their Zf in hand. Once the FTZ is added, most lenses seem like they would become quite cumberson with the center of mass well away from the camera and the focus ring perhaps uncomfortably far from the body. I say this having adapted film lenses to my digitals for a long time, and it's a common struggle on bodies with far better grips.
I didn't even mention the absolute insanity of the inclusion of a UHS-I Micro-SD slot, but most people seem fine with it, which tells me all I need to know about the target market of this camera.
Sep 21, 2023 at 01:13 PM
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