Inside Story
Giving a shape to ease-of-use
Various settings are possible
from a single ADJ cross button.
"Ease of use" is inseparable with tool design. With the R8, all sorts of efforts were made with the internal layout and design to make newly added features easy to operate. "A major feature is that the two cross buttons and levers of the Caplio R7 were integrated into a single ADJ (adjust) cross lever and placed in an easy-to-operate location with the R8," tells Okuda. Integrating various features into a single button reduced the confusion of what operation to perform and where. The team was adamant about the ease of use of the ADJ cross lever.
Kimura lined up several small plastic buttons on the table. There must have been more than twenty. "These are the buttons that were prototyped to determine the shape of the ADJ cross button," tells Kimura. All of them were different and served to decide which size was best, whether a flat face was good or not, whether adding dots around the button was good or not, how many dots would be best, etc. "We mounted them on the camera one by one and had a number of the staff actually operate them, from which we chose the easiest to operate," recounts Kimura. That one was slightly raised at the center and surrounded by dots.
Numerous buttons were prototyped and tested to determine the shape of the ADJ cross button.
A sense of "reliability" when operated
"We tested and tested how the button felt when operated," tells Kimura. "It was necessary to have movement and touch that would tell you that the button had been operated," adds Kimura. It is possible to make buttons that can be operated with minimal force. But, to deliver a convincing feel that the button had been in fact operated, button operation requires a little weight. "We of the design staff are always dealing with research themes that seek actual numbers for sensuous descriptions, such as to quantify that weight numerically," explains Kimura.
The R8 started a new trend in digital cameras.
The design team pursued a "camera that looks and acts like a camera" in many other small details such as a lens ring with trimmed metal so as to attach the neck strap into two places. It is not flashy, yet the R8 draws eyes. It may be its "overall strength" that makes its simplicity liked. Okuda pointed out that "This design that we came up with is the result of reflecting the fervid wishes and opinions of users." In the prototype stage, professional cameramen and users were asked their opinion in order to build the thoughts of both the manufacturer and user into the camera. The R8 has started a new trend in compact digital cameras today.
