Some Notes on Camera Designs
The overall design and handling of Japanese film and digital SLRs from the 1960s to the 2000s has changed noticeably little - grip the camera with the right hand, focus and adjust the aperture with the left, release the shutter and transport the film with the right hand again.
The Pentax Spotmatic II, pictured above, was released as the second iteration of the original Spotmatic in 1971. Until the camera manufacturers introduced electrical film transport in the early 1980s, the overall layout of most cameras was very similar. A wheel for the shutter times (and later program or automatic modes) close to the release button, a transport lever completing the right hand operations, while the left top usually features a film rewind crank and potentially an option to set the film speed (if a light meter was built into the camera. One brand that comes to mind when it comes to design exceptions was Olympus that had the shutter speed ring included in the lens mount.
In the late 1970s electronics were added to a lot of cameras, and one of the early models that was packed with various electronic functions was the Canon A-1, released in 1978. This camera even today feels very well thought out; the addition of shutter and aperture priority required Canon to come up with a scrolling wheel to be used with the right index finger that could then change either aperture or shutter speed, depending on the setting of the camera. This construction astonished me when I first received the camera as until then I was used only to older Nikon, Praktika or Fujica cameras, which had a very classical layout of controls.
For me, the Canon A-1 was a masterpiece in how to cram in all kinds of functions and switches into a classical camera body. Some of those switches were necessary because the new electronics required so much battery power that a switch for the viewfinder displaying the speed and aperture settings was introduced (the switch left of the rewind crank in the picture above). In my view, the Canon A-1 (and certainly also the Nikon F3) also marked the watershed between the classical style cameras such as the Nikon FM-2 or FE-2 on the one hand and the newer generation of amateur cameras coming out in the 1980s, which featured electrical film transport and some advanced metering, but not a lot more. One prime example of these “transition to electronics” cameras is the Nikon F-301, which I recently got on the cheap.
The F-301 came out in 1985. It still retained some of the hallmarks of classical SLR design such as the manual rewind crank or the dial for the shutter speed, but it also, a first for Nikon, had an electrical film transport built in. With that came the need to include a switch around the shutter button where you could set either single-shot or continuous shooting modes. Please also note that the camera had two different program modes, one “normal” where the camera chose the shutter and aperture settings, and one high-speed program mode that prioritized shorter shutter speeds over the aperture settings. Those new modes were black box designs, and the user was left to guess what combinations of shutter and aperture the camera programs may have chosen for certain shots. Which most intended users of this entry-level camera, might not have minded. I don’t.
Unfortunately I don’t have a camera sample to show you the next level of design changes occurring in the 1990s. One prime example may be the Canon EOS 300, which came out in 1999, which was marketed for advanced photographers. Fully plastic, even the lens bayonet, this camera was packed with electronic features and program modes.
One later iteration, the Canon EOS 300V (released in 2002) is pictured below. It features better ergonomics and even a metal lens bayonet. And a display on the camera’s film door, which I personally find very convenient in 2024 but may have felt novel to most users twenty years ago.
Looking at these cameras in chronological order, it becomes clear that camera designers have started thinking about ergonomics as early as the late 1970s when the first right hand finger grips appeared on cameras like the Canon A-1. This right hand finger grip grew continuously over the years and is now a staple of most modern cameras (apart from, say, Fujifilm cameras like the XT-5 or X100V that emulate “classic” camera designs).
Overall, these design changes are not a bad thing, even if some changes seem to be overdone such as the arching grip on the EOS 300V, which, however, proofs to be very comfortable for someone with larger hands like myself.
*****
You may wonder which design I prefer personally. It is not an easy question to answer, but I do have a knack for the cameras of the late 1970s, early 1980s. I love the layout of the Canon A-1, I like the design of the Minolta X-700, but also love to shoot with my beloved Nikon FM 2n or the very similar but less capable Yashica FX-3.
The cameras I am personally struggling with and don’t like to use are those older models like the Pentax Spotmatic II, where I find the film transport lever highly uncomfortable, or the cameras that have design flaws - such as the Yashica FX-D Quartz, which sports an assortment of odd design decisions that makes me wonder if the designer ever used a camera for a longer time period. Released in 1980, it could have fallen into the right category - with an aperture priority automatic mode. But then, it has a separate metering switch on the front that cannot be disabled. And a super-sensitive shutter release button that fires away the moment you look at it. With this camera, I have probably produced the most misfires and wrong exposures so far. Even if this camera was relatively cheap to buy (and I only bought it because my Yashica FX-3 needed some service), it is not really worth it. That is why I don’t even add a photo here.