XTi ergonomics

I have had an XTi for about eight months. I have used it for sports,

landscapes. people, and have done pictures for exhibition. My PN gallery has a

few of the pictures I have taken along with some scanned MF pictures. I had a

photo business for about 7 years wherein I used several different camera

bodies. For pure utility, simplicity and ease and uncomplicated use I really

liked the EOS 1n and am sorry I traded it. The XTi has produced some wonderful

sharp enlargements, up to 18x24. I don't really have a hang up about the 1.6

crop or 10MP. However, the little push button controls on the back of the

camera, by virtue of their position, have cost me some pictures. For instance

at a recent swim meet I picked up the camera and inadvertently hit the ISO

button and underexposed a few pictures before I caught my error. Try shooting

off a tripod at night with a flashlight. There is no intuitive way to

distinguish the buttons on the back of the camera to change white balance, to

activate the remote control, change AF etc. Changing the aperture size

requires finger acrobatics. Try to find the right button in the dark or in

daylight for that matter. The high position on the back of the camera is not

at all intuitive to set the aperture. After eight months I still keep trying

to push the button underneath it. I solved the small grip size by adding the

battery pack. It solved the problem of having no place for my right hand

little finger to grip the body and I have small hands. The view finder is

small but I can live with that. There is no P cord plug as on my D60. I can

find the White balance button but I have also inadvertently pushed it causing

ACR corrections. The basic ergonomic problem is that these little button that

I am talking about are located on the part of the camera where I grip it. This

grip is the result of forty years of holding cameras and is difficult to

change. It is counter intuitive. Haviing worked some in aviation ergonomics

the inability of pilots to change habits has cost lives. This inability is

called negative transfer. It takes considerable training and reformation of

habits to change transferred habits. It won't kill me with my camera but it

has cost me more than a few pictures. The little buttons on my EOS 1n were

under a little door on the side of the body and it had one little button that

set the entire camera to default which I found very useful. These buttons could

not be pushed in handling the body. I do not think improving the ergonomic of

the XTi in the next model is costly. It requiree thought, better beta testing,

and some people involved who have haditually used different cameras for long

periods of time. Am I alone or have others had problems with these miniscule

buttons that I think are in the wrong place?

With the picture quality coming from today's crop of dSLR bodies, ergonomics might actually be one of the single-most important distinguishing features, and if you're not happy with a camera, I'd advise you go to a camera shop, try and feel all the ones they have until you find one that really agrees with you. Or you could try really hard teaching yourself to find all the buttons on your current camera blindfolded. It might be a lot of exercise, but if you miss pictures because of it, that's exercise that might be worth it.

Dick, Canon's answer to your request for XTi ergonomic improvements is spelled "40d".

 

I had a 350d / Rebel XT for a while, but the poor camera handling and ergonomics quickly sent me to a 20d. If you can live with the 6 oz weight penalty of the 20d/30d/40d body (and can afford the price difference), there's no reason to even consider the entry-level machine.

I agree that the cameras' handling play a big part in photography and that Canon's entry-level <abbr title="digital single-lens reflex cameras">dSLRs</abbr> are an ergonomic nightmare. I guess this is done deliberatedly to get people to buy the more expensive bodies. I definitively do not recommend them despite their great imaging qualities. As Hakon said, try out the various cameras in real life next time, and you avoid mistakes like this.

Yeah, when I bought the XTi I had a budget of about 2500 and elected to buy another L lens and spend less on the body and put up with the inconvenience of the less expensive XTi. However, after fairly extended use I found it to be more inconvenient than I had imagined. Ain't no such thing as a free lunch. However, having done some work in the ergonomics field in aviation I know that the problems with the XTi can be corrected with good engineering without a lot of cost in the next model and that it was a pretty poor design job. I will eventually get another body and keep the XTi. I will also adapt to the XTi having checked out in twenty diverse military and civilian airplanes, I think I can probably master it. My point also is that it should not be this hard to adapt. I just picked the camera and my thumb falls right on the ISO button. Engineers like order and generally, at least in aviation, do not like to break that hierarchical order by considering the shape of a thumb. It seems obvious to me that the button should be someplace else as mine is a pretty average thumb. When a design is on paper it's easy to change it. When it's in hardware it's impossible.

My first "real" camera was the XTi. I actually found the camera easy to use mainly because I didn't have anything to compare against it. After a little learning curve, I remembered which each of the buttons did and rarely needed to lift my eye off the view finder. I have a 40D now, and taking a little while to get used to the buttons being on top.

 

I'm pretty sure the XTi is geared towards amateur/brand-new photographers who had no prior experience. This is just a simple case of the wrong tool for the job. Maybe consider getting a 30D?

I used an XT for several years, and I found the operation to be quite easy and intuitive once I

learned the interface well. And I'm not one to just put the camera in auto mode and fire - I

frequently changed ISO, shot in manual mode, and used MLU, to name a few.

