How many of you would have wanted a focus ring on the G11?

A great idea, so why not put it on the flagship compact as well, instead forcing people who have forked over $500 to fiddle with buttons for manual focus?

my thoughts exactly.. would be a great addition to M mode on G11

its a good thing digital pictures are free, because i have a lot more out of focus ones that i used to have with my 200 dollar bottom of the line manual focus everything split screen nikon

yeah manual focus on point and shoots is almost a joke. if there is a way to focus with the ring, that would be the schittzenheimer.

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guy

if it looks simple, you're too far away
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artfarmer/

You said it brutha.

Das ist stimmt.

guy in indiana said:

yeah manual focus on point and shoots is almost a joke. if there is a way to focus with the ring, that would be the schittzenheimer.

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i never understood the lack of interest in it. why people want their still camera to take video, but they dont want user controlled focus.

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guy

if it looks simple, you're too far away
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artfarmer/

Face it, depth of field is so large on these tiny cameras if they would allow a preset distance in fast clicks, it would be a better street shooting camera then it is now.

Would prefer a pre-set focus point for iit to start, then a fast manual zoom combined with focus.

Potemkin_Photo said:

A great idea, so why not put it on the flagship compact as well, instead forcing people who have forked over $500 to fiddle with buttons for manual focus?

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It's not just a focus ring...it can control any number of functions.

Probably the most common use for the ring will be EC control. The reason its not necessary on the G11 is because the G11 already has a separate EC control, as well as a very usable control dial. The S90 has one as well but I doubt the camera will be as easy to hold as the G11 while manipulating the dial.

The G11 also has a lens adapter mount, which would have had to be redesigned somehow. Just seems like too much of a design challenge to get a feature that probably won't add much value.

Manual focus, at least on Canon P&S cameras, is practically useless. I've done a lot of experimenting with it and autofocus is always more accurate. I use it when I want to intentionally blur something.

The S90's control ring will work well for the auto modes for selecting shutter speed or aperture, or as I said, EC. There may be other functions where it works well too. but I predict that manual focus will be the least used of them all.

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I dunno. I've tried out some powershots for macro work and pressing the macro button + AF has never given me satifactorily sharp shots. I've gone through the button mashing but it's still PITA. Focus ring would be perfect for this. I mean $500 and no focus ring?! I'd rather just spend $300 more and get the new reb.

dof at 2 inches in front of the lens is about 1/8". it sounds like the op and i are both macro shooters. i dont think face recognition works on bugs

--
guy

if it looks simple, you're too far away
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artfarmer/

Potemkin_Photo said:

I mean $500 and no focus ring?! I'd rather just spend $300 more and get the new reb.

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Well before you do that you should review several of the threads where people complain about being unable to get sharp focus in manual mode on their modern DSLRs. The reason is that modern DSLRs don't have a focusing screens that provide a focusing aid, such as the split circle of old. Without a focusing aid you have to guess when things look sharp.

This is the same problem with Canon P&S cameras. You get the magnified section on the LCD but you're still guessing as to when it's sharp because there's no real focusing aid.

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You are right about that. I remember the old split screens of old--used to shoot tropical fish with my Dad's mechanical Canon. Those were sweet. Just line up the broken lines and you're golden. I wonder if Canon could digitize that split-line focusing as an additional algorhymical option. That's an upgrade I'd pay for. Don't put any projectors or 3D on my cam, just make sure I can MF it to be pinsharp.

A control ring is only useable with an ovf, otherwise it is very stupid!
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http://users.telenet.be/patric/

So put an OVF in there. No brainer.

I think you can do manual focus with the back control ring on G10. So it won't be necessary to put one on front.

For EC, you have dedicated dial.
For ISO, you have dedicated dial.
For Mode, you have dedicated dial.

If I buy S90, what I would use the front control ring is for ISO selector. Zoom you can use the top rocker. I don't know about EC though, rarely use it cause I shoot RAW most of the time.
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http://hdr.strivearth.com | canon fodder

NT

Jay

Doesn't Fugi have a manual focus ring on their superzoom cameras? They don't have an ovf.
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Gerry
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gerrydee/