Back LCD as settings viewer, it's wining me over...

[timmciglobal]

So I've been playing with a friends XTi he just got. I hadn't really tried it mostly due to lost of the status lcd which I thought "that kills it for me" and I found something interesting...

I REALLY like the back LCD as a status display.

I don't know if I was alone in thinking that but once I tried it I found the information layout and the fact that nearly everything was listed in big letters proved quite nice. Changing modes or settings was easy and having "ISO 200" in practically half inch letters made it quite clear what I was selecting and then once you selected it the screen showed ISO 200 in the display info.

I'm not going to lie and say I think a 2nd LCD isn't nice but I'm very shocked at how well, and in fact how much better, this setup is then the XT's was. I'd say it's on par with 30D layout because you get more data on XTi's back LCD but you have to obviously look.

Anyone else have any thoughts?

Tim

[Merlin]

Never really got the use the 350D, so I dont really have any experience with that system. Regardless of that, I'm loving the 400D and the LCD status display. I was a bit worried about battery life at first, but it seems pretty decent anyway. :)

[Forced Perfect]

So I've been playing with a friends XTi he just got. I hadn't really tried it mostly due to lost of the status lcd which I thought "that kills it for me" and I found something interesting...

I REALLY like the back LCD as a status display.

I don't know if I was alone in thinking that but once I tried it I found the information layout and the fact that nearly everything was listed in big letters proved quite nice. Changing modes or settings was easy and having "ISO 200" in practically half inch letters made it quite clear what I was selecting and then once you selected it the screen showed ISO 200 in the display info.

I'm not going to lie and say I think a 2nd LCD isn't nice but I'm very shocked at how well, and in fact how much better, this setup is then the XT's was. I'd say it's on par with 30D layout because you get more data on XTi's back LCD but you have to obviously look.

Anyone else have any thoughts?

Tim

I dunno, I never really liked the above the LCD display idea on the Rebels. My wife's 300D (Digital Rebel) has the small LCD above the main display and I just don't find it's in a useful position, I rarely find myself looking at it unless I am changing a setting. I wouldn't mind the main display functioning as the status display (well, if they could cram a 511A into the 350D/400Ds).

Personally I like the top mount LCD on my G1.

[Nickcanada]

I find I never use the LCD display unless I'm checking battery life or photo shot counter, for setings I use the view finder display.

[RichNY]

Tim- Should we brace ourselves for another post about your new XTi? You've been averaging a new camera about every 8 weeks since I've been on the forum :D

[timmciglobal]

...

How about you read instead of making wise ass comments?

I don't own an XTi, I have a friend who does and I was playing with it.

I'm quite happy with my 30D.

Tim

[krzkrzkrz]

Tim,

I own a Canon 400D, I love the big LCD screen. Some have suggested that the screen would have looked better if the bg color was dark and the letters were light. However, the screen is just perfect, especially with the eye sensors that turn the LCD off when you look into the view-finder

Just my .02 cents

[RichNY]

...

How about you read instead of making wise ass comments?

I don't own an XTi, I have a friend who does and I was playing with it.

I'm quite happy with my 30D.

Tim

Wow- Where did that arrow come from? I was just joking with you that since you liked the feature 'Should we brace ourselves for another post about your new XTi?' as in you might end up buying one to play with or use.

I think you might have misread my post- I was responding to you as a friend- not taking a shot at you.

Rich

(And I'm quite happy with my 30D also, I just have a lot more I still need to learn about it.)

[timmciglobal]

Sorry, I misunderstood you then.

Tim

[Scott6]

Looking down the lens tells me everythign i need to know...

IMO it dosnt matter where the setting are sown (top LCD or back primary LCD) you will get used to either one you use.

[noyjimi]

Anyone else have any thoughts?

Tim

My $0.02 since I've actually shot with it (borrowed my brother's copy)... it seems to drain the battery (or maybe the 7xx mAh battery just sucks to start with), but the display is very nice/readable. IIRC, this display is the next generation one, an improvement over all lcds in the Canon lineup? Anyway, I've never had an LCD fail, but I'd probably feel a bit more comfy having the 2 separate displays.

[24Peter]

I actually didn't like the way the XTi uses the LCD as the camera display. For me the white background is too distracting. I turned the display off every chance I got. White letters/numbers on a black background would work better for me. Also, using half the LCD to display info would also make more sense (and use less battery.)