I realised some years ago that, with photography, I thrive on limitations.
Anything newer than perhaps a circa 2012 DSLR is just too complicated and feature laden for my tastes.
Instead I prefer to lean the other way.
Rather than having a camera where 101 parameters and settings can be adjusted independently – then disappearing down the rabbit hole(s) of constantly fiddling with them – I like having far fewer settings, but then exploring how they can be used creatively to get the results – and the experience – I most enjoy.
My recent addition, the humble little Pentax Optio E90, is an excellent illustration of this.
A few weeks and a few hundred photos in, I’ve uncovered some of the charms of its limitations.
A significant one is it has a step zoom. And remembers it when you power off.
One of my all time favourite cameras is the Ricoh GX100, for so many reasons. A standout feature for me is how its 24-72mm zoom adjusts in set increments – 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 72mm.
The last one aside, these are very familiar focal lengths to (ex)film shooters. With step zoom enabled, each time you touch the zoom button it steps to the next one in the series, and conveniently displays it on screen.
Even better, you can set the zoom position as one of the settings it remembers in one of the two “custom” modes on the main dial.
So if you want to forget you’re using a zoom lens (which I usually do) a 35mm lens for most of your photography, and 24mm for certain occasions, but everything else set up the same, you can simply assign one of the custom settings to 35mm, the other to 24mm. And never touch the zoom control. Brilliant.
The Optio E90 is a much simpler and less expensive camera, but with a little experimenting, the principle is the same.
Rather than one of those zooms with 20 or more tiny increments, the Optio starts at 1.0x, then with each press of the Tele end of the zoom button goes to 1.2x, 1.5x, 1.9x, 2.4x and finally 3.0x. And unlike most digital compacts I’ve used, it displays this magnification number on screen.
(I have other cameras that give the “1.2x” etc readout but then there are multiple steps where it says the same magnification, so it’s an approximate number, covering a range of focal lengths. The beauty of the Optio is it only has six positions on the zoom, each with a unique magnification number displayed.)
Knowing from the manual that its lens went from 5.7mm to 17.1mm, which in 35mm equivalent terms is 31mm to 94mm, I took a picture at each of the six steps, with the intention of reading the EXIF data to see what focal length the lens was at each step, then converting to its 35mm equivalent.
As it happens, the EXIF actually also stores the 35mm equivalent anyway, so I didn’t need to do the maths.
So we have 1.0x = 31mm, 1.2x = 39mm, 1.5x = 49mm, 1.9x = 61mm, 2.4x = 76mm and 3.0x = 94mm.
These aren’t the familiar 35mm equivalents the Ricoh GX100 was designed with, but still, I know that if I’m at the widest its 31mm, 1.2x is 39mm and 1.5x is 49mm.
It’s unlikely I’ll zoom beyond this.
And in fact in practice the last few outings, I have stuck almost exclusively with the 1.2x setting, 39mm, which takes the edge of the some of the perspective distortion you get at 31mm, but still keeps the aperture reasonably fast, at a maximum f/3.2 (it’s only f/2.9 at 31mm).
In addition, this little Pentax has an intelligent setting in the menus called “Memory” where you can tell it which settings to either remember or reset to the default, when you power down.
One of these is “zoom position”.
Because I like to set up a camera a certain way then use that as a base default every time I switch it on, I’ve also ticked everything else on the Memory screen.
The main ones I’ve set different to the camera’s default are ISO100, zoom 1.2x (39mm), macro focus (down to 0.1m), and flash disabled.
So now each time I grab the camera and push the power button, it’s ready to go in a second, with zero fiddling about with settings on my part. Bliss!
Keeping the ISO at 100 also serves two purposes, related to my choice of zoom at 39mm.
First, it means the camera will produce its “best” and cleanest pictures.
Now I’ve been known to deliberately up the ISO to make digital pictures less perfect, especially with very capable cameras like my Pentax K30 or Lumix GF1, which at their lowest ISO make images just too perfect.
But the Optio E90 is nothing like as sophisticated as those cameras, and its lens and sensor are much smaller, so its ISO100 output still has its flaws.
I just don’t want any further flaws that higher ISOs would bring.
The second reason I use ISO100 is so the camera (which only has P/Program mode, not Aperture or Shutter Priority) uses the largest aperture most of the time.
