I bought a Canon once. I sold it three months later. That’s not meant to trigger anyone, it’s designed to demonstrate that not everyone will be comfortable with a particular camera model.
Looking a little more in detail, the Canon that I bought was an EOS 7D. For its time it was a fantastic camera, an 18mp APS-C sensor and more importantly, for my needs, full 1080p video. Something none of my Nikons could achieve at the time.
It was not my first Canon. My very first, I bought second hand in the early 90s. That was an AE1, I liked it so much that I added a Canon A1. Both were brilliant cameras and I kept them for a long time.
So why did I not enjoy my time with the EOS 7D? One word, ergonomics. Today, I want to ask the question: are ergonomics as important as image quality? Spoiler alert, they are. Let’s find out why.
Muscle Memory And Ergonomics.
If you have been a photographer for a while, you will have learnt to take images instinctively. Much of that instinct is enabled by your muscle memory for your camera. What do I mean by that? Put simply, you can see a shot in front of you and as you are raising the camera, you are already dialing in the shutter speed and aperture, setting the focus point and prepping to press the shutter.
You have been using that camera for so long, you know what every last button and dial does, the camera is simply an extension of you.
For me, there were two issues I had with the EOS 7D. Both were related to the fact that I was also continuing to shoot with my Nikons. The first was that the lens bayonet worked in the opposite direction to the Nikon. The second was that focusing was also the opposite direction. These might seem minor niggles but when you are using cameras day in and day out, they become a major factor.
You often change lenses because the scene in front of you is changing. That can happen quickly and so your lens change needs to be quick. It’s something you don’t really think about right up until the moment the lens is not going on the camera. By the time your conscious brain has worked out what is going on, there is a good chance that you have missed the shot. The same is very true of focussing.
If you do not take a lot of images, this is probably not a problem. If you are changing systems completely, you will eventually learn a new muscle memory for that new camera. But it all takes time. Beyond my dislike for the Canon 7D, let’s look at some other important factors in ergonomics.
Physical Ergonomics
This is what we most think about when it comes to ergonomics. How the camera feels in the hand, do the buttons and dials fall where we expect them too, does it feel balanced? These are all very important factors in choosing a camera.
You will, quite possibly, be using that camera for hours on end. Some, like me, choose to carry the camera in our hands rather than over our shoulders. It has to feel right. I have had cameras where the grip is a little too shallow for my hands. This can make holding the camera more difficult when using a heavier lens.
We all have different shaped hands, different length fingers. For some, certain controls might not fall easily to hand, for others they might be perfect. It also goes beyond the general ergonomics. You might be the sort of person that shoots a lot in aperture priority. In this case the aperture ring or dial has got to fall just right for you. The camera has to fit the style of photography that you do.
Interface Ergonomics
There is another area of ergonomics that we often do not think so much about, the interface. That could be the menu, the viewfinder/LED visuals, even the top plate. As much as we become instinctive in operating the physical controls, we must also with the user interface. This is even more important with modern cameras as so many different configurable settings are available. We need to be able to navigate the menu systems quickly and efficiently in order to get our camera into the correct shooting mode for the shot in hand.
Again we develop a kind of muscle memory for these settings, scrolling the menu with a joystick or D-Pad, finding a single setting in an ocean of controls. Sometimes even a simple camera firmware update can change these settings, move a control to a different menu hierarchy, forcing us to relearn that setting. Moving to a different camera system can be like moving from Windows to Mac. Everything will seem alien, at least for a while.
Are Ergonomics More Important Than Image Quality?
In my opinion yes, hear me out on this. Today’s cameras are incredible. There is rarely a bad one released. That goes for the image quality as well. Sure you have different sensor sizes and resolutions, but within each subsection of the market, the image quality is broadly the same, that is to say, excellent.
Unless you are an extreme pixel peeper (yes they do exist) then you are not going to notice any major differences in image quality, even if you are making large format prints.
However, the quality of the image coming from your camera is not only down to the sensor and electronics, it’s down to your technique and ability. That technique and ability will be honed to the camera that you have used for a while, a camera whose ergonomics fit beautifully into your workflow.
You know as well as I do that if you pick up a friend's camera, one you are not familiar with and start shooting, you will struggle to get good shots. This is purely down to being unfamiliar with its ergonomics.
Ergonomics are, in my opinion, often overshadowed by the hype of specs and megapixels of modern marketing. We are told about the sensor size, the resolution, the dynamic range, but rarely about how well the controls fall to hand.
To me ergonomics are vital. They are a reason why when I do decide to buy a new camera or even camera system I go to a real world camera store and try the camera in hand. Cameras cost a lot of money and buying one that really doesn’t feel good, is a mistake that could be with you for years if your budget is limited.
