Reading mode: Light Dark

Nikon Users Vote Here: D400 Swivel LCD or Not ?

Go to last post
MagicNikon said:
MagicNikon wrote:
Just wait til the LCD are big enough that they take too much of the
body's real estate... it won't be long before they offer super large
touch screens (I'll bet Sony will be the first...similar to their
HandiCams).

Give me a nice large customizable touch screen that swivels...That'd
be great.
Click to expand...
I agree Magic,

I think the 3" LCD on the D300 will seem small compared to the next generation screens. Remember when the 2.5" D200 screen was considered huge?...

Yup, 4" touch screens will be next I bet...

Bob
--
Photography is more about depth of feeling than depth of field
http://www.pbase.com/mofongo
 
bappelt said:
I don't want the rugged strength of a Nikon body compromised.
Especially for how infrequently I'd ever actually use live view.

--
'I like beer. On occasion I will even drink beer to celebrate a major
event such as the
fall
of communism or the fact that the refrigerator is still working'
Dave Barry

http://www.bappelt.smugmug.com
Click to expand...
Repeating this mantra about structural integrity sounds fine, but has no basis in truth. There is no reason for a flip out screen to suddenly and magically weaken the rest of the camera. In fact they could make it even stronger. And a screen that flips inward, protecting it's surface is MORE rugged.

--
Thomas (Lord Nikon!)
 
Yes, i want to be able to fold my screen in and "hide it" from the world, i rarely use it to begin with. The only camera i use my screen on is the G6.
 
And now that enough people have made a better case FOR the swivel screen, the last barrier seems to be folks who feel it will be "smaller."

The fact that this has been the case until now does not mean they can't make a bigger screen that swivels. Of course they can. I bet Nikon's will be at least 3 inches or larger. Fixed size advantage will be a moot point because swivel is the superior screen type and that's what we'll be getting. If you don't like it, keep your D70 or D200 until you die!

The swivels are coming.

--
Thomas (Lord Nikon!)
 
And knowing Nikon, it will be very user configurable! ;)
--
If you like what I can do with cards, wait til you see what I do with the limes.
 
ThomasMiller said:
bappelt said:
I don't want the rugged strength of a Nikon body compromised.
Especially for how infrequently I'd ever actually use live view.

--
'I like beer. On occasion I will even drink beer to celebrate a major
event such as the
fall
of communism or the fact that the refrigerator is still working'
Dave Barry

http://www.bappelt.smugmug.com
Click to expand...
Repeating this mantra about structural integrity sounds fine, but has
no basis in truth. There is no reason for a flip out screen to
suddenly and magically weaken the rest of the camera. In fact they
could make it even stronger. And a screen that flips inward,
protecting it's surface is MORE rugged.

--
Thomas (Lord Nikon!)
Click to expand...
I coudln't agree more with you, Thomas....The mere fact that one has a huge 3 inch screen glaring in ones face 90% of the time...and a screen of such perfection and clarity showing us just a few graphics for the settings we are using, seems utterly stupid...why not close it up, protect the screen, cut down the glare...and use the top lcd or the viewfinder to get all the info you need to shoot....

--
Cheers

Rik
 
I checked my E-3 screen, the frame of which looks like high grade plastic, but very sturdy. The total window within the frame is 3" diagonal (but the vewing part 2.5"), and I can't see why a 3" screen could not be articulated without being any larger. Probably Oly developed the 2.5" screen at an early stage.

As for strength and weather integrity, I think it is proven that there is no stronger or better weatherproofed semi-pro or even pro body.

Where shutter delay does not matter, the swivel lcd is a very very useful tool, much more useful than I expected. We heard the same sort of anti-dustbuster comments during the last round!
Cheers,
Don
 
Only because it will cause the camera to have hidden places for dust and mud to get into.

It means you have to clean your camera in an more difficult way becuase dust can settle between the swivel display and the camera, they also have to make sure that the swivel is as weather proof as the rest of the camera.

Also, i do think it looks ridiculous with an Swivel display on the camera. It lools more clumsy.

I have the D300 today, sure live-view is good for some usage, but I do not use it in an way where i need swivel functionality.

This is MY opinion and I am only talking about why I do not need it.

--
Rickard Hansson
Sweden
 
It simply has to be a bigger package pixel for pixel (pun intended) and it has to be less rugged than a design variation without a swivel if you do not change other parameters like weight and size.

Ruggedness has to apply to the relative strength of the swivel with respect to the rest of the camera.
 
