[Wasp]

There doesn't seem to be a thread like this, do I am starting one. I was browsing the classifieds when a Fujifilm X20 caught my eye. It seems like a fine camera but the zoom ring is rather dumb. It has a 7.1-28.4mm lens but the zoom ring goes from 28 to 112. I suppose this is the 35mm equivalent but why do it like this? 112mm, what the heck? For added giggles the zoom ring also serves as the on/off switch. Great stuff.

[shyrsio]

I guess, presumably this is for somebody who already has experience with cameras and lenses. also, and in case its a newbie, it teaches them the standard 35mm fov. the on offo thing is definitely dumb tho.

[DonV]

I like it, I still think in 35mm terms; so I would not find it silly or "dumb".

[Fogel70]

I guess the on/off function is because it is a retractable lens design, like on Pentax DA 18-50 and DA 55-300 PLM.
In that case I do not think it is not too bad to have it as an on/off function too.

[AfterPentax Mark II]

Great idea, using the zoom ring to unlock the lens and turn the camera on. How many times does it happen with retractable lenses that people forget to activate the lens? Clever solution from Fuji, I think!

[ramseybuckeye]

That is pretty weird on the zoom ring, The on/off being on there is a little strange, I could see someone spending a little time finding out how to turn it on, then seeing the "off" on the lens. Not a great design for on/off in my mind, but a handsome little camera that is probably really good. It could have been an idea that actually solved more than one problem in the design phase.

I have a KP and love the camera, it probably has more features that I have not used than I have used, but I would not call them dumb, they may be someone else's reason for loving the camera. But that doesn't really compare the same way to an odd place for a switch.

[Lord Lucan]

I think it was around 1990 that there was a fad for P&S cameras that talked to you. I remember passing someone in a London street who's camera was nagging him in a high-pitched squawking voice that he only had one film frame left, or something like that. He looked embarrassed, holding it out at arms length as if to disown the thing.

---------- Post added 18-06-21 at 15:26 ----------

That is pretty weird on the zoom ring, The on/off being on there is a little strange, I could see someone spending a little time finding out how to turn it on

Not as long as they would spend looking for it on a K1000. OTOH, the Olympus OM-1 had an On/Off switch like an apartment block circuit breaker.

[MikeNArk]

I have a Fuji X10 and it is a handy camera to have around. The on off is a little quirky and the lens cap provided with the camera went over the outside barrow of the lens. The view finder quit working with the first camera drop. The camera still works, has quick focus and provides reasonable quality photos for 12 MP.

[kiwi_jono]

+1, I like the idea of a standard equivalent focal length (for same field of view), as is allows comparisons of focal lengths against different cameras. Yes technically they are not the same and don't perform the same but the field of view is probably a primary concern.
In many ways lenses should perhaps expressed in standard (comparable units), like degrees field of view and something like t-stops. But I can't see that changing over night.

[ehrwien]

That is pretty weird on the zoom ring, The on/off being on there is a little strange, I could see someone spending a little time finding out how to turn it on, then seeing the "off" on the lens. Not a great design for on/off in my mind, but a handsome little camera that is probably really good. It could have been an idea that actually solved more than one problem in the design phase.

There are lenses for Nikon 1 cameras that have a retractable design similar to the DA 55-300 PLM, where part of the "zoom range" is not usable. You can set the camera to power on whenever the zoom ring crosses the line to the usable range. Very handy feature.

[JPT]

If we could all get used to talking about field of view as an angle rather than a focal length, it would simplify the whole "equivalence" issue, but it' very difficult to get over old habits.

I've never owned a full frame camera, so it is weird for me to think in full frame equivalents, but anyway, that is how the camera press and to some extent the camera manufacturers want to talk to me. So I agree it's a bit strange in principle to mention two different focal length ranges on the same camera body, but I can see why they do so. Technically, Fuji is not actually using the unit "mm" on the zoom ring.

Another case of people using odd measurements is TV and computer screen sizes. Countries that never used inches use them just to talk about TV screens.

[DWS1]

I think they sometimes add features just to be be adding features.

[ramseybuckeye]

There are lenses for Nikon 1 cameras that have a retractable design similar to the DA 55-300 PLM, where part of the "zoom range" is not usable. You can set the camera to power on whenever the zoom ring crosses the line to the usable range. Very handy feature.

Another small camera that seemed to have a short life span, I thought the 1" sensor showed more promise than the Q.

[DonV]

"Figure it out" ?
I thought that was way instruction manuals were for !

[SpecialK]

Actually, pretty smart features.