I don't understand the rant?

[OzRay]

Olympus and Panasonic rumors Blog Archive An open letter to Panolympus (by Tyson Robichaud)

Olympus: Please oh please have someone redesign your menus and interface.

For the life of me, I don't understand what problem people have with the menu/interface? Press OK and adjust any setting you wish. How much simpler can it get? Maybe it's because I come from Downunder, that the menu/interface is completely intuitive and easy to use.

Cheers

Ray

 

[Robert Watcher]

Olympus and Panasonic rumors Blog Archive An open letter to Panolympus (by Tyson Robichaud)



For the life of me, I don't understand what problem people have with the menu/interface? Press OK and adjust any setting you wish. How much simpler can it get? Maybe it's because I come from Downunder, that the menu/interface is completely intuitive and easy to use.

Cheers

Ray

I agree - I have no issues with the Olympus Menu.

 

[bilzmale]

Having used Olys for years I agree - the menu works for me. My problem is I use menus infrequently and have memory problems of my own :smile:.

 

[GaryInOz]

Hmmm...I get the impression many people don't understand the principle of the 'super control panel' (SCP) and therefore don't make it active when they set up their :43: camera options. It isn't there by default. I've seen many a comment about "how do I change the whatever setting without having to go 6 deep into the menus".

For those not sure what I am talking about, try the following rather complex set up to make the SCP available......
(BTW, where I mention -COG-, it is a little graphic of two 'cogs', and the 'arrows' are the four direction keys around the START/OK button.)

STEP 1: Enable custom menu: (This is page 71 of the EPL-1 manual)
Press the MENU button
If the -COG- menu isn't displayed above the SPANNER menu, then you will need to arrow down to the SPANNER menu, then arrow right.
Now arrow down to the "-COG- MENU DISPLAY" and press right arrow, then change the selection to ON (by pressing up arrow) and press OK.
Pressing the MENU button will back you out of menus (or simply half press the shutter button!).

You now have an extra choice in the MENU: -COG-, above the SPANNER when you use the MENU button

STEP 2: Enable the Super Control Panel:
Go to the custom menu (press MENU then down arrow to the -COG-, then right arrow)
Then arrow down to "DISP/ .../PC" menu and then right arrow, followed by several arrow down until "CONTROL SETTING" is displayed, followed by right arrow.

Now it gets a little tricky, as the next selection applies to 3 different modes depending on the mode dial. For simplicity, I'll just talk about P/A/S/M modes.

Down arrow to P/A/S/M
Right arrow on P/A/S/M, then down arrow to display "SCP"
Right arrow then down arrow to display "ON". Press OK to set.
Keep pressing MENU to step back out of menus (or press shutter half way).

STEP 3: Using the SCP:
Now put the camera into any of P/A/S/or M modes using the mode dial.
Press the OK button, and the Super Control Panel will be displayed .
From here, arrow through to the setting you want to change, press OK, and further options for the setting will be displayed...choose the appropriate setting the the OK button...all done :smile:

If you want to use the SCP for other modes (iAUTO or SCN), you will need to go right through the Enable SCP process above again, and pick either iAUTO or SCN after right arrow on the CONTROL SETTING step.

BTW, if you find you don't actually WANT the SCP, then reverse the above steps

Hope this is helpful.

 

[BBW]

Very nicely done, Gary!

 

[PeterB666]

The menu works for me. It does take a little while to get use to, but it is heaps better than some.

Olympus give you a lot of options and it therefore leads to complex menus. I prefer this that to have a dumbed-down camera.

 

[PeterB666]

Hmmm...I get the impression many people don't understand the principle of the 'super control panel' (SCP) and therefore don't make it active when they set up their :43: camera options.

Isn't it available by default? Must have been one of the first things I did then to set it up.

I read the manual first and play with all the controls when I get a new toy. I cannot help it. I write user guides for software for a living, so I expect people to RTFM.

 

[cosinaphile]

i find menus from both oly and panny unintuitive and illogical , but using my ep1 and gf1 has made that a moot point as i am used to them now but when ifirst got the ep1 i hated the menu paradigm

the best menu system for any cameras is delivered by ricoh imho

my gx 200 is more feature laden than my ep1 and does not hide esential menu elements cryptically and deeply buried like the olympus menu system does

 

[Bullfrog]

Olympus and Panasonic rumors Blog Archive An open letter to Panolympus (by Tyson Robichaud)



For the life of me, I don't understand what problem people have with the menu/interface? Press OK and adjust any setting you wish. How much simpler can it get? Maybe it's because I come from Downunder, that the menu/interface is completely intuitive and easy to use.

Cheers

Ray

The thought process goes something like this:

"Should I RTFM and possibly learn how it works?"

"Nah, waste of time that."

"Muck around a bit and figure it out?"

"Mmm, nope."

"How about ranting about it on the web then?"

"Good idea, go for it dude!"

 

[Djarum]

The thing that got me about the whole article is the whole notion of fast reasonable lenses, especially primes. I don't think any of the companies are going after this crowd.

If you think about most compact cameras and their lenses, they are also slow. The advantage comes that shooting at equivalent ISO is going to give better results with increased sensor size.

As far as the OLY menu, I have no real gripes, other than the AF braketing being buried. I wish there were more programmable function buttons though. But that takes realestate on the back of the camera.

 

[diesel604]

I think that user did not RTFM.

Olympus has one of the best interfaces out there.

Super Control Panel - One screen to see/adjust all your shooting info
Custom Settings - Tailor your UI to your needs

When I switched from my K100DS to an older E-300. I was impressed with the super control panel and how quick you could change settings and see settings on one screen! Who needed that top LCD anyways?

BTW Hello to the forums and soon to be EPL-1 owner.

[D]

 

[squeegee]

Personally I like the super control panel.

I do see though that the "menu" options (I don't consider the super control panel the menu system, it's a control panel ) are sometimes awkward and cludgy. If you want an example... just try and figure out how to turn off the live view LCD while shooting...

For any given feature / functionality :
If you need to read the manual to figure it out, that's already -1 point.
If you need to go online to search for the answer, that's -2 points.
If you still can't figured it out, that's -3 points.

 

[Brian S]

Second day with the E-P2. Some of the function buttons leave me with a "why did it do that". The "info" button has a lot of effects that seem non-intuitive. I've gone through the manual once, it is a big manual. Pressing the Info button gets it to a fixed-position AF zone, Program operation.

I'm looking for the simplest setup for my wife to use, basically fixed single-servo AF and programmed shutter/aperture operation. Basically, a Nikon N70 of auto-everything. Then for myself, manual operation with older lenses.

I spend most of my time writing code for microcontrollers and reading datasheets. It's hard to use firmware that you did not even write yourself. Anybody got the source code and compiler?