You only have to do it once.
not actually true... but never mind right now....
In all the more-recent Optios I used to sell, you
only had to set the Memory
options once and they'd stick. Whatever it was that
allowed the camera to
keep time when you changed the battery also held
those memory functions.
You have to remember, P&S cameras are not made to
appeal to advanced
photographers like us. They're made for
lowest-common-denominator
users, and as such have to be as simple and user
friendly as possible.
Alas, they are not in any way "simple and user
friendly"
A true point and shoot is a throw away camera
that has a fixed focal
length and speed and DOF....
True P&S? That's BS. What you describe is a
single-use P&S camera, a
bare-bones snapshot-producing piece of plastic.
Point-and-shoot cameras are
any cameras that are primarily fully automatic,
small, cheap, and lacking
interchangeable lenses. There is no rule that says
they have to be simple,
so anything from a single-use camera to a Leica CM
to your former W60 can
fall into this category.
The w60,for instance, comes with a book that has
over 100 pages! They
want you to read the whole
book first!
I don't think any manufacturer truly expects anyone
to actually read a
user's manual. This is why every camera you will
buy these days is set to
be usable right out of the box. This is also why
the cameras will reset to
these default settings when you shut them off. They
tell you to read the
manual so they don't get sued when someone tries to
cram a AA battery in the
SD slot.
I have several friends who thought they would like
digital for the
obvious reasons -- no film charges, ease
of getting prints, fits in your pocket, SIMPLE TO
USE.... the Z10 and
The W60 both have tons of confusing
choices aimed at us, actually - they want to put
it all in one.
For better or worse there has been a camera feature
arms race going on ever
since digital cameras became affordable, and this
arms race causes more
features to be crammed into smaller and smaller
packages. The nice thing,
though, is that:
You Don't Have To Understand All The Features To Use
The Camera!
Forget taking movies, who cares about digital zoom
settings or silly color
filters. Point and shoot and look at the photo
you've just taken. Nice and
easy, because the camera is set to automatic.
Pentax and other companies have to assume that
someone taking snapshots
is going to want the camera to perform exactly the
same way every time
they use it, so they make the camera reset itself
unless someone like
you tells it not to.
No one over 30, does, I guarantee..... these
cameras are designed for
people who grew up with computers
and like cutsey pie little icons... they may know
nothing about
lighting, timing, composing, but they do seem to
like to have lots of little buttons to push...
This is so not true. I used to sell cameras to
people from the local
retirement community as well as the local high
schools and everyone in
between. Every customer had their preferences, of
course, but there was no
indication that older customers had issues with
"cutsey pie little icons",
nor was there any indication that younger customers
knew nothing about the
skills you mentioned. Matter of fact, younger users
were more likely to
know photography than their parents and
grandparents, in my experience.
Pentax tried to make a camera especially to appeal
to EVERYONE... and
that is what is screwed up.
Perhaps you should try a camera from the Optio E
series. They're the
simplest cameras Pentax makes. They take AA
batteries, the power button is
miles from the shutter button, and it has the
SUPER-user-friendly "Green
Mode" button. Sounds like it would be right up your
alley, except it
doesn't have a viewfinder. I think you're SOL in
that regard.
The whole world of technology today is a disaster
in terms of user
friendliness - ironic at a time when
there are more and more baby boomers or old
folk....
The "old folk" demographic is not a major one for
tech manufacturers,
despite the perception of your age group being large
and influential. The
people buying stuff are much younger than you, thus
there is little
incentive for products to conform to your needs.
Your age group doesn't
have nearly as much influence as the 18-35
demographic. Besides, the Kodak
EasyShare system is already targeted at "old folks"
and technophobes, so
that niche is probably as filled as it's going to
get.
no one I know, regardless of age,
consider the Tv Controls of today are
better , for instance
*shrug* Idunno, I can always figure them out.
Trial-and error works for me,
but then I don't have cable anymore and only use my
TV for DVDs and the Wii.
See, this is why I tell everyone I know to buy
potentially-complicated
things in a specialty store. That way you AT LEAST
have a salesperson that
can teach you how to use the item when you buy it,
and help you out later
when you get stuck.
Also, it keeps good people in business. A few of my
former camera shop
coworkers just got laid off today from ANOTHER
camera store that's likely
closing soon, this time in San Francisco.
John
--
http://www.neovenator.com
http://www.cafepress.com/calemp
http://www.cafepress.com/neovenatorphoto
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