My thoughts on the future of photography

[Roger]

http://www.picturelifein3d.com/2012/01/ ... raphy.html

For a few days now I've wanted to put my thoughts on this in words. ; Especially since Kodak's bankruptcy filing and after listening to a recent podcast and their "recommendations". [nb]Personally I think recommending a digital SLR right now blindly is similar to suggesting that someone buy a VHS player right now. ; Yeah it will work but is it really the best? ; Notice I said blindly. ; You have to find out if a digital SLR is right for someone's needs.[/nb]

I fear for a major camera company. ; I really do. ; I don't want them to follow Kodak's footsteps.

 

[gary]

i think canon better get it in gear, they really need to be getting into the mirrorless market, and soon or they will be relegated to a used to be, company, back making copiers
mirrorless is going to improve on the tech side, probably some kind of giant leap within 5 years, within 10 it's going to grab almost all the point-n-shoot crowd, especially all the high end buyers, the buyers of the g12 etc, feature laden attached lens bodies, they'll be very limited offerings, the folk that want those, will mostly be willing to carry and learn a light weight small mirrorless system.
the low end point-n-shoot, that's almost an evolutionary dead end now, people that want only those cameras, won't be interested in any more features than they have now, not interested in learning much about what they already have, can't sell it on megapixels anymore, how small can they go on pixel size just so they can cram more onto the sensor and tout that in ads, much smaller on pixel size and they are not useable
the big companies are really going to have to start designing cameras that actual photographers want as far as features and design layout, things like eliminating or at least let us use a menu function to turn that useless direct to print button ionto mirror lockup, vs drilling down into a custom function menu. less body types, maybe a prosumer and a pro body only, you are going to lose most of the entry level crowd to mirrorless anyway, i feel if someone is interested enough to step up to dslr, then they are probably going to research mirrorless detachable systems, and within 5 years those systems will win hands down

 

[Roger]

useless direct to print button

Hey, I enjoyed using that button. ; It made my life simpler. ; All I had to do was come home, attach my Canonâ„¢ USB cable to my Canonâ„¢ Pixmaâ„¢ printer, select the photos I wanted to print on genuine Canonâ„¢ photo paper, and press the button! ; All without using any kind of picturestore software![nb]No inference to any photo software currently in existence implied. ; Your mileage may vary. ; Results not typical[/nb] ; Because I never need to edit my photos at home!



But you understood my message Gary. ; That's good.

 

[Tim]

good opinions, roger. ; i agree with quite a few of your points but i am just not sold yet on the future of 3d. ; i also agree with gary that designers should start culling features that photogs don't use, don't need, or don't want (direct print, video mode, etc) but at this current time, cost is a key factor and removing extraneous stuff will help to keep the cost down.

 

[Roger]

good opinions, roger. ; i agree with quite a few of your points but i am just not sold yet on the future of 3d. ; i also agree with gary that designers should start culling features that photogs don't use, don't need, or don't want (direct print, video mode, etc) but at this current time, cost is a key factor and removing extraneous stuff will help to keep the cost down.

Thanks Tim. ; Like I mentioned at the end, I don't know if it's going to follow Betamax/MiniDisc/Laserdiscs or if it will be just the natural progression like it was from film to digital. ; It's not going to happen overnight, and as costs go down for the glasses free LCDs, in theory it would become mainstream. ; It is still fully a few years out....