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Author Topic: 35 Design: Putting joystick on left?  (Read 2554 times)

gwhitf

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35 Design: Putting joystick on left?
« on: November 10, 2013, 10:15:10 pm »

Basic question here from someone who's always used manual focus, and is now trying to learn autofocus: I am shooting with a 5DIII, but this could apply to most all 35 cameras: If you're pressing the shutter release with your right hand, and now the cameras are autofocus, so it no longer needs to have your left hand out on the lens to focus or mess with the f-stops, why do camera manufacturers not put the "joystick" for moving the focus point over on the LEFT hand side of the back of the body? It seems like your left hand is now free, so why do they make you do everything with your right hand? Why not mount that "move the focus" thing over on the left side rear, and move it with your left thumb or whatever? The whole thing seems like it would be more balanced, to have both hands doing something. When they teach you piano, they don't force you to do everything with your right hand. Why not same with shooting a modern digital 35?

Thanks.
« Last Edit: November 10, 2013, 10:17:07 pm by gwhitf »
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jjj

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Re: 35 Design: Putting joystick on left?
« Reply #1 on: November 10, 2013, 10:44:51 pm »

Several reasons. Because one still needs to support the lens with the left hand for camera stability, particularly with bigger lenses and you still need your left hand on lens to zoom or manually tweak focus.
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PhotoEcosse

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Re: 35 Design: Putting joystick on left?
« Reply #2 on: November 11, 2013, 08:57:50 am »

Exactly.

For steady camera work with any dSLR you do need to have one hand on the camera body and the other supporting the lens.

So it makes sense to have all buttons and other controls that might be used while the camera is held to the eye at the same side of the body as the shutter release button.

Might be different for those wee compact and CSC cameras that use a rear screen rather than an eye-level viewfinder.
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gwhitf

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Re: 35 Design: Putting joystick on left?
« Reply #3 on: November 11, 2013, 06:10:51 pm »

My longest lens is a 50. Maybe, sometimes, a rental 85. All primes.

Could make a case that left hand could clearly support the body, and also run the joystick controller for focus point placement.
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jjj

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Re: 35 Design: Putting joystick on left?
« Reply #4 on: November 11, 2013, 06:47:03 pm »

Of course you can hold the camera that way, but it simply wouldn't be as stable.
I shoot wide angle 90% of the time yet still support under the lens and with body turned 45 degrees - far more stable that way.
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PhotoEcosse

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Re: 35 Design: Putting joystick on left?
« Reply #5 on: November 12, 2013, 04:42:18 am »

.......... with body turned 45 degrees - far more stable that way.

That's a point that was always taught in the "olden days" but seems to be largely ignored nowadays.

Any magazine journalists reading this might like to plan an article on "the importance of feet positioning and stance".

The more I think about this thread, the more I wonder whether all the moans we read about camera x or lens y not "being sharp" are actually down to incorrect stance and incorrect camera support when hand-held.
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LKaven

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Re: 35 Design: Putting joystick on left?
« Reply #6 on: November 14, 2013, 12:12:53 pm »

My longest lens is a 50. Maybe, sometimes, a rental 85. All primes.

Could make a case that left hand could clearly support the body, and also run the joystick controller for focus point placement.

The lens mount on the camera is not designed to bear the weight of any lens more than a pound or so, roughly the weight of the camera itself.  With long lenses, the lens is designed to hold the camera instead.  You absolutely need to get a hand under the lens or the lens mount will bend.

If one tried to work with both thumbs behind the camera, I believe one's wrists would be in terrible joint-stress pain after a day or two.  The wrist is better as a passive support, with the rest of your body directly underneath it. 
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