This means it sucks in more light and can keep the shutter speed from dropping to sub-hand shake levels (no Image Stabilisation or anything similar here of course either) as often as possible.
In fact I already discovered that like a few other digital compacts I’ve tried before, the Optio E90 only has two aperture settings.
This varies as you zoom in, but the principle remains.
So at 1.2x zoom, 39mm, at ISO100, for 90% of shots the E90 will choose the maximum f/3.2. If you then shoot into a bright sky for example, it drops right down to f/9.9.
Basically I think it uses the widest aperture until it reaches the maximum shutter speed, then drops to f/9.9 and selects the next appropriate shutter speed.
Kind of like riding a bike with two cogs on the pedals and five or more on the rear wheel.
If you start with the small cog on the front, and reach the smallest cog on the rear and your legs are spinning out and you need more speed, you have the bigger sprocket on the front to switch to, to give you another set of higher gears.
The gear ratios will overlap, but to use the highest gear you need to be on the biggest cog at the front, and for the lowest gear you need the smallest cog at the front. Same with the Optio’s two aperture settings.
With this knowledge (about the Optio’s aperture selection, not about bike gears!), I’m assured that for the vast majority of shots the camera is at f/3.2, adjusting the shutter speed as required to get the right exposure.
This maximises depth of field, which is vital with such a tiny sensor, and still relatively wide focal length (39mm).
Of course again there are limitations and you’re not going to get the same kind of subject isolation and depth of field as a camera with a larger sensor and faster lens and closer focusing, like my Ricoh GR Digital III.
But relatively speaking, it still means some pleasingly shallow depth of field is possible with the Optio, in the right conditions.
Another feature I’ve discovered with the Optio E90, is it has “Digital Filters”.
This is similar to my Pentax Q (and indeed the Rioch GR Digital III with its Cross Processing mode for example) which I’ve experimented with, in pictures like this.
With the Optio you can’t apply the settings before you take the image, only after. But it’s an interesting option for shooting black and white or with a cross processed look, without the need for external post processing.
And you know me, zero processing wherever possible – that’s a big reason I use these old CCD sensor cameras.
I’ll write more about any further explorations down this road in a later post.
How about you? Do you like a camera with a hundred bells and whistles? Or do you prefer something much simpler that you can lean into and experiment, learning its ways to get the best from it over time?
As always, please let us know in the comments below (and don’t forget to tick the “Notify me of new comments via email” box to follow the conversation).
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35hunter 
Great review Dan. One of the best I’ve seen about this camera. I didn’t know about the zoom features, because I don’t usually use zoom on this camera. But, yes, the filters work just like the Pentax K-10D (which I want to think both these cameras where made about the same time, so might use a similar menu).
By the way (I forgot to say), gorgeous imagery!
Oh thanks, always appreciated! I’ve been pleased with what I’ve been able to eek out of the little Optio so far.
Thanks Frank, well it was you that put me on to the E90.
I never used to zoom with a zoom lens but as I said above, some cameras are just a bit too wide for me at their widest, so if there’s a way I can easily use them at a less wide zoom, and not have to play around with the zoom control to get it every time (in other words, “set and forget” it) I’m all for it.
The Optio E90 seemed a pretty cheap and consumer grade camera when new, but trust Pentax to give it a decent lens, sensor, body and some really useful features like the zoom memory.
The doo-dads could be nice if I wanted to tap into all of them I suppose….. what I like most about the bells and whistles on some of my modern cameras is how they give me latitude to move functions around different places (e.g., I can put my controls for ISO in 2 or 3 different places), I have some choice about my ergonomics. After that, I feel like I tend to use the same controls and rely on the same basic principles, when I taking kinds of pictures I like to make.
Yes, the Ricoh GX100 I mentioned, and to a greater extent the GR Digital III have a vast range of customisation, including a little toggle button where you can assign your most used settings (like ISO, exposure priority, focus etc) in any combination and order. Plus the custom “MY” settings on the main mode dial. It takes a bit of work and studying of the manual to get them set up initially, but once you have, then they become essentially a very intuitive and simple point and shoot.
