[biz-engineer]

We are there, September 2021. Usually, fall is associated with most camera brands leaking and announcing their newborn camera babies. This year, what do we get? Well, we get a lot of "mark II" or "mark III" cameras, is we get something new.

What have we got so far into 2021?
- Pentax K3 mark III, not bad of an tech upgrade (much better AF and speed), plus a GRIIIx, not bad for such a small camera company like Ricoh Imaging
- Fuji basically re-released a medium format 51Mp for the third time (added IBIS, but that's basically it), GFX50SII, GFX50S, GFX50R, and another same-same X-T release, same stuff again
- Nikon: back in 2021 we got a tweaks of Z6 and Z7, the mark II, not much else, still around those 24 and 45 Mpixels
- Sony: ok, a good one , the A1, expensive, I give it the credit for innovation, because that beast shoot 50Mpixel at high speed, sharpness is incredible
- Pana: we'll get some tweaks for GH camera.
- Olympus: are they going to release something?

Meh... wait until end 2021, first half 2022 to see some significant progress, maybe extraordinary Nikon Z9. Will see, but I feel like 2021 is rather lame year, at least in comparison with previous years before covid.

I wonder what effect "chip shortages" will have?

[BarryE]

Aren't the cameras we've already got good enough to take first rate photos?

[StiffLegged]

… I feel like 2021 is rather lame year, at least in comparison with previous years before covid.

Yep, before Covid. It’s had a serious impact on all of life and business.

[Dartmoor Dave]

Digital camera technology reached a plateau a couple of years ago and is likely to remain there for the forseeable future; so, unless some presently unimagined new radical innovation comes along, it is what it is. Professional editorial photogaphers seem to have settled on 24 megapixel full frame as the ideal for their work, while the so-called "fine art" landscape types have got 50 or 100 megapixel medium format available for their huge prints. And surely amateurs have got more than enough camera and lens options to fondle and drool over, to compare 100% corner crops of, to anguish about over whether the brand name on their neckstrap makes them look "professional" enough, and occasionally to take snapshots of their cats with.

Any photographer who can't take decent shots with the range of gear presently available will never be able to take decent shots with anything.

[BigMackCam]

We are there, September 2021. Usually, fall is associated with most camera brands leaking and announcing their newborn camera babies. This year, what do we get? Well, we get a lot of "mark II" or "mark III" cameras, is we get something new.

What have we got so far into 2021?
- Pentax K3 mark III, not bad of an tech upgrade (much better AF and speed), plus a GRIIIx, not bad for such a small camera company like Ricoh Imaging
- Fuji basically re-released a medium format 51Mp for the third time (added IBIS, but that's basically it), GFX50SII, GFX50S, GFX50R, and another same-same X-T release, same stuff again
- Nikon: back in 2021 we got a tweaks of Z6 and Z7, the mark II, not much else, still around those 24 and 45 Mpixels
- Sony: ok, a good one , the A1, expensive, I give it the credit for innovation, because that beast shoot 50Mpixel at high speed, sharpness is incredible
- Pana: we'll get some tweaks for GH camera.
- Olympus: are they going to release something?

Meh... wait until end 2021, first half 2022 to see some significant progress, maybe extraordinary Nikon Z9. Will see, but I feel like 2021 is rather lame year, at least in comparison with previous years before covid.

Beyond increasing resolution that 95% folks don't need, more fps, bigger and faster-clearing buffers, and a few novelty features here and there, you have to wonder where the various companies can go next so far as stills photography is concerned. You'll always have folks that will buy the next new body because they like new toys (nothing wrong with that), and those who'll buy it because they've convinced themselves they need it (when, in reality, they probably don't)... plus a small few who buy it because, yes, they genuinely do need it. For the rest - and I'd guess that's the majority - their current or last generation bodies are already so capable that it's increasingly difficult to convince them they should spend $2k+ (in some cases, way, way more) for a new camera.

That said, I'm interested to see what comes next, even if I have no need or desire to buy. If I do upgrade / update at some point, it'll be to the K-3III... and that won't be until it's an outgoing model, most likely...

[bob5050]

Any photographer who can't take decent shots with the range of gear presently available will never be able to take decent shots with anything.

