X100 - battery compartment - really a problem?

[Apteryx6]

Stupidly, I did forget it. My 2 stupid clone batteries have stupid arrows too, but I prefer going by the stupid rounded corner, which the stupid Fuji manual shows but stupidly doesn't mention.

Why am I suddenly thinking of a "Life of Brian" scene involving a Holy Gourd and a Holy Sandle?

But my heretical clone has reduced the holy arrow to a mere triangle, and entirely omitted the sacred words "Insert this way". And the arrow only reduces the 4 possible ways of inserting the battery to 2 (discouraging attempts to insert the battery with the terminals facing out). So the rounded corner is the One True Church!!

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Apteryx

 

[PurpleFringe]

but it would have taken so little effort to design it properly, so that inserting it incorrectly would be impossible.

Agreed.

If I have to read the manual to use a product, the product design is a failure.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/nameless-profile/

 

[gava]

If you are inserting the battery wrong half of the time then I think there's nothing for it but to return the camera for a refund.

If they ask why, just tell them that it's far too complicated for you. If they ask why you haven't opened the packet with the manual in it just tell them that if a product requires someone of your genius to read the manual then it's prima facie evidence of poor product design.

Please video the procedure and post it on youtube so that some good can come of your X100 experience.

but it would have taken so little effort to design it properly, so that inserting it incorrectly would be impossible.

Agreed.

If I have to read the manual to use a product, the product design is a failure.

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nameless-profile/

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X100 blog -> http://peri.org.uk/wp/?tag=blog

 

[PurpleFringe]

If you are inserting the battery wrong half of the time then I think there's nothing for it but to return the camera for a refund.

Why would I return a perfectly good camera just because the battery alignment isn't obvious? That be as silly as returning a Mac because I can't resize a window using the window borders, or returning a new car because the knobs are in the wrong place.

If they ask why, just tell them that it's far too complicated for you. If they ask why you haven't opened the packet with the manual in it just tell them that if a product requires someone of your genius to read the manual then it's prima facie evidence of poor product design.

If a product requires a person of average intelligence and general familiarity with the product to read the manual, then yes, that is prima facie evidence of poor product design.

When you fly into a city and rent a car you've never driven before, do you read all 300 pages of the owners manual before you leave the ramp? I don't. I get in and drive. If I can't find the lights & wipers, it's because a product UI designer put them in a non-obvious spot. Shame on them.

When I buy a new computer or phone, I don't read the manual. I turn it on an use it.

Cameras are a very mature product. The shutter button hasn't moved much in the last 50 years. Digital cameras are also very mature, and operationally very similar to one another. I expect that after having used one camera for a while (or after having driven one car for a while) I should be able to transition to another camera (or car) and not have to read the manual for basic operation of the camera (or car).

Please video the procedure and post it on youtube so that some good can come of your X100 experience.

but it would have taken so little effort to design it properly, so that inserting it incorrectly would be impossible.

Agreed.

If I have to read the manual to use a product, the product design is a failure.

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nameless-profile/

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X100 blog -> http://peri.org.uk/wp/?tag=blog

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/nameless-profile/

 

[frelwa]

Why am I suddenly thinking of a "Life of Brian" scene ...?

Apteryx, he's a very naughty boy.
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Fred
http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/6162434934

 

[gava]

Not addressed to you specifically, but I admit your post was a seed in a saturated solution.

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X100 blog -> http://peri.org.uk/wp/?tag=blog

 

[gava]

At least there are only 4 ways to insert the battery!

They could have made it quite a lot bigger and there might have been an almost infinite number of ways to insert it.
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X100 blog -> http://peri.org.uk/wp/?tag=blog

 

[dmartin92]

Not addressed to you specifically, but I admit your post was a seed in a saturated solution.

But thanks for this thread. The photos that were posted higher up, the curved edge, etc, it made me realize it's less of an issue than I thought.

Not having the camera yet myself, it's hard to know these things.

And it's a battery on the market already, for their "f31" or whatever cameras ?

I like it when the battery is shared by many different cameras, because then you still can buy new batteries 5 years later.

If they change the battery with every new camera, the camera will still work, but after a few hundred charge cycles, it wears out, and if it's the only camera in the world that uses that battery, you can't replace them.

 

[gava]

It's their NP95 battery, which Fuji reckon is the best compact battery they've ever made, hence the decision to use it in the X100.

Easy to get spares, and lots of cheapo 3rd party batteries.

Also battery life can be very reasonable depending on how you have the camera set up.

I mostly use the OVF and have auto-review switched off and once I have things set up for a session, dont' tend to fiddle with the menus very much. I easily get > 300 shots on a charge.

But it's possible to get

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X100 blog -> http://peri.org.uk/wp/?tag=blog

 

[tko]

Since making connectors, plugs, batteries, and other parts only fit in one way has been a basic ergonomic requirement for the last 50 years, and could be considered mandatory on any design, is mandatory on any military equipment, and is a part of an in-hour check list for most companies, I'd think Fuji failed their test.

It's actually a test.

People who can see how the shape of the Fuji battery matches the shape of the battery compartment pass the test.

 

[PurpleFringe]

They could have made it spherical.

"How can I insert thee, let me count the ways...oh way - I can't count that high..."


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