The importance of comfort, handling and ergonomics are sometimes overlooked when we are considering the purchase of a new camera body. Some of us often put much more emphasis on sensor size, pixel density, frame rates, buffer depth, and dynamic range.
NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.
As photographers each of us has our own priorities and specific needs when it comes to the camera gear that we use.
Depending on the end use of the images that we create, it may be critical that we create large files that have wide dynamic range and colour depth.
This can be important if we plan to produce huge enlargements of our work.
We all face the practical realities of our craft. And, when having to meet the needs of paying clients, we need to ensure that our camera gear will produce work that meets their expectations.
Pride of ownership can enter into our camera purchase decisions. There can be a sense of accomplishment when we own the newest, top-of-the-line camera body that has been released by a particular manufacturer.
Some of us enjoy discussing camera specifications with our friends and associates… and debating the relative merits of each.
We can find enjoyment in examining fine details and discovering small differences between the files produced by various camera equipment.
Sometimes differences of opinion about camera gear, found in online chatroom debates, can become aggressive.
Hours can be spent defending one’s position on the merits of a specific camera format, manufacturer, or particular product.
Of course, how we invest our time is also a matter of choice. We can find it intellectually stimulating to debate specifications and technologies. From that perspective our time may be well spent.
It is a legitimate question to ponder why anyone should care about comfort, handling and ergonomics. Especially when we consider that billions of images are captured every year with cellphones.
The sheer photographic volume generated by cellphones absolutely dwarfs that of dedicated camera equipment. So, it’s clear that the vast majority of folks have no need for a dedicated camera with interchangeable lenses.
Some of us prefer the use of a dedicated camera system. The importance of comfort, handling and ergonomics are directly linked to the number of continuous hours that we spend out in the field actively using our camera gear.
Or, the time spent on location doing work for paying clients who expect our best each and every time that we are hired by them.
Time does not speed by when we spend eight to ten hours a day with camera gear in our hands doing work for our clients. It can be very physically demanding.
Under these conditions using camera gear that is not comfortable can be a painful experience. Combine the cumulative effects of numerous consecutive days onsite doing client work, and we can become exhausted.
The nature of the work we do may require us to respond to a continual stream of fast breaking photographic opportunities.
If our camera equipment does not provide the handling and ergonomic characteristics that our work demands we may miss fleeting opportunities that may never reappear.
It is difficult to put a value on a missed opportunity. And, it can be frustrating to realize we have missed images because we had to waste time fiddling with our camera equipment.
Photography can be a beautiful and rewarding experience when we have the right camera equipment for our needs and shooting style.
Camera gear can fall into disuse because it does not provide the comfort, handling and ergonomics we need. When that happens it can end up collecting dust in a closet, or lie dormant in a camera bag. At that point it is little more than dead money.
Technical Note
Photographs were captured using camera settings noted in the EXIF data. All images were created from RAW files using my standard process in post. This is the 1,425 article published on this website since its original inception in 2015.
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Tom, thank you for sharing your experience and thoughts, and for supporting this website. I enjoyed reading your latest article – it is nicely written and well-illustrated. While looking at the photos, I wondered what camera did you use for taking several of those at ISO 100 – 160?
By your definition of light use, I expect most owners of high-end cameras (full-frame or cropped sensor) are light users, myself included. I have had Sony A1 for about four years, however, this year I added OM-1 II and G9II cameras with several lenses of which my favorite are the 10-25mm f1.7, 40-150mm f2.8, 300mm f4, and the 90mm f3.5 macro. By using the three rather dissimilar bodies, I can tell how important are the physical details, the presence or absense and placement of the control buttons and dials. This experience has been quite enjoyable and educational. It also reminded me of the human capacity to adapt. Yes, I can write a critique of the wider body of G9II that resulted in a somewhat shallow grip, or about the lens release button which placement on the MFT bodies complicates lens changes. Ultimately, the differences in features are relatively unimportant for me, a light-user. Annoying, for sure, but not as important as the performance of the auto-focus. The latter trumps everything else to me. While AF can be relatively unimportant for landscapes and similar, the ability to focus on select points is critical for so much of wildlife, street, and people photography. As a light user, I think I can get used to any camera body, if the camera system (the computer chips inside, and the software that operates the system) helps me to obtain the photos I want, especially under the circumstances when there is only a split second available for taking the shots.
