In The Era Of The Connected Camera, Point & Shoots Commit Seppuku

http://techcrunch.com/2010/11/21/the-connected-camera/

by BarkMore • 16 years ago

25 23 16 years ago

byoung22• 16 years ago

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).

jnw2• 16 years ago

I'd like to see the point & shoot camera companies start integrating complete Android phones into their point & shoot cameras.

berntb• 16 years ago

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).

draebek• 16 years ago

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.

jseifer• 16 years ago

It's not just you, the droid's camera is terrible unless you're in perfect light. The latest cyanogenmod makes it a bit better though.

hristov2• 16 years ago

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.

Estragon• 16 years ago

The flash works great in a pinch as a torch, though. :)

sliverstorm• 16 years ago

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.

anto1ne• 16 years ago

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.

robryan2• 16 years ago

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.

keenerd• 16 years ago

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.

cemregr2• 16 years ago

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).

masklinn• 16 years ago

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)

cstross• 16 years ago

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.

cemregr2• 16 years ago

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.

Ergo, right now it's just promising :)

stevewilhelm• 16 years ago

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

hristov2• 16 years ago

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.

prima-facie• 16 years ago

WiFi Direct will allow you to connect phones to cameras and other gadgets.

erikstarck• 16 years ago

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.

In The Era Of The Connected Camera, Point & Shoots Commit Seppuku

Related Stories