Numenorean wrote in post #14061977
It IS rather annoying. I have no clue why it needs a lock.
I am so happy to see the mode dial lock! Good job, Canon, adding it to the 5D series too! It's long overdue!
The reason it needs a lock is simple... That dial is way too easily bumped and mistakenly changed. Heck, Canon film cameras in the 1960s had locking dials to prevent accidentally mis-setting the various functions, IMO it's been absurd that its taken Canon so long to get around to doing the same on their modern DSLRs.
It's not a problem on the Rebel/Kiss/xxxD series, their mode dial is on the righthand shoulder of the camera and isn't so easily bumped. It's also not a problem on the 1D series, they don't have a dial at all, instead use buttons to change the same functions.
But on the all the xxD, 5D, 5DII and 7D, it's been a royal pain in the arse to not have that dial locking. It can be retrofitted on the 5DII and 7D... at a cost of about $120 per camera and roughly a week in the shop or going there and back in transit.
Here's an example where I see the problem occur... I often shoot with two cameras set up with different lenses... So one is hanging at my side on the strap some of the time and I'm switching back and forth between them as needed. I cannot tell you how many times I'll be making a quick switch trying to get a shot I see coming and then find that all I got was a series of seriously incorrect exposures because that damned dial got knocked to an incorrect setting. Sometimes I noticed the problem right away and fixed it... Other times I didn't notice immediately and have gone on shooting for a while. Either way, over the years I've had a lot of ruined shots due to what I considered poor design of the camera... Sometimes just a couple ruined shots, other times dozens of images.
Usually I've knocked it myself while carrying the camera(s). But I've also had other people brush the camera and knock it when shooting in crowded situations, even on rare occasion had it get bumped and changed while setting the camera down or picking it up, or pulling the gear in or out of my bag.
So I was very glad to see Canon add the lock to the mode dial of the 60D, am glad to see the 5DIII get it, and really hope they will continue to do so on all new models that have the prominent mode dial on the lefthand shoulder of the camera.
With cameras without the lock, I've gotten in the habit of slapping a piece of gaffer tape over the mode dial... That's a pretty "ghetto" way of accomplishing the same thing (I often tape buttons on my lenses, too, for the same reason). But gaffer tape is not very convenient whenever a setting change is needed, which happens fairly often with the camera (a lot less so with the lenses). And it looks like crap, a big chunk of tape over the dial.
Granted, other folks who shoot with a single camera and/or are not carrying it hanging from one shoulder probably don't see the mode dial problems so much. But, even for those folks, it's really no big deal to press the button to unlock the dial while turning it to a new setting. That still can very easily be done with one hand.
I'm reserving judgment on some of the other new buttons... I also don't see myself setting image ratings in camera with the Rate button... But, hey, who knows?
Perhaps not so much on the 5D series, but on 7D and some other models that are more sports/action oriented, I really wish that Canon would provide an "instant high speed burst" button, such as they did on the MA Motor Drive for the A1 and AE-1 Program, among other models, way back in the 1970s. That was a really nice feature! You could leave the camera set to shoot single frame most of the time, but also had immediate and direct access to the max frame rate when needed... Too often when shooting action, you simply don't have time to go in and reset the camera for the higher frame rate, so are forced to either leave it set to the high frame rate (sometimes accidentally ending up with extra shots) or leave in single shot mode (sometimes missing opportunities). Oh well, I leave my 7Ds set to 8 fps much of the time, so I'm ready if it's needed. Then I just try to be careful to trip only single shots when that's all thats needed, énd up deleting the extra accidental shots that inevitably happen. This just seems it would be a really useful feature to provide (certainly better than "Direct Print"!).
I've stopped whining about the lack of a Mirror Lockup button, now that all the cameras have Live View to essentially do the same thing.
P.S. I just love online translations from Japanese... they're hilarious! For example, "At first appearance, became plump EOS 5 d Mark II compared to overall design including button layout and unite the "EOS 7 d" flow. To garner about loosely with the EOS 7 d. Also, the peace of conventional growing grip of depth compared to machines have. Having so far this time, is a short time brought to shoot, never exhausting like." And, "In terms of holding goodness, maybe have a rubber lid part of the recording media slot to the EOS 5 d Mark II was to contribute. It's not to the EOS 7 d. It seems that and grew further support the right thumb back of stealth. Seemingly, larger than the EOS 5 d Mark II looks, only increased to 2.9 mm height, depth 1.4 mm for conventional aircraft compared with a rounded design of same width. Because 奢った approximately 100% coverage viewfinder, or the 50 g weight is increasing." Thank you Bing translator, for the chuckles! 
(Babel Fish translation failed... twice 
)
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