Where is digital camera tech heading ???

[Fish Chris]

They must be hitting the wall with the mega-pixel race by now.

I know they are working hard on better high ISO performance.

But what other improvements might we see in say 3 years ? (about when I'll be ready for another one ;)

....or 5 or 10 or 20 years ?

And while I'm here... where do you think the trends will go regarding the crop factors ? Do you think FF, and 1.6 will both always be available ?

Do you think 3D photography will ever get popular ?

Have you heard of any other seemingly far-fetched ideas that could actually become reality ?

Just curious,
Fish


Oh ! Hey ! I have sunlight light behind me.... and a day off of work :) Guess what I'm fixing to go do ? Whooo Hooo ! :)

[doubledragon]

I think consumers will continue to push the development of unnecessary features like HD video, and AF/IQ/noise performance will continue to take a back seat to the gimmicks.

[tkbslc]

I think consumers will continue to push the development of unnecessary features like HD video, and AF/IQ/noise performance will continue to take a back seat to the gimmicks.

That implies that AF/IQ/Noise performance development has been hampered by the addition of video. I would say that is not true. Look at the 7D and the new 1Dmk4

[Lowner]

I don't think they have scratched the surface yet. There are years and years of development ahead and who knows where that will lead.

As development continues, it may well be that the 35mm frame size, the so called full frame, will cease to be. But I see it surviving in the foreseeable future, what happens after that is anyones guess.

[erickboileau]

There are years and years of development ahead and who knows where that will lead.
yes but to do what ?

actually there is a Leaf MFDB 25 to 400 ISO and 22 MP only , I find it much more interesting

[RWatkins]

1. Systems that have the dynamic range of the human eye and beyond.
2. More direct print buttons
3. More lame direct print button jokes.

[Lowner]

Unless Canon wake up to the fact that almost* no one uses "that damn button", then we have a responsibility to keep reminding them.

* I would have said no one, but recently there was a thread where the OP loved it. Takes all sorts.

Not limited by technology because Canon could do this right now, but what I'd really love is to have every button on the camera able to be customIsed to individual preferences. Want the DoF button to do FEL instead? Or perhaps the AF point selection on the grip? Custom Function XYZ on "that damn button"? Whatever you like Sir!

[erickboileau]

I have 2 printers , I need 2 buttons :-)

[jaykilgore]

I have 2 printers , I need 2 buttons :-)

You're awfully demanding.
:D

[Darkwand]

Direct to print button?
WTH, is this serious?

[erickboileau]

Direct to print button?
WTH, is this serious?

of course ! :mrgreen:

[Darkwand]

Maybe it's to make the film guys happy and not feel outrun by technology.
Here's a print of your photo that hasn't been reviewed or edited properly before you print it. :rolleyes:

[angel0fmars]

Probably going to go to 3D in the next 10-20 years, but for the near future it's probably going to be new features like even-better-resolution-than-HD video or maybe enough processing power for 10 direct print buttons. On a more serious note, crop sensor cameras might take over. Hey, look at how the 7D is doing with 18MP. On the other hand, full frame SLR prices might go down (manufacturing efficiency is better) so that people on a budget can still get the nice image quality of full frame. But by then 3D would probably be today's 1Ds mkIV or something.

Dreaming is free :P

[Ricku]

Direct to print button?
WTH, is this serious?
You... have never seen a direct print button?

Omg, its like the most important thing on cameras!

[Lowner]

Canon obviously think so.

[erickboileau]

and Canon think that a MLU button is for the middle age

[Lowner]

No, Canon like to mess with our heads, burying the MLU so deep that unless the manual (and a microscope to read it with) is available, no one can ever find it. Its mythical, like the Unicorn, or noiseless high ISO.

I see the new 1D4 has a little MLU icon for the bottom LCD. Still no button, but we do get the dinky little icon! And even on Canons pro bodies we are still offered direct print. How weird is that?

[Karl Johnston]

In 10 years I expect the phase one p.60 to be in every soccer moms hands at 15 fps, with articulating screens and video mode ;)

With THREE hotshoe mounts.

[Lowner]

We have gone from 8MP (30D) to 16mp (1D4) in what, 3 years/4 years? Lets assume the tech race speeds up as this is still early days in digital development. Possibly double the speed?

