Going from DSLR to R... does the lack of a top deck LCD bother you?

jumpthesnark wrote:

Alastair Norcross wrote:

jumpthesnark wrote:

John Crowe wrote:

Thank-you, I had no idea this was the case. What are these, Rebels?

For several years I had one camera with, and one without. The one without drove me nuts.

I shoot in manual mode 100% of the time, I do a lot of tripod mounted shifting/stitching and focus stacking, so I rely on quickly checking the top screen. I have been using a top screen since 1986, so I am not about to change 37 years later!

I have been thinking about an R7 but even for sports shooting that is likely a deal breaker. At least the other cameras that I used without top panels were less than $300 USD each. Every Canon camera over $1500 should have them. It was Canon who started them in the first place back in the late 80's.

I completely agree. It's always convenient to use the LCD to check the battery level at a glance or make changes to drive speed, ISO, shutter speed and aperture, meter bias, white balance, etc. when the camera is on a tripod, at a low angle, on a long lens, hanging from a strap on my shoulder, etc. without having to look through the viewfinder for the information, or use the Q button. Because the information is already right there. It is such a useful thing that I was really surprised Canon left it off some R bodies but not others.

Are they trying to differentiate between pro and prosumer again? Like the 6D only having a 1/180 sec sync speed and a single card slot? I can see that some folks are not bothered by its absence at all, but I'm really disappointed in this design.

It sounds like you have already made up your mind about the top LCD. Why did you bother to ask the question? Were you hoping that most people would agree with you, so you could feel good about this gripe? It seems like you're a bit miffed that most of us actually don't agree that this is a big deal.

I'm not miffed in the least, and I'm not looking for the approval of a bunch of strangers on the internet, so don't make that assumption. This isn't a contest, it's a question.

And the question was "... how long did it take for you R owners to get the muscle memory of hitting the Q button and looking at the back screen or looking through the eyepiece to check your camera's status instead? And is it, in general, an annoyance to not have that little LCD screen on the top deck any more?"

I was asking those who own a camera that I'm considering buying for some honest feedback about a feature that I think is missing. I didn't come here to "gripe," as you said. I came here for information from people who have made the change from one Canon body design to another.

Hope that helps.

As I mentioned previously, you can have the rear screen always display the settings, so you can glance at the rear screen instead of the top one