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Why is Sony so reluctant about touchscreen?

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landshark said:
Mike99999 said:
Because it sucks to accidentally activate a function by bumping your nose into the screen.
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I agree 100%--
Bob
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Allow these two characters to help you 2.

ee9713aece164125ac9abab843444a06.jpg
 
Stan Huntting said:
Rey66 said:
Stan Huntting said:
To each his own I guess, but I can accomplish moving focus to the side by just locking on subject and move side to side holding the backfocus button.
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Precisely! Our A7x cameras are designed to be operated from the EVF. Sony has already included enough irrelevant options that can turn a great tool into a point-and-shoot. A touch screen might actually lead some people to believe the LCD was meant to be used in a DSLR "Live View" fashion!

I'm not really sure why the LCD is there, although I confess I find it handy for navigating the menus and occasionally when shooting at ground level or overhead. I keep my LCD turned off, although I do have a button set to turn it on should I feel the need. For me the LCD is useful in the same sense as the self-timer or the movie mode - comforting to have around even if I rarely use it. If the "A9" should omit an LCD altogether it would not be a deal-breaker for me.

I am dumbfounded every time I view a Youtube review where a famous "photographer" is shown holding an A7x camera out in front of his face like a point-and-shoot. Is that how people use DSLRs? I transitioned directly from film SLRs to my A7RM2 so I could be missing something. I never found a need for a touchscreen on my OM1/OM2 and I can't imagine using one on my A7RM2 (except for possibly navigating menus). And I can imagine how many shots I might screw-up with unintentional nose- or cheek-presses on the LCD.

OK, flame away...

Stan
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lol ok at Sam Hurd's work. He's an amazing wedding photographer and he does most of his posed work using live view. Nobody says he's not professional just at because he doesn't use the viewfinder 100% of the time.

Back to the OP's point, I agree that a touchscreen would be useful even if I was only used as a substitute for a joystick used primarily for AF point selection. I've often looked over stvtre back of my A7R2 and have struggled with where to put an AF joystick. If there is no room, a touchscreen trackpad a la the Canon M5 might make for a suitable alternative.
 
It would have been great if they put a large 5" capacitive touch screen bright AMOLED display with a good definition in bright daylight. I would forgo EVF altogether if they made that happen. Shooting from a waist level and not needing to press the brick against your face and looking through a keyhole is truly liberating.

The biggest problem of Sony is lack of competition. I suspect when Canon/Nikon enter the FF mirrorless fray, the progress will go much faster.
 
I've bounced around various android phones over the past few years... HTC, Samsung, etc. Last year I thought I'd give Sony a try. Well, right now, the phone is in for repairs for the SECOND time. Problem? Touchscreen issues...both times. And these issues are all over the net (you can Google Sony C4 + touchscreen if you don't believe me). I personally don't want another unnecessary (for me) part/feature that can go wrong. I can understand it may have value for some people, but I'm not sold on it nor convinced that it can be done without reducing the reliability of the camera...
 
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Docno said:
I've bounced around various android phones over the past few years... HTC, Samsung, etc. Last year I thought I'd give Sony a try. Well, right now, the phone is in for repairs for the SECOND time. Problem? Touchscreen issues...both times. And these issues are all over the net (you can Google Sony C4 + touchscreen if you don't believe me). I personally don't want another unnecessary (for me) part/feature that can go wrong. I can understand it may have value for some people, but I'm not sold on it nor convinced that it can be done without reducing the reliability of the camera...
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Lots of people (myself included) used Sony NEX5, A5xxx series with touch screens and never experienced any reliability issues. Lots of people are using m43, Canon, Samsung cameras with TS and report no reliability issues. In fact you won't find any reports about that on camera forums, and people here like to harp about even very insignificant problems. So your anecdote is irrelevant to this topic.
 
Contra Mundum said:
It would have been great if they put a large 5" capacitive touch screen bright AMOLED display with a good definition in bright daylight. I would forgo EVF altogether if they made that happen. Shooting from a waist level and not needing to press the brick against your face and looking through a keyhole is truly liberating.

The biggest problem of Sony is lack of competition. I suspect when Canon/Nikon enter the FF mirrorless fray, the progress will go much faster.
Click to expand...
I don't think purposely omitting a touchscreen has anything to do with Canon and Nikon not making FF mirrorless cameras. Both Canon and Nikon already include touchscreens in many of their FF and APSC cameras and have done so for a few generations now. Sony is the one that's being left behind in this one regard. Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, and Olympus all make extensive use of touchscreens. Sony needs to catch up.
 
Docno said:
I've bounced around various android phones over the past few years... HTC, Samsung, etc. Last year I thought I'd give Sony a try. Well, right now, the phone is in for repairs for the SECOND time. Problem? Touchscreen issues...both times. And these issues are all over the net (you can Google Sony C4 + touchscreen if you don't believe me). I personally don't want another unnecessary (for me) part/feature that can go wrong. I can understand it may have value for some people, but I'm not sold on it nor convinced that it can be done without reducing the reliability of the camera...
Click to expand...
I can't speak for Sony's touchscreen reliability as I've never owned anything made by Sony with a touchscreen but your last sentence seems to be implying that touchscreens themselves inherently reduce the reliability of a camera. That is something I will definitely disagree on. Millions of touchscreen cameras from Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, Olympus, and Samsung are out there and I don't hear much of anything regarding problems with touchscreen.

