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While it’s certainly possible to hold the camera in one hand, it has such an awkward shape, and the controls are so inconveniently placed, that it is virtually impossible to hold it steady or to move it smoothly. No matter how you position your fingers the shape of the case refuses to sit in a comfortable position. There’s just nothing to get a grip on, and as a result the camera jiggles about whenever you try to press the shutter release or operate the zoom control, producing blurred pictures and shaky video. In the end you have to hold it two-handed, the right hand holding the main camera body while the left hand steadies it by holding the swing-out section carrying the LCD. If you’re left-handed then you’re going to have to learn yoga or something, because there is nothing on the right to hold onto.

There are other problems associated with the design as well. There is a jog dial located around the D-pad, which is used for in shooting mode to adjust exposure compensation and in playback mode for scrolling through your pictures. However it is far too sensitive, so it is very easy to accidentally brighten or darken your pictures, and extremely difficult and frustrating to scroll through your recorded images one at a time.

The rotating body also doubles as a power switch, but it is spring loaded so that it flips out with just a slight push. Unfortunately since there is no way of latching it shut it also has a tendency to flip open and switch itself on while in your pocket.

The control interface is also not-standard, and I personally found it to be extremely counter-intuitive, although to be fair this may be because I am so used to handling more conventionally designed cameras. The ‘mode’ button, rather than accessing different shooting modes as one might expect, instead activates the playback mode. Other controls are also just as puzzling. Spot metering gets its own dedicated button, as does recorded image size, but other options such as ISO, white balance and focus mode require a visit to the menu system. The menu itself is also rather confusing, with some options greyed out until other options have been activated. For example activating the multi-burst mode allows access to a separate menu choice for the frame rate. Wouldn’t it have been easier and less confusing to make the frame rate a sub-menu of the multi-burst mode option?

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