I wrote:
> >Just say "no" to PASM. :(
Moose responded:
> Sounds like a personal problem?
As I've stated before, I personally prefer traditional controls
(aperture rings, shutter speed ring/dial) that has an "Auto"
position for that particular control. There have been a few
very good implementations of that through the years as well as a
few dorky ones.
Where PASM (and limited variants) do have advantages is being
able to set an exposure manually and being able to flip a switch
to pop into auto or program modes. The OM-2S is probably the
premier example of this. Going back and forth quickly between
modes does have an advantage with PASM.
However, to me, a major drawback of PASM is the non-dedicated
controls for aperture and shutterspeed. These wheels and dials
are compromise multipurpose controls (kinda like computer mice)
that require visual confirmation of selected/desired setting. I
truely miss having an aperture ring on the ZD lenses.
Every once in a while these things do become cyclical. Case in
point would be viewfinders. I've railed against the
gutwrenching viewfinders of DSLRs and have been told "get over
it" and "who needs IMAX viewfinders with AF". Well,
lo-and-behold those same people are now praising the daylights
out of the Canon 5D's wonderful viewfinder and how much better
it is than what we're used to.
Hello! Where have you been? In the mad rush towards digital
we've accepted the compromised and cost-cutting design
limitations as "features" and "it's the way it's supposed to be"
in our digital world where anything is fixable in Photoshop.
PASM was developed to address the desire to remove a mechanical
control from the lens for engineering reasons--not because it's
a vast improvement in the user-interface. This, however, forced
the continued betterment of the auto-exposure systems and
various program modes, as well as easily accessible
exposure-compensation controls.
Again, not unlike Auto-focus. Imagine having a zillion-point AF
system and needing to have focus-point selection controls. Why?
Because the focus rings on the lenses are either non-existent
or so lousy that they are unusable. Besides, without any
focusing aid in the viewfinder, it's near impossible to manually
focus on many modern DSLRs.
Not all technological advancements are improvements.
AG
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