Date: Mon, 8 Mar 1999 11:27:23 -0800 I tried to restrain myself but couldn't resist adding to this . . . From: Bill Baker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: F70 sucks! . . . I'll second that![v04.n282/19] [v04.n286/6] [v04.n290/8] Message: 8 >My assessment on the N70 is that if the buyer is relatively new and >inexperienced they'll be really impressed with all of the whiz bang >high-tech stuff. But if you've been in to more serious photography for some >time, and expect that you the photographer need to take control from >time-to-time, this camera is going to really bug you. And again I assert, as someone who deals with the human factors of technology interfacing all the time, that you're the one that's failing, not the camera. If you hand an N70 and 8008 to complete beginners, train them in how to set every feature of the camera, and then test them on setting different configurations--as in, "Now set each camera to shutter-priority at 1/250th, spot metering, rear curtain synch and self-timer mode"--most of the new shooters will set the N70 correctly more often than the 8008. And truthfully, if you did the same tests with experienced shooters who learned photography with traditional-layout camera bodies, they would in the long run get it right more often with an N70, because there are just fewer ways to screw up once you have learned the interface. You may be right with your comparison to the 8008 - a camera with which I am not familiar. However I would challenge your assertion using either one of my FM2n, F100 or F5 as the comparison. The interface on these bodies is surely camera-like and intuitive as opposed to the N70's computer-like Windows interface. IMO the N70 interface is to cameras what the MS Windows 2.x interface was to computers - kludgy. Also, I am an experienced shooter who learned the principles of photography in the mid-60s. My assertion is that the N70 is a different breed of camera - there's no comparison in the entire Nikon lineup. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is obviously in the mind of the user. Clearly a lot of folks love their N70s and I respect that. I also respect their reasons for liking it. Users, especially those canalized to technology in the pre-digital days, get really frustrated when they trip over the switchology of a digital system. That's understandable. What is not is insisting that a modular tree switchology design is "wrong" just because you can't hack it. It would be profoundly wasteful to stick with antiquated design parameters just to satisfy a small audience who demands dials and switches. In the end the marketplace will determine what is and isn't wrong. However there is undeniably a recurring thread on this message list as well as other public domain news groups re: perceived problems with the N70 interface. I believe that Nikon will listen to it's customers. I also believe (personal opinion) that you will never see this type of interface in another Nikon body. The same people who rant about the N70 interface design are the same people who would be happier faced with a bank of rheostats than a computer screen. Learn the new paradigm or shuffle off with the other dinosaurs, but don't blame the N70 designers. Learn the new paradigm? I'd rather switch to something a little more antiquated - like my F100 and F5. Somehow my dinosaurs give me more of a warm'n fuzzy feeling than that new fangled, whiz-bang, high-tecnho N70. BTW have YOU compared these with the N70 in your scientific survey????? That said I would also add that computers and high-tech have been my life for the past 20 years. It's how I make my living. I get paid quite handsomely to "hack it" for my clients who are exclusively law firms in the Mid-Atlantic states. So . . . I believe that I too know a thing or two about computer screens, technology, and the difference between a good interface and a kludgy one. Your characterization that "people who rant about the N70 interface design are the same people who would be happier faced with a bank of rheostats than a computer screen" couldn't be more mis-guided. That said, I forget the self-timer setting sequence all the time. Nikon boned that up but good. My apologies to the group for using up your bandwidth. Pete Treible
