Looking at new product announcements always begs the
questions "if I had designed this, what would I have done differently?" and "what am I really looking for in a digital
camera?" And by extension, "what are 'people' looking for in digitals cameras?" So I thought I'd put the question to
our readers. If you were going to design the perfect digital camera for yourself, what would it look like? And what
would you be willing to trade to get the features you really want? For the sake of argument, let's limit this to "35mm
replacements". I'll start.
That I want a full-frame, or even larger, sensor goes without saying. I want a high S/N ratio, and I want to limit
the effects of lens choice on the output. I also want to design a camera I’m happy with, and one that will last a long
time. So ideally it will have a modular sensor that I can replace as sensor tecknology improves. Being able to upgrade
the LCD as that technology improves would be nice, too. So in this best of all possible worlds the sensor will be
mounted on a hinged back, like the plate on a 35mm camera, and the entire back will be replaceable. I’m tough on
cameras. Not as tough as I used to be, but still tough. I want a camera that can be knocked around a little, jostled in
a backback, occasionally dropped from moderate heights. I also want it to be light and comfortable. For this, my design
will be based on my very first SLR, and still my workhorse, the Ricoh XR-10: a sturdy, lightweight milled titanium
alloy body wrapped in supple lip-resistant leather (or leatherette), not hard plastic with a few grip strips placed
where some engineer thought they should go. A hotshoe is a must, obviously, as is adjustable, programmable auto
metering and histogram and white balance adjustment. For lenses, we’ll have an EF mount, perhaps with built-in adapter
for Nikor (it’s an ideal, right?). After this, the most important features are an undetectable start-up time and
shutter lag. And it must write to memory quickly, too, ideally on the order of .1s. Bluetooth or 802.11x transfer would
be nice, too. Since this is my personal ideal, I also want a firm shutter release so that I can rest my finger on the
button and a prominent stop for the half press focus lock.
Now for what I’m willing to give up to keep this “within reason,” whatever that might be. First, high fps. Other
people feel differently, but the fastest autowinder I ever owned for a 35mm SLR was 1.4fps, and I don’t really need
more from my DSLR. Most of the time I don’t even bother and just advance manually with the thumb lever. I’d also be
willing to give up autofocus. It’s a nice feature and I’d miss it, but I can focus a manual lens fairly quickly. Losing
autofucus would also do away with time lost to menus and tricks like the half press to convince the camera focus on
what I want instead of what it wants, and would virtually eliminate shutter lag. Again, other people feel differently,
but for still objects it doesn’t matter and for moving objects I can normally guage how far away they will be when I
snap more accurately than I can guage how fast they’ll be moving (If I had a dime for every wedding picture I have with
the camera focused on the pew across the isle and some bridesmaid a blur on the left edge of the frame…). I can also do
without scenes settings. Just give me manual overrides, and I’ll be fine. Better yet, make all the features fully
programmable, and let me make 50 of my own scene settings.
So what about you; what does your dream digital look like?
1. If you're willing to forego the high fps, sounds like the new Canon 5d is your camera (and mine).
Posted at 6:26AM on Dec 19th 2005 by jimmie