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The Elegance of Function

March 6th, 2007 by pale_whites

d50.jpg

I don’t hold the view that ‘Form Follows Function‘ but rather ‘Form Follows Function Follows Form‘. What I mean by this is that an object has to have form before we can assess its function. Just think about a hammer; I would argue that it’s design evolved to its current form after it had been used to knock in nails.

Those things recognised as having a beautiful form, and that function well, probably started off looking quite ugly.

In manufacturing this is known as the prototype period. The stage when lots and lots of iterations take place and the form is refined [along with the function].

I recently used a Nikon D50 digital SLR camera. My initial reaction was that it looked odd with its asymmetric grip and multitude of buttons. Previously I had compared it with the sleek compact cameras available and considered it too big and, for want of a better word, ‘lumpy’.

In use though the D50’s design makes sense. The controls that seem like some form of duplication are logical when the camera is held to the face and used. Buttons can be reached and the size ang weight mean it can be held more steadily and comfortably. With the use of different lenses the camera can perform at it’s best in a variety of situations where a compact cameras function is compromised.

The D50 along with all Nikon cameras represent the current level in evolution of form. But these forms definitely follow function…but in an elegant way.

Other things I like about the D50;

  • Manual zoom - saves battery.
  • Fast picture transfer from the camera to my Apple MacBook.
  • No movie mode - this is a pure camera.
  • Manual overides for just about everything.
  • Quality construction.
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3 Responses to “The Elegance of Function”

  1. on 13 Mar 2007 at 10:50 am1 jez

    Hi Steve,

    Have you splashed out on one of these now then?

    I have the silver version but I wish it was black, I bought it in an airport and it was handed over as I got on the plane, so I could not change it, my wife was pleased, she prefers the silver…

    What lens pack did you get with it?

    As for your theme of “elegant design” sod that! this camera takes great pic’s and IMO is the best entry level SLR around, or was at the time I bought one.

    Cant comment on the software, I use a flash card reader and never bother installing software for cameras.

  2. on 14 Mar 2007 at 11:34 am2 pale_whites

    Yes

    I do have one. I hope to use it to photograph some architecture, nature, and of course; gadgets.

    The first thing I did was photograph my old camera for eBay.

    I does take great pictures but my point about the elegant solution to the design of the body was that it best matches the functions that the users will use.

    I got a kit lense BTW.

  3. on 16 Mar 2007 at 12:28 am3 Jez

    Hi Steve, I was only teasing you about the design:-)

    I don’t think the comparison to compacts is valid though, SLR’s are a very different animal.

    You are right about the usability and comfort though, its very ergonomic.

    I will be getting some more lenses in the future, I wish we had got one of the lense packs when we bought it, it would have been a lot cheaper.

    On a different note I just posted on a couple of firefox plug ins you may be interested in, a code editor and FTP client embedded into the browser (tabs), you may already be using them….

    Jez

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