To take it even further, there are probably tens of millions if not hundreds of millions of touchscreen iPhones, android phones, windows phones, tablets, kindles, and laptops with touchscreens and they don't appear to have reliability issues due to having a touchscreen.

If however you meant that you don't believe Sony can make a reliable touchscreen camera than that's a different story that I can't comment on.
 
Jason Switzer said:
Stan Huntting said:
Rey66 said:
Jason Switzer said:
To each his own I guess, but I can accomplish moving focus to the side by just locking on subject and move side to side holding the backfocus button.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Precisely! Our A7x cameras are designed to be operated from the EVF. Sony has already included enough irrelevant options that can turn a great tool into a point-and-shoot. A touch screen might actually lead some people to believe the LCD was meant to be used in a DSLR "Live View" fashion!

I'm not really sure why the LCD is there, although I confess I find it handy for navigating the menus and occasionally when shooting at ground level or overhead. I keep my LCD turned off, although I do have a button set to turn it on should I feel the need. For me the LCD is useful in the same sense as the self-timer or the movie mode - comforting to have around even if I rarely use it. If the "A9" should omit an LCD altogether it would not be a deal-breaker for me.

I am dumbfounded every time I view a Youtube review where a famous "photographer" is shown holding an A7x camera out in front of his face like a point-and-shoot. Is that how people use DSLRs? I transitioned directly from film SLRs to my A7RM2 so I could be missing something. I never found a need for a touchscreen on my OM1/OM2 and I can't imagine using one on my A7RM2 (except for possibly navigating menus). And I can imagine how many shots I might screw-up with unintentional nose- or cheek-presses on the LCD.

OK, flame away...

Stan
Click to expand...
lol ok at Sam Hurd's work. He's an amazing wedding photographer and he does most of his posed work using live view. Nobody says he's not professional just at because he doesn't use the viewfinder 100% of the time.

Back to the OP's point, I agree that a touchscreen would be useful even if I was only used as a substitute for a joystick used primarily for AF point selection. I've often looked over stvtre back of my A7R2 and have struggled with where to put an AF joystick. If there is no room, a touchscreen trackpad a la the Canon M5 might make for a suitable alternative.
Click to expand...
Jason Lanier also shoots with the LCD and live view
 
sean lancaster said:
landshark said:
Mike99999 said:
Because it sucks to accidentally activate a function by bumping your nose into the screen.
Click to expand...
I agree 100%--
Bob
Click to expand...
Allow these two characters to help you 2.

ee9713aece164125ac9abab843444a06.jpg
Click to expand...
many times these "features" get turned on or off by mistake, I do not need nor want a touchscreen, in the old days and even today I would tape my camera up so nothing would move. I do not need a long list of features, that just get in the way, keep it simple think about the image one is creating not what extra "feature" is missing
Bob
www.bobdamico.com
 
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landshark said:
rarely does my focus spot change so much between frames that I need to move it with a touch screen . . . "and if that is how I do it then I find it my duty to come here and try and convince everyone else that this is how they should do it too; thus, no need for touch screens."
Click to expand...
 
The people that are fighting against a touchscreen being added to cameras are probably the ones that thought it was a dumb idea to put a touchscreen on a phone. And the same ones that fight every innovation in camera technology that a few years later they end up using all the time and not knowing how they ever lived without it.

Cameras are some of the last holdouts to not have touchscreens as a standard. 10 years from now touchscreens on cameras will be as ubiquitous as LCDs are on cameras right now anyway so it's time to get used to the idea.
 
sean lancaster said:
landshark said:
rarely does my focus spot change so much between frames that I need to move it with a touch screen . . . "and if that is how I do it then I find it my duty to come here and try and convince everyone else that this is how they should do it too; thus, no need for touch screens."
Click to expand...
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No but it seems it is other's duty to explain to the rest of us why we need things on the camera that we do not need nor want
 
landshark said:
sean lancaster said:
landshark said:
rarely does my focus spot change so much between frames that I need to move it with a touch screen . . . "and if that is how I do it then I find it my duty to come here and try and convince everyone else that this is how they should do it too; thus, no need for touch screens."
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
No but it seems it is other's duty to explain to the rest of us why we need things on the camera that we do not need nor want
Click to expand...
I hope I made it clear with my Pinocchio photo that I am not suggesting that you should need it or want it.
 
i use it my Samsung and Panasonic. I love it.
 
Has Sony had a problem with Touch Screens in the past? The only Sony we've had before the a7II was the first Sony High Def. Handycam which did have a touch screen menu.

It seems strange to me that a company known for Tech innovation would drop the Touch Screen.
 
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