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<blockquote data-quote="Browncoat" data-source="post: 337629" data-attributes="member: 1061">Those are some great observations, Mark. I definitely agree that ergonomics are an issue with any camera. You couldn't give me a Canon DSLR because I just think it feels weird in my hands.Here's what I see is the biggest problem with camera design: familiarity. Forget for a moment that the camera had ever been invented. How would today's engineer design a completely brand-spanking-new photography device? As you put it, &quot;do an Apple.&quot; I guarantee that if we asked this question of design students, very few of them would come up with a traditional looking camera body. There are far too many buttons, knobs, and whizzbangs on digital camera bodies in the age of touch screen devices. Our cell phones have 100x the functions of a digital camera, and most of them only have 1-4 buttons on them. How much do we really need right at our fingertips? I think the further away we get from the days of film, the more modern camera bodies will become. The entire silhouette of a DSLR is for the sake of familiarity. It has very little to do with the function of the camera.Mirrorless design is suffering the same fate. They're trying too hard to imitate the controls and feel of a DSLR instead of trying to innovate with new design. That's probably a good thing overall. The market probably isn't ready for a radically different camera body yet.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Browncoat, post: 337629, member: 1061"] Those are some great observations, Mark. I definitely agree that ergonomics are an issue with any camera. You couldn't give me a Canon DSLR because I just think it feels weird in my hands. Here's what I see is the biggest problem with camera design: familiarity. Forget for a moment that the camera had ever been invented. How would today's engineer design a completely brand-spanking-new photography device? As you put it, "do an Apple." I guarantee that if we asked this question of design students, very few of them would come up with a traditional looking camera body. There are far too many buttons, knobs, and whizzbangs on digital camera bodies in the age of touch screen devices. Our cell phones have 100x the functions of a digital camera, and most of them only have 1-4 buttons on them. How much do we [I]really[/I] need right at our fingertips? I think the further away we get from the days of film, the more modern camera bodies will become. The entire silhouette of a DSLR is for the sake of familiarity. It has very little to do with the function of the camera. Mirrorless design is suffering the same fate. They're trying too hard to imitate the controls and feel of a DSLR instead of trying to innovate with new design. That's probably a good thing overall. The market probably isn't ready for a radically different camera body yet. [/QUOTE]

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