We had never really thought about revamping the typical button situation on our handheld cameras before, but this unique design from Paris-based designer Charlie Nghiem made us think twice–we actually featured it in our concept camera roundup. Most cameras now have some sort of dial near the shutter release button that allows users to easily switch from photo to video, auto to manual, etc. That dial has made life a lot easier for most camera users, so it would only make sense to add more dials, right? Well, that’s exactly what Nghiem did with his concept Rotor Digital Camera.
The Rotor Camera has the top dial that looks somewhat familiar to most of us, and then stacks seven other dials below that one to let users adjust all kinds of different settings like flash and focal distance. When users rotate one of the dials, a corresponding display will appear (as shown above with the ISO setting) on the camera’s screen. The cylinder of dials was also designed with ergonomics in mind, giving the user a better grip on the camera and easy access to the functional dials. We’re not sure if this would really be a good solution or not, but we’d sure love to try out a camera that employs this design. It would seem that the settings would be easier to access this way instead of knowing what settings each camera button corresponds to. However, more moving parts could mean more problems with wear-and-tear. Would you want a camera that used this many dials?