Hi Dmitri,
The images in this article were captured with a range of cameras that included a full frame D800, some Nikon 1 bodies (J5, V3 and V2), as well as the OM-D E-M1X and OM-D E-M1 Mark III. The lower ISO images would have been captured with either a D800 or a Nikon 1 body. I purposely did not include camera model in the EXIF data to help illustrate that depending on the use of an image (in this case an online website) the size of the sensor in the camera used makes little difference.
I’ve never seen any formal research on the amount of continual time that most photographers use their cameras. Over the past 20 years or so, I’ve seen very few people shoot constantly with their cameras for even a half hour. For most, it’s a couple of minutes at a time, with reasonable time gaps between uses. So, my subjective view is that most folks who use dedicated cameras would be in the ‘light’ use category. As such, the comfort, handling and ergonomics of their cameras would likely be far less important to them, when compared to a ‘heavy’ user (in terms of lengthy, constant shooting times).
Tom
The size of the sensor indeed is relatively unimportant in most cases, assuming that one has a selection of lenses that provide the needed exposure, FOV and DOF. For example, for street photography, my 40-150mm f2.8 lens gives me the DOF at 150mm similar to that of 75mm f1.4 and the resulting “feel” of a photo taken with a fast portrait FF lens. Naturally, I must shoot from a longer distance, but this is what I like when doing discrete street photography. Basically, the technical IQ depends more on the quality of lenses than on the sensor size.
Regarding photographers who shoot periodically for a short period of time, this makes perfect sense. There must be something worth picturing to press the shutter button. The higher are the artistic expectations of the photographer, the fewer might be the number of pictures taken. Understandably, those who do documentary photography have different objectives and motivations and must be heavy shooters with very particular demands for their camera systems. The number of documentary photographers must be relatively small, I believe.
Of course a camera that one can’t get comfortable with is a dust collector but I have found that if a photographer works long enough with a camera, accommodations can be made to get what one needs from the machine.
I just recently purchased a Sony RX100 M7 for travel purposes. There are many options available with the camera and many shortfalls also because of size. No camera meets all criteria.
Hi Lewsh,
Thanks for adding to the discussion. Whether a camera ends up collecting dust will depend on the needs of an individual photographer and the amount of time of continuous use of their camera. Many folks don’t spend that much continuous time using their cameras (e.g. less than 1 to 2 hours of continuous use) and the degree of discomfort they experience is only at a modest level.
Each of us would have our own interpretation of what constitutes ‘heavy’ use of a camera. From my perspective, capturing several hundred travel images throughout the course of a day would constitute ‘light’, or perhaps ‘moderate’ use.
I agree that there is no such thing as a perfect camera. Everything photographic comes with trade-offs of some kind. Our challenge is to find the camera that provides us with the most capability to meet our individual needs, while minimizing potential shortcomings like discomfort.
Tom
You’ve made an excellent point about time. Some folks have a camera hanging around their necks and rarely trip the shutter while other folks are actively pursuing what they feel are worthwhile photographs.
The camera’s physical weight is the same for both. But the ‘heavy’ use can be night and day.
It’s a very good point Thomas a camera has to ” feel right” in the hand and it’s use must eventually feel natural and comfortable, I have had a few various cameras over the years.
Some of the worst handling cameras for me are Sony RX100 series, they are to fiddly and actually frustrating to use – but the later versions actually give nice images from a very small sensor!
I also once owned the Sony RX1Rii a beast of a 45mp sensor with a beautiful fixed lens, let down by a terrible menu system and absolutely woeful battery – especially in the cold.
I do find the EM1-X surprisingly comfortable and not quite as heavy as I envisaged and buttons that really work in a firm tactile manner.
I have suffered from Peripheral Neuropathy for a number of years and there are days on a flare up that I cannot take out any camera.
I am also considering getting an Olympus RC 35mm film rangefinding camera very small and light and obviously 36 images from a roll? This is a beautiful handling camera very simple.
Thanks for another considered post
Regards
Mark
Hi Mark,
Thanks for sharing your experiences with various cameras. It is interesting how different cameras can be in terms of comfort, handling and ergonomics.
Tom