While I'm totally in agreement with the sentiment, I don't think we've seen the end of camera advancement by any means. Specific areas of improvement can, I think, be expected through focus stacking, aperture stacking, HDR compression, and focal control approaches, such as Canon's new eye-control AF (the camera senses where your eye is looking within the frame, rather than having to guess or be told what your point-of-interest is). All these are essentially software advancements. On the hardware side, flat lens technology may eventually find its way to larger cameras, as might variable-resolution sensors.
While it might be argued that all the low-hanging fruit has been taken, I think we're still in a golden age of camera tech.
traveler.

[BarryE]

Currently when I'm out with my camera I have to bother deciding what photos I want to take. What a drag. Lets automate that process and de-skill myself even further.

[UncleVanya]

While I'm totally in agreement with the sentiment, I don't think we've seen the end of camera advancement by any means. Specific areas of improvement can, I think, be expected through focus stacking, aperture stacking, HDR compression, and focal control approaches, such as Canon's new eye-control AF (the camera senses where your eye is looking within the frame, rather than having to guess or be told what your point-of-interest is). All these are essentially software advancements. On the hardware side, flat lens technology may eventually find its way to larger cameras, as might variable-resolution sensors.
While it might be argued that all the low-hanging fruit has been taken, I think we're still in a golden age of camera tech.
traveler.

Looking back: Canon's eye-controlled focus: Digital Photography Review

That Canon feature isn’t, “new” but the method and tech may be improved (hopefully).

[photoptimist]

At this point, still image IQ is limited by light levels on Earth -- the number of photons per second per pixel creates a statistical process that limits IQ. Even if the read noise of the sensor were reduced to zero, images would still be noisy.

The biggest opportunity for improvement in still image IQ would come from replacing the Bayer filter design with some clever way of getting good red, green, and blue data from every pixel. Sigma's Foveon was one approach but it suffered from very poor DR because of how poorly the RGB layers in the sensor actually separated R, G, & B. Some older high-end video cameras used a 3-chip design with separate R, G, & B sensors that were carefully aligned behind a clever color-separation system but that design is quite bulky.

I'd also buy a true hybrid OVF/EVF camera in a heartbeat. I love the OVF of a DSLR for most composition tasks but would like if the post-shot image review flashed in the OVF eyepiece or if live view could be sent to the eye piece. There are at least four different architectures for doing this and hopefully Ricoh will implement one of them.

[subsea]

I have heard through the grapevine that the camera primes are in a competition to develop the next big thing in camera technology. This will be a new technology that will read the photographer’s brain to determine if the image desired is:

a) what the photographer sees,
b) what the photographer thinks he or she sees,or,
c) what the photographer wants the image of the scene to be, after processing.

This will be followed by using AI technology to codify a, b and c, above, for each photographer, to allow the camera to make the decisions on what would be “best (according to the photographer)” for the scene the camera happens to be aimed at, and to apply the appropriate in-camera settings to get the desired results.

Finally, all of this will be incorporated into a mobile platform combining the capabilities of unmanned air vehicles, ground vehicles and, possibly, marine vehicles. At this point, the photographer can relax playing solitaire on the computer at home,or some other convenient location, and send the camera out to do all of the hard work, while taking credit (or blame(?)) for the results.

Remember, you heard it here first!

[Lev]

Aren't the cameras we've already got good enough to take first rate photos?

Absolutely, excelpt some minor details. For example, would be just great if Pentax will implement advanced AF fine adjustment, because right now we don't have option to specify different values at different focal lengths for zoom lenses. Aufofocus improvement, in general would be great, etc...

[ramseybuckeye]

Covid has certainly limited production and productivity in many industries and of course the chip industries trickle down to nearly all manufacturing. So you have that lowdown and then some of these companies have been reported to not be doing too well, which often caused companies to slow things down. Just a couple of things, there are more.

[ffking]

Leaving Canon off the list makes no sense

[UncleVanya]

Ideally a dslr would be able to use machine learning and fine tune PDAF to match true focus perhaps using shots made with CDAF in succession with the first shot or just shooting multiple shots and adjusting focus between these shots and then comparing focus at the selected focus point. Or getting user input to show where they were trying to focus and where focus appears best. In this way it would accumulate data on how to adjust focus at various settings (distance, focal length, etc). The process might require a laptop or a cloud service and the heavy lifting might be done outside the camera and into the body uploaded after.