Thom's comments on the G1X Mark III and Canon's APS-C sensors

Thom gave his thoughts on Canon's newest APS-C sensored camera, the G1X Mark III, and a bit of a condemning of Canon's ergonomics throughout the various lines.

I can't really say I disagree with that; the ergonomics between the powershots and the M series is all over the place, even the M5 to M6 has differing ergonomics. Canon needs to settle things down a bit and make it easier for muscle memory to pick up one of these cameras and use it without much thought.

The DSLR's have a fairly solid and marched forward progressing ergonomic path - you start from the Rebels, and as you move up the bodies, the ergonomics get more robust and usable for right handed control of your camera.  We don't see this path when looking at the G series or the M series camera, except in the most rudimentary of ways.  It really is a whimsical hot mess.

That being said, the M5 in my opinion has some of the best mirrorless ergonomics out there, you can simply do most operations without moving your eye from the viewfinder, but it's extremely unlike anything else from the Canon lineup - even it's own EOS-M lineup.

Thom's comments:

I have to wonder if there's dissension within the engineering teams at the big companies like Canon. The G1 X Mark III designers seem insistent upon using their ugly front-of-body dial that is totally unergonomic, while the EOS M5 designers came up with an almost Nikon-like approach of opposing front/rear dials, while the DSLR designers are sticking with the vertical front dial behind the shutter release and the rear dial being around the Direction Pad.

That's wrong. Totally wrong. Pick a style and stay with it. As I've written many, many times, serious photographers own multiple cameras. We hate it when those cameras have different ergonomic designs and we have to think about which camera we have in our hands and what controls do what.

Read more from Thom at sansmirror.com