After fumbling around the Sony A7II function menu and custom buttons for a morning, I'd like to have a major revision of the customization. This should allow EVERY option buried in the camera to be put on a user Menu with 4 rows of 6 custom functions. There are some I'd like to have on a function menu I can't put there and some I do have that I don't care about. If they were to go in this direction, it'd sure be nice to allow you to save the custom function menu or button assignments to your SD card so you could recall them or move them to another camera. This would be a big step forward. More, define a menu software standard that would allow user scripting along these lines. Eventually cameras go out of warranty and at that point, the ability to load a custom menu makes sense. Camera hacks like phone hacks are coming!
As someone who owns two Sony bodies I hear you!
The menus are definitely not great examples of ergonomics.
I think a radical rethink, by all manufacturers is in order, not to re-arrange the deck chairs on the Titanic but to completely redesign camera interfaces.
I do get that in some quarters there would be resistance to this - think of all those Canon and Nikon long-time users, who, at least, have got used to their camera interfaces even if they were never that great.
But, I do think that the first manufacturer to really change the playing field with respect to camera control, menus, customisability, touchscreen functionality, and a really user-friendly customer experience will not be doing their bottom-lines any harm at all!
The building blocks for all this technology already exist so that is not a barrier in principle.
Yes, detail in design, power requirements, and other issues would need to be sorted out, but it is feasible.
To me this is a challenge for the imagination much more than a primary challenge of technology.
So far, for most manufacturers, their medium term record is one of exquisitely measured conservatism.
Perhaps the time has come to break the mould...
Tony Jay