Rickard Hansson said:
Only because it will cause the camera to have hidden places for dust
and mud to get into.

It means you have to clean your camera in an more difficult way
becuase dust can settle between the swivel display and the camera,
they also have to make sure that the swivel is as weather proof as
the rest of the camera.

Also, i do think it looks ridiculous with an Swivel display on the
camera. It lools more clumsy.

I have the D300 today, sure live-view is good for some usage, but I
do not use it in an way where i need swivel functionality.

This is MY opinion and I am only talking about why I do not need it.

--
Rickard Hansson
Sweden
Click to expand...
What?

How is it that my cameras with swivel LCD never gathered mud? I must have been lucky. Nicer to have that big shiny slab of glass tucked away when I don't need it.

If the LCD looks clumsy, it'll make the camera look more professional when folded inward...looking like a film camera.
This is getting kinda silly.

The swivels are coming.

--
Thomas (Lord Nikon!)
 
ThomasMiller said:
Fostereast said:
Packaging, ruggedness, weight, etc... it goes on. More moving parts,
more weight, more size.

I have always needed high end laptops for my work. The top gets
opened once a day, after 12 years of the best laptops, guess what
feature is still the most questionable part of the design. The hinge
design.

Imagine dropping your camera with the LCD hinge open.> >
Click to expand...
I've been doing coastal sailing with cameras and laptops aboard for
many years. I've had many laptops fail, but never because of the
hinge. I've never dropped a DSLR and probably never will. But I've
owned several cameras with movable LCDs and not one has failed.
Weight certainly won't be a factor. We're talking about tiny numbers.
My old G3 display was very rugged...man, you could really abuse it.
And if you want to talk about ruggedness, how about the ability to
fold a Nikon D400 LCD DOWN so it's not exposed at all? That's yet
another feature I'd enjoy because sometimes I want my display off.
Too many pluses for the movable LCD and really no minuses, except for
imagined ones. It's like the days when people said they didn't want
power windows because they'd get stuck!
Click to expand...
Having worked on packaging jobs for cameras, phones, controllers, vacuum cleaners, computers, etc... in the past; It's always surprising what happens to your space and size targets when you curve things or add more "stuff" Also if you look at the specifications for "5 ft drop test" and other "ruggedness" requirements, testing these things with an open lcd screen etc. can cost an inordinate amount of R&D money to do properly.

My first 4 highend laptops all had hinge failures of one kind or another from 96-04. The last two the hinges outlived the hard drives.
 
I don't want to pick an argument with the swivel screen proponent(s). I can understand why some folks would want it, but I'm not seeing a lot of 'Pro' reasons for it. It's just feature creep. I can understand adding it to mid ranged models. If adding a swivel meant making the screen one mm smaller it would be a downgrade. I'll say again, the screen on the D300 is one of it's strongest enhancements and any compromise on this is a backslide.

There's no way it would be added to a future camera without driving the price up. I would rather the price go down. I also don't want a larger camera, if there's extra room in the body, there's obviously a larger demand for radio triggering - Pro demand. Just look at the growing aftermarket; Pocket Wizard, Radio Popper etc. It makes far more sense that this be integrated over a 'feature' that is only mentioned in a gear driven, lowest common denominator web forum. Repeating something on dpreview doesn't make it real, it just wastes pixels.

I don't think sweeping away the hinge failure is as easily done as some might think. Your personal experience may give you confidence in this area, but mine has given me just the opposite. Please do a google search for 'laptop hinge failure'. We had an early hinged Sony digital cam and it was cool, it was a novelty feature that we used a few times, but not one that we wished for on our other more heavily used film bodies at the time. The hinge never failed from light use, but my wife dropped that plasticky camera and the screen/hinge assembly WAS the unrecoverable failure point. I've also had 2 Sony flip phones that failed in the hinge area, but FROM use. I've seen at least one laptop that failed due to hinge use, this was a known engineering fault, but I'm really not interested in KNOWING another. I can accept your argument about protecting the screen, but the current sealed screen can be similarly protected with a cheap replaceable plastic part. For those that don't use it, don't use it, why ask for more engineering/moving parts? Food for thought - I actually avoid closing my laptop lid more than necessary, as a failure precaution.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Keyboard shortcuts

f
Forum
m
My threads
Mobile site
About
Editorial content
Cameras & Lenses
Community
All content, design, and layout are Copyright © 1998–2025 Digital Photography Review All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction in whole or part in any form or medium without specific written permission is prohibited.
When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission.
©GPS Media - Guides, Products, Services.
Back
Top