D-pads on many cameras have a life of their own and I sometimes wonder why a better idea hasn’t been found. They lurk under the ball of the thumb and perform unwanted tasks and adjustments when you least expect them. The problem is common to many mirrorless cameras, including those from Sony, Fuji and Leica compacts. With some it is possible to disable the buttons of the D-pad, especially the top and right-hand controls which are most vulnerable. I performed this surgery on the new Fuji X-T10 as soon as it left its box. Here is another trigger happy little D-pad, but the ability to disable the buttons is welcome.
Leica compacts, such as the X and the X Vario, present a greater challenge. The X Vario has one of the most trigger happy and capricious direction pads in captivity. Frustratingly, there is no menu option to disable these annoying controls.
My Australian friend John Shingleton of The Rolling Road had confirmation of this aberration last weekend when he grabbed some impressive shots at the Shannons Classic 2015 meeting at Sydney Motorsport Park.
John is an aficionado of the five-year-old X1, as he has written about on MacFilos. He also bought an X Vario for greater focal-length versatility and for its magnificent image quality, although it isn’t quite the daily companion that he hoped. He did discover that the D-Pad on the XV irritates big time and the weekend only confirmed his first impressions. On the Shannons Classic outing he lost count of the times he inadvertantly triggered delayed action or exposure compensation. It’s a problem all X Vario owners complain about whenever the camera comes up in conversation.
We have both tried workarounds such as using a leather half case or, even, a thumb grip but nothing can keep the ball of the right thumb away from that wayward hooligan pad.
Another reader, John Nicholson, believes that it should be possible to create an accessory that protects the D-pad and physically keeps the ball of the thumb at bay.
His first prototype is a little inelegant as he readily admits. It’s purely a quick and dirty mockup. But, he reports, it does the trick in keeping that D-Pad in check. Bodgers of the world will love it as it is, but there is a germ of an idea here. Something like a designer stick-on corn plaster is needed and, if John N’s evidence is anything to go by, it could work.
Â
Mike , the Clearviewer looks like a neat idea however by coincidence I have already tried it .A friend,has two Sigma fixed lens Merrill cameras -one 21mm and one 35mm if I remember correctly and he has a Clearviewer for them.
The problem is that you don’t press the camera against your face as you do with a viewfinder (and as I have done for the past 40 years apart from the Hasselblad and I even have a prism finder for that) so you just press your eye against the potruding lens.
It seems odd, unnatural and like something I see Ansel Adams using if he were alive today.
The EVF is a pain in terms of cluttering the camera but it does have benefits-I took a few shots last weekend using it as a right angle viewfinder and it works well for that.
I guess I just want my Leicas to look and behave like the premium priced pieces of precision engineering they should be and adding bits of Heath Robertson inspired engineering offends my sensibilities.
John
therollingroad.blogspot.com
Thanks so much for the article on the XV D-pad. I haven’t yet aligned myself with a metal worker, jeweller or the like, but my prototype has transformed my relationship to the X Vario. A further transformation has been to abandon the add-on electronic viewfinder and buy a tripod bush mounted "clearviewer" instead. (http://www.clearviewer.com) So I do now have the most compact and best-functioning XV on the scene!
I’ve just spent the morning "stiffening up" the wayward aperture dial on my X1 with a thin shim made from plastic food packaging. Much better!
Wow! Bodgers of the world unite. I would like some photos of this. I have a few old Marks & Spencer packets around the house. How is the X1 now it has arrived? Up to expectations? Again, a photo would be good.
Mike
Think of a clear plastic washer, with the same outer diameter as the aperture dial. You can remove this dial easily by undoing the small offset screw on the top. The plastic washer needs a hole of the same diameter as the post normally covered by the dial. Slide the washer over the post, refit the dial and your done. The washer just introduces some friction between the cameras top plate and the aperture dial. I haven’t done the same with the shutter dial, as I change settings more regularly and find it less susceptible to accidental knocks.
How can I get pictures to you?
Here’s one of my first test shots. Zone focus and f/8 as usual!
https://flic.kr/p/xgBbui
Sounds interesting and I will have to experiment. I can see there isn’t much to see so a photograph might not help. Thanks for the link–nice shot.
Mike
Trevor , why F8? My understanding is that the camera and lens are optimised to operate at F2.8 with the lowest possible ISO and the minimum shutter speed you have selected as the default.
I have been using my X1 for 5 years and most of my shots are at F2.8 .See my X1 shots on my blog -therollingroad.blogspot.com or on https://www.flickr.com/photos/118763778@N03/
My earlier reply somehow got lost? I won’t type it all again. Basically, I prefer to set up my cameras as manual point & shoots, using zone focus. In this way I can more quickly respond to situations unfolding before me on the streets.
For what it’s worth, I also use slower apertures a lot for street photography because, as Treve says, absolutely precise focus is less critical and it makes zone focus techniques viable. At f/2.8 on the X1 the depth of field is restricted and accurate focus becomes essential. Often, too, in street scenes focus separation is not desirable. On the other hand, as John says, keeping the ISO low and the shutter speed high enough is a good technique. I find that in bright conditions it is possible to use a narrow aperture with a fast-enough speed without bumping up the ISO.
Thanks Mike. In daylight situations I tend to set ISO 400, then adjust shutter speed between 60 – 1000 as appropriate to changing light conditions. You soon get used to it.