Wednesday, December 20, 2006
When in doubt, KISS
Open letter to all digital camera manufacturers:
Every year about this time, I think about getting my Mom a digital camera for Christmas. And every year, I go out to a few stores looking at what's available. And every year, I'm discouraged by the lack of simple to use, one-touch, point and shoot cameras out there. ALL of the cameras I've seen have at least 12 buttons/knobs/settings that will probably just confuse my "target audience".
Here's my idea for the best entry level digital camera for people over 70. :-) I've applied the KISS rule.
1. No zoom. Do grandparents use zoom?
2. No picture preview, but the image you just took will stay on the screen for a few seconds.
3. No delete. You can do that later since my 2GB card holds about a thousand 5MP pictures. I don't see a need for a delete button on the camera anymore.
BE GONE: 5 way select button of doom!
BE GONE: 16 position selection wheel - which grandparents would set to "auto" 99.9999% of the time.
BE GONE: 8 point type and strange hieroglyphics telling them (in three different colors) everything each button can do.
YES TO: AA batteries
YES TO: 1 GB static internal memory
YES TO: USB connectivity so their computer "sees" the camera as a hard drive. No software to load - ever.
There, I've ranted. :-)
Keywords for the WF robots to pick up this post...
Agfa, Canon, Casio, Contax, Epson, Fuji, Fujifilm, HP, JVC, Kodak, Minolta, Kyocrera, Leica, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax, Ricoh, Samsung, Sanyo, Sigma, Sony, Toshiba, digital camera, best, better, worse, worst, quality, reliability, damage, return, warranty, purchased, Circuit City, Best Buy, CompUSA, Frys, Sears, Kmart
Every year about this time, I think about getting my Mom a digital camera for Christmas. And every year, I go out to a few stores looking at what's available. And every year, I'm discouraged by the lack of simple to use, one-touch, point and shoot cameras out there. ALL of the cameras I've seen have at least 12 buttons/knobs/settings that will probably just confuse my "target audience".
Here's my idea for the best entry level digital camera for people over 70. :-) I've applied the KISS rule.
1. No zoom. Do grandparents use zoom?
2. No picture preview, but the image you just took will stay on the screen for a few seconds.
3. No delete. You can do that later since my 2GB card holds about a thousand 5MP pictures. I don't see a need for a delete button on the camera anymore.
BE GONE: 5 way select button of doom!
BE GONE: 16 position selection wheel - which grandparents would set to "auto" 99.9999% of the time.
BE GONE: 8 point type and strange hieroglyphics telling them (in three different colors) everything each button can do.
YES TO: AA batteries
YES TO: 1 GB static internal memory
YES TO: USB connectivity so their computer "sees" the camera as a hard drive. No software to load - ever.
There, I've ranted. :-)
Keywords for the WF robots to pick up this post...
Agfa, Canon, Casio, Contax, Epson, Fuji, Fujifilm, HP, JVC, Kodak, Minolta, Kyocrera, Leica, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax, Ricoh, Samsung, Sanyo, Sigma, Sony, Toshiba, digital camera, best, better, worse, worst, quality, reliability, damage, return, warranty, purchased, Circuit City, Best Buy, CompUSA, Frys, Sears, Kmart