If the 1Ds4 does come with 32MP as many seem to think it will, then in ten years time theres an outside chance we might have a 200MP full frame camera. It will need some seriously high res and thus seriously expensive glass but I gather that's already being addressed.

I'd hazard a guess that a smaller and cheaper format will exist in some form.

[jdizzle]

I think the biggest thing in new tech is pushing the boundaries of high ISOs. Even now with the current 1D MK IV, it is doing just that. ISO 6400 is the new ISO 800. We'll soon see in the future that ISO 25,600 will be as clean as ISO 800. That would be amazing! :)

[ksufiji]

Whatever it may be it will be cool... but I can promise you that every camera will have a compromise. Speed = lower IQ, IQ = slow speed. That is until the 1DS mark XXIV

[Lowner]

According to a recent AP survey of it's readership, very high ISO performance is not an important requirement.

[erickboileau]

an EVF 1Ds Mark IV

[jdizzle]

According to a recent AP survey of it's readership, very high ISO performance is not an important requirement.
For pro users it is. Survey schmurvey!! :);)

[Lowner]

Canon cannot make enough profit from a sub-section of pro 'togs who need the high ISO's. The bottom line is driven by cameras that appeal to the users upgrading from camera phones to P&S, or from there to low to mid end dSLR's. The AP readership represents a halfway house between those and the high end users, the bottom end don't even know what ISO means.

[Spacemunkie]

Electronic viewfinders/solid state tech have got to happen at some point in the future. Sensors with much wider DR will certainly evolve. Perhaps some sort of development that captures a whole series of aperture settings in one shot and stores it as part of the EXIF (or whatever it might end up as...) making DOF controllable in post. Huge and continuing gains in video resolution (to drive the sale of TVs and other consumer electronics) giving us the option to produce decent prints from video stills. I'd also like the ability to produce IR shots in camera through some sort of digital filtering doohickey...

[Jannie]

I'm waiting until we see the new iCamera

[PIXmantra]

According to a recent AP survey of it's readership, very high ISO performance is not an important requirement.

This should not be a surprise.

What's happening here is past a given ISO point, when you take into account stage/scene lights + optics + truly required shutter speeds, etc., there is a point (an ISO thresholds) past which the # images that require to be captured at ISOs beyond that threshold drops dramatically.

Such boundary is a moving target between ISo6400 to ISo12800, approx.

Cheers,

PIX

[siriusdogstar]

As development continues, it may well be that the 35mm frame size, the so called full frame, will cease to be. But I see it surviving in the foreseeable future, what happens after that is anyones guess.

crop-sensors will cease to be...crop lenses cost more to manufacture as they are smaller and need tighter tolerances. nano-technology will enable large sensor production with lower reject rates.

[Lowner]

siriusdogstar,

You say this just as a Canon rumour appears that they are bringing out a new range of even smaller croppers, with an 18mm imaging circle. While I tend to agree that "proper photography" may be done with full frame (or even bigger?), less serious users will always want more affordable kit.

[alreadygone]

Computer storage, processor speed and sensor capacity will grow at an increasing rate. Sensors will be 50 MB in five years and 100 MB in ten years. At some point the resolution will be so good that telephoto lenses will be obsolete. Or not.

[Jannie]

Consumer spending world wide is down. Canon has been used to selling lots of cameras and lenses, just read where they've sold a total of fifty million EF lenses to date. I'm guessing they are trying to protect themselves and still stay competitive. I think it is entirely believable that camera sales are down at least 50% and I doubt this is an exageration. They are a smart company and must think about new offerings very carefully toward the long haul. Gambling while designing a $8,000 camera in this market could be foolish. It seems to me they are only appealing to professionals who can only justify these cameras if they offer them something that gives them a monitary advantage in the marketplace. It's got to be good or that same money will be spent on something else or more likely not at all. If Canon makes a radical new camera with a bigger sensor or a square one it has to be competitive with medium format image wise and yet be lower cost or somewhere in between.

If a square format camera could be made to use existing lenses, charging $12,000 for the body would not be unreasonable but would it be too much of a marketing gamble.