The problem I have with going to the 30D is that the XTi is technically better. As I said, I get excellent pictures from the camera which I process PS CS3 and print myself. I would not spend money for a slight technical downgrade. The point I was trying to make was that the next version could be a lot better if the ergonomics were better. I had my own photo business and I worked for a newsppaper. I have owned more than eight different Canon bodies over the past twenty years. The XTi is an ergonomic abberration but it is an effective camera, in fact quite remarkable for a seven hundred dollar camera. Good pictures can be taken by any number of different cameras. I did a lot of work, weddings, portraits, with medium format equipment that was virtually all manual. Some scanned examples in my PN gallery. Not one of those cameras had extraneous buttons in the area where I gripped the camera with my thumb and that, on all other Canon bodies I have owned is solely used as a rest for the thumb. My post was not about my adapting to the XTi but about what I consider a significant ergonomic design flaw in a camera that I use everyday and which I manage to take quite good, exhibition quality pictures with. I think my experience is worth noting for those who are considering purchasing the camera.

I don't have any issue with XTi layout, it's pretty easy to operate.

I've used the XT and while I agree Canon could make it a lot better, I think this applies to Canon ergonomics more generally and not just the XTi. (Sometimes I think the printer division designs their cameras!) I actually prefer the camera controls on the back than on the top as this sems more natural to move back and forth from a shooting position.

 

The main thing I would want is a better viewfinder (the XT would have to be worst in its class) and FEC to be accessible via a button rather than menu. Oh and I should mention the non-customisable direct print button. Assigning a button to such as useless feature causes me a daily gripe.

Ergonomics are different for everybody. Just like not all chairs will fit your body just right, not all cameras will fit you. You need to find the right camera for you. Maybe they should make the body expandable so it can be a good fit for everyone.

 

As it is I like where the buttons fall on the Xti. The way I hold a camera puts my thumb in just the correct place. But obviously it doesn't fit you.

Dick,

 

"...but about what I consider a significant ergonomic design flaw in a camera..."

 

How many pro NFL linebackers do you see driving a Mazda Miata?

 

I see many more women with smaller hands prefer the XTi. It fits nicely in their hands and the buttons don't get in the way. The XTi even has a little thumb rest!

 

I actually find it much faster for me to use those buttons in the back than the buttons on top of my 40D. Changing ISOs on the fly was a lot quicker on my XTi than the 40D.

 

Why not replace the XTi for something like a 30D or 40D?

William. Upon further thought, the basic problem I have with the body is with heavy lenses. Have a couple that weigh three pounds. When I bought the camera I could not manage my 100-400 L without the battery grip. I thought I had solved the problem when I installed it. However, I have not shot sports in a while which requires me to handhold a three pound 70-200L to follow and capture the action. This requires me to apply pressure with the base of my thumb on the back of the camera to hold the camera steady. As I said my hand size is quite average. The base of my thumb spreads out over the AF and ISO buttons. This will happen with almost any male having an average hand with a heavy lens. As I said earlier, at some point in time I will replace the camera but as it produces highly satisfactory pictures, look at my PN gallery, I am in no hurry. I will work around it. I have used three Bronica bodies, and well over eight Canon bodies without encountering this problem and if you will look in the evaluation of the XTi on PN you will see similar complaints. IMO a camera body should be useful to all those who purchase it. And having worked for several years in research, engineering and development I know that these problems are easy to work out in the design stage. In the meantime I will successfully use the XTi being very careful not the let the base of my thumb slip over the damn buttons. It is an irritant but like all bodies there is always something that irritates you. I have a D60 which was slow in processing and that irritated me but I managed to win several show awards with the pictures I took with it. My Bronicas were all manual including flash. The Speed grip provided the most intuitive purchase on a grip that I have found on a camera and I managed to do a manual wind with each frame I shot with that grip. I did a great many weddings with it along with Canon for candids. My only point is that I think the XTi can be improved in its next life and to caution those who use heavy lenses on the camera

to use care with the buttons. I appreciate your anecdotal expertise and the fact that you like the buttons. Knowing something about ergonomics I believe there is a better way to do it. In engineering terms is that the position of the buttons causes an "interference" with another function. Eliminating interferences is a major design consideration. Every design is a compromise. This particular compromise had an effect on my use and it has, as I have read, with others.

I guess everybody is different, my biggest gripe is the small viewfinder that prevents manual focussing. I don't have a lot of problems with the controls, but they are certainly not intuitive and there are obvious improvements that can be made. I'm sure that Canon purposely fiddle with the ergonomics and quality of their products to differentiate prices of various models. Otherwise why not spend another $5 and make the 50mm 1.8 a more robust and easier to use lens?

Even with the 75-300mm lens attached to the xti body,i always make sure that my left hand is always gripping the lens body all the time as it is the heaviest part and the battery grip provides a larger area for gripping the body without accidentally touching those button settings.The extra power is great.Whenever one puts down the camera,make sure that the telelens are supported too!Being lens heavy,the xti will slope forward and only a small part of the lens is on the surface which i don't like at all..sort of too much weight,small surface area..so make sure you place something to support the barrel...like an old rolled up sock like i bring along just for that!

I guess I'm the exception. Besides the viewfinder, I've never really felt all that much frustration with the size and ergonomics of the 350/400d series cameras. The viewfinder is terrible for manual focusing, but since I use a film camera for most things where I focus manually, I've never really had a huge problem. And for some reason manual focusing in macro doesn't bother me nearly as much on the XT/XTi than normal manual focus.