The Perfect Camera
My cameras have loads of auto focusing points which can be individually selected, but they're all clustered around the centre of the image area.
In practice it's just not useful.
In the heat of the decisive moment selecting an AF point is a fiddle that is just not quick enough, and when all is said and done the focus points need to be out on the intersections of thirds to be of use.
Sports photographers may shoot with the action in the centre then crop to improve composition.
But I'll be damned if I've invested in 21 MP full frame quality only to subsequently throw dollops of it away.
What we really need is the ability to select an AF point anywhere in the frame, or at least to the margins of the thirds, with just a touch to the screen on the camera back.
Obvious, isn't it?
A penitent in the Semana Santa procession through Malaga, Andalucia, Spain. Generally the last place you want the point of focus is in the centre of the frame. Canon 1Ds mkIII, 85mm lens, 1/640 sec @ f1.2.
For landscape photography auto focus is largely redundant. Usually we need to select our composition, determine what angle of view and focal length works best then determine our aperture and focusing point to give us the depth of field required. Normally we'll be focusing at the hyperfocal distance so everything from half that distance to infinite will be sharp. In a Somerset field with a 28mm lens the nearest poppies in the frame are about 2 meters from the lens. At an aperture of f11 focused at the hyperfocal distance of 4 metres for that focal length/aperture combination I can shoot away knowing that the nearest blobs of scarlet and the distant hills will be sharp. It used to be with the old fixed focal length lenses these calculations were much simpler, the depth of field scales were etched on the lens barrel. Now i have to consult a little laminated card downloaded from the internet which lives in my Lowepro. It is low tech and indispensable, but really, couldn't all these calculations and focus commands be done in-camera? What we need is a camera that reacts to our input of the nearest and furthest points we need sharp, reads the focal length in use then sets the necessary aperture and focuses at the appropriate hyperfocal distance. Wouldn't that be useful. I don't want a camera trying to do everything for me, I want to be in control, but surely the data on little laminated card could be incorporated into the camera's brain?
Spring flowers growing in a field in the Valnerina with Preci beyond,Monti Sibillini National Park, Umbria, Italy. How about hyperfocal distance calculations performed in camera? Canon 1Ds mkIII, 16-35mm lens @ 16mm, 0.6 sec @ f16, 0.6 ND grad filter.
As with our images simplicity is the key. The old style dial for exposure modes on the top left of the 5D mkII is far more practical then the tedium of scrolling through menus. The important stuff like mirror lock needs to be immediately accessible, not buried in the menus. And generally speaking the bods who design our cameras need to know that we do use them in the cold, in high winds, in the dark and with gloves on.
Maybe the next generation of cameras will be unleashed on us next year with some or all of these ideas built in. If so I'll be jostling for position in the queue.
Biography
Born in England in 1957, David spent much of his youth travelling with his family between the UK, California and Canada. After leaving school David joined the Navy in search of further travels and adventures – and it was while sailing the seven seas that his interest in photography grew. After several years at sea he decided to pursue his passion for photography and returned to study in Gloucester, England. After leaving college in 1985 he began work as a freelance photographer specialising in landscape and other travel subjects, which over the last 25 years, have taken him to almost every corner of the globe.
David is now established and recognised as one of the UK's leading landscape and travel photographers. His images sell all over the world – both as fine art photography and commercially in advertising and publishing. He has won international awards for: British Gas/ BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards in 1985,1989 & 1990 and also writes regularly about landscape and travel photography for a number of national and international magazines. David has worked for numerous clients including British Airways, Sainsbury's, Geo, Toyota, Qantas, Sunday Times and the Telegraph. During the last twenty years he has also worked extensively for the National Trust covering much of the UK's landscape and coastline, which has featured in many high profile publications and several highly acclaimed photographic exhibitions. Most notably:
'New Vision' Contemporary Art Photography – AOP Gallery
'The Coast Exposed' – Maritime Museum Greenwich and the Lowry
'Climate Change – in Britain's Back Yard!' – London, Nottingham, Wales, Belfast, Bristol
“l'm still passionate about photography. All aspects fascinate me; from capturing the first light of day on a frosty landscape or making the most of a bustling market in Vietnam to portraying the dignity of a wrinkled face in China.”
David spends much of the year travelling with his wife Wendy. When not travelling they live in England, near Sherborne in Dorset.
All images in this article © David Noton
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