I am expecting big things from the Micro Four Thirds cameras. They essentially replace lower end DSLRs with a much smaller form factor, and they have the intelligence and ease of use beginner DSLRs lack (such as detecting faces and focusing on them).
Do you own one? I do. The big problem with u4/3 right now, from a user's point of view, is that the glass is about double the price of an equivalent full-size DSLR lens: $400-500 for a fixed-focus pancake, $700-1000 for a telephoto. Sure you can fit an adapter and use regular 4/3 or other mount-type lenses, but then you lose a bunch of the intelligence. (Also, there are issues with autofocus speed on some of the cameras.)
u4/3 is like Z-gauge model railways, compared to OO or HO gauge -- looks cute, but you pay through the nose for the miniaturization, and have less flexibility and a limited range of accessories to boot.
(I'm really hoping that Olympus, Panasonic, et al get their show in order over the next year or so and really begin to push u4/3, because in principle I agree with you -- but right now, it's not looking good.)
What I'd like to see in the meantime would be a decent telephoto-equipped compact camera with an iPhone dock built into its back in place of the display -- in effect a camera that acts as a sleeve for the iPhone, much like battery extenders such as the Mophie Juicepack. Use the iPhone's screen and user interface to control the camera, and the iPhone's storage to store the shots, but use the camera body to provide proper optics, a larger CCD, and the image processor.
Alas, developing such a gadget would not be cheap, and the vendor -- presumably a big camera manufacturer -- would be working to keep up with Apple's changing form factor.
I own one as well. Yes, lenses are expensive. But keep in mind this is a super new platform. I expect prices to go down in time, as there are new players in the market.
They still won't be always in your pocket and ready to draw out. That's the big deal with cameraphones: users are already trained to whip them out at every small notice (vibration, ringing, ...) extending the stimuli to "something interesting is happening" is not very hard, and as a result camera and video phones capture a lot of things.
Most people don't whip out an actual camera that easily. And cameras generally aren't kept in as convenient a place (or they're always out and then they annoy all the time)
Is it just my Motorola Droid that has a camera I'm not satisfied with? The pictures just don't look nearly as good as my (six year old) point and shoot camera, and the LED flash is for shit. Maybe I need a new smart phone.
Or is my problem that everyone else is looking at photos on some site that's showing smaller photos (i.e. lower resolution) which makes camera phone photos passable? I don't use any of the common sites to share photos.
Any phone camera would be worse than any decent point and shoot, even an older model. They say the iphone 4 cameras are the best but I doubt even those would be better than a decent point and shoot.
Phones just do not have enough space or money for a good optical system.
I think putting a cellphone chipset on a camera may be a bit too much, as most people would not want to pay monthly for a data plan for a point and shoot camera. But a cemera could have bluetooth and connect to your phone this way. Thus, after you are done taking pictures you put the camera in your pocket by your phone and the pictures get transferred to the phone and uploaded by the phone to your online photo service while you are doing something else.
I find it really interesting to see the steady gradual rise on the second graph (of flikr usage) of the Nikon and the Canon 5D. Honestly, while the graph definitely shows the dominance of the iPhone's camera for the majority of shots, it almost seems like it's simultaneously showing the Rebels being replaced by D90's and 5D's.
I think it's wrong to assume flickr represents the camera market. Not everyone care about putting their pictures online, those who care get an iphone/android/whatever. So of course iphone is trending on flickr.
But the mass market of consumers still buy un-connected point&shoot cameras and small non-smart phones.
I think it will naturally shift soon, given the megapixel race is pretty much over they will soon need more to differentiate their products from competitors.
And let us all hope that "connection" will be considered a differentiating feature after more useful stuff such as sensor size, low light performance, cycle speed and electronic viewfinders have been exhausted.
When selling to your average person who just wants to take a few pictures from time to time I think connection is a better selling point that improved picture quality.
Nikon camera sales have gone from 60 million cameras in 2005 to 100 million in 2009, down from peak of 120 million cameras in 2008 due to global recession. http://s831.us/cIIYSi
It would be nice to see the next generation of cameras with 3G/4G built in, but only if there were data plans that let you share among multiple devices (e.g. $60 for 5GB/mo to split between a camera, MiFi, Kindle, etc).
Why not just a [wireless] link phone <--> cameras?
It might be better to keep cameras as a separate package.
I'm far from an expert on photography but afaik -- physics imply that there are constraints on getting good images because of sensor size (especially in low light conditions; number of photons per cell/second).
The combination of a Eye-Fi wireless memory card and a cell phone that acts as a wireless router might do just that already. Anyone have any experience on this?
I have an Eye-Fi Pro (1st Gen) and an HTC Evo with hotspot. The problem with this combo is that the Eye-Fi has to be connected for a while before it starts uploading. By the time it starts, my battery is already dead. It works better with the MiFi for some reason. Note that either of these methods kill the geolocation feature. Since my camera is just a point and shoot (Samsung TL205 with front LCD), the quality isn't much better than just using the 8MP Evo camera.
I so wish my DSLR ran Android. Just imagine being able to install apps or filters on the camera. Maybe even replace things like the autofocus software. Someone should build that camera.