I think I initially learned on a Nikon D50; now I have a Nikon D5500 and a recently acquired used D60. Recently I’ve decided to just use the D60 (the vastly less advanced body, which happens to be CCD, possibly one of the later ones Nikon built apparently) but to learn it in and out completely with a guidebook until I know a lot more about cameras in general as a self-teaching method. I’ll go back to the D5500 I think once I’ve done that, but I doubt I’m going to let the D60 sit on the shelf forever afterwards just because I have a more advanced mode (it’s really grown on me a lot in a short span of time), and ideally I’ll have learned a lot that’ll transfer over- and then I’ll repeat the guidebook process.
I am a big fan of at least learning with limitations. They’re also fun to impose on yourself too, especially if you’re in a rut.
Thanks Adam. I’ve looked at those CCD Nikons like the D40 and D60 so many times, but what’s stopped me is 1. I’d have to buy at least one compatible lens which would cost about double what the camera does and 2. I have all the CCD DSLR options I need with my three Pentax ones, and a range of K mount and M42 lenses.
I like these old Pentax DSLRs for very similar reasons, ie they’re simple to use and I don’t think I’ve needed to go to the manual for any of them. Contrast with my later K30, which is a lovely and highly capable camera, but it’s just a bit too complicated. I guess I could just whack it on program mode and use a late AF lens, and point and shoot, but then you still have the bulk of a DSLR when I could get pics I’m as happy with (and have enjoyed making more) with a simpler camera.
Makes sense, and to each their own. I have a lot of trouble with anything smaller than a DSLR (I think they’re just the right weight for me to hold with my minor tremor, and I hate not using a viewfinder with a passion for reasons unknown to me). I’ll admit I got the D60 rather than another body because I already had several Nikon lenses from the D5500.
Yeh I think that’s why I’ve ended up with four DSLRs that are all of the same mount (Pentax K) – and three of these are very similar in use and performance! Rather than having a Pentax, a Nikon, a Canon and a Sony, for example, then needing different lenses for each.
I think because I started photography with a phone camera in the mid 2000s, it was years later until I first used a viewfinder. So as wonderful as it is looking through a great VF (especially with a film SLR), I still find it more natural/normal to frame with a screen. And as my eyes start to deteriorate I’ve found using a VF tires them very quickly too.
In answer to your question about ´a camera with a hundred bells and whistles’ I suspect you already know how (perhaps) most of your readers/followers will answer.
And that is -generally – less is more.
Up to the minute electronic – goods including cameras – are often initially bought for the things they can do.
But in reality how many programmes on your washing machine (or even TV) – do you regularly use.
We have our favourites and use those.
Clearing out some of my photographic bits and pieces – so as to make space and also justify buying more to myself – I came across two old Canon digitals a Powershot G11 with the typical ‘Lens error’ not used for 10 years and a 20 year-old Powershot G5 found in a charity shop when the G11 went U/S; the later proudly proclaiming it 5 mp sensor.
Both powered up straight away and I was hoping to use them again. But sadly the G11 with its stuck lens and the G5 with a broken screen means this won’t happen – at least for the moment.
I love my three (more modern but still no longer current Lumix digitals.
But I was looking forward to the digital equivalent of putting a 620 film through a 90 year-old film camera…
As has been said many times and in many different ways, creativity comes from having restrictions imposed and coming up with ideas to push the boundaries of those restrictions.
Yes, and another aspect I love in a world of hyper fast technological advances and planned obsolescence, is resurrecting a (digital) camera from 10 or 15 years ago that 95% of people would write of as hopelessly out of date so next to useless, then making lovely images with them, and giving them a new lease of life.
Exactly James!
In this world when ‘creative’ for many is a button-push or screen tap away we can end up with the same ‘creativity’ – although perhaps applied to a different subject – as many other individuals.
Perhaps we should see broken viewing screens and low mp counts not as barriers but bridges to reminding ourselves of or developing our own skills. After all, a good photographer is a good photographer with a top of the range Leica or a simple pon-hole camera because they see what they want to achieve and use the limitations of their particular camera to either achieve it or achieve something different, something with a ‘wow’ factor.
Which after all is what most of us are trying to achieve most of the time.
Slow photography is slow and ‘mindful’ for a reason.
Yes Richard, I’m all for slow photography!
Apologies Dan – I called you ‘James’ by mistake.
You see that red glow on the horizon?
That me being embarrassed.
No worries Richard!