[Anvh]

I doesn't mean that the fact that it is running on android, it should slow down the actual camera speed

Off course it does, Android or iOS are far bigger and bloated operation systems then what the camera is running now so how will it not be slower?
Just compare the time it takes to start up an android device with your camera for example, and then also think that the camera has 1/6th of the calculation power

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Last edited by Anvh; 06-24-2012 at 07:41 AM.

[bdparker]

Hi, again. I a back. [snip ..... ] And maybe even with zooming/focusing and live-view. I bet a lot of people will want it.

It already exisit... in live-view press the info button or the rear dial

[Macario]

Hi, again. I a back. Well, You all just take it to hard. I am trying to think a little in advance. Battery running in 24 hours. Maybe, for now, but technology is advancing. Who knows, in a few years, a battery will run maybe at least 1-2 weeks. I don't want only a gadget, or only a tool, I want something in between. I don't want a few tools, I want one multifunctional. It doesn't have to have all the possible functions in the world. I doesn't mean that the fact that it is running on android, it should slow down the actual camera speed, and when I said Android or iOS, for me was only an example for operating sistem, it is not imperative to be those OS, it could be another OS only for DSLR, without advetising or pop-up windows. You just took the reality from nowadays smarphones, and imagined it right-away running on a DSLR. Don't You understand that it can be modified, converted to other needs? We now have Pentax k-5. Why? Because one day, one man wanted a better battery, or a TTL mettering, or a digital back monitor, or an infrared shutter, a TTL speedlite etc. Come on, this is the way to progress. Let's say k-5 has a touch screen. Is it bad? No. It is OK. Aha... so, at least something from what I want is OK. Do You want to trigger the camera from smartphone (without making DIY tools)? And maybe even with zooming/focusing and live-view. I bet a lot of people will want it. So, it is not that stupid to want it. I would like to have some lighting schemes, ot Model Release app, or Check list for wedding, or... something else. I am sure, I am not alone.

Come on guys, have some immagination. I am sure that each one of You dream about something that only You need for Your camera. Something that, in the way YOU photograph, will help You a lot.

There already is, the Leica monochrome, but that is just out of my reach.
Other than that, please leave the google's and apples etc to do what they do best. build phones tablets etc. and let the camera be a camera. a tool to take pictures.

[kkoether]

My wife has an Android phone and tablet. NO WAY do I want to have to deal with that on my camera!!!!!!! I use my DSLR to take pictures period I don't even want video and I'm doing quite fine with out Live View also. Call me old school but it works for me!

[nater]

Common guys! Let's dream a little. I dream of a camera with full and deep customisation. Any other ideas?

Reminds me of my second suggestion in my thread Two hypothetical future bodies I'd like to see back in 2010.

Lately I've been thinking there could be real value in just making a camera body with minimal controls on it and no screen, and then an app you can run on a phone, iPod Touch, iPad 3 etc. that can tether through a cable, wifi, or bluetooth. That way all the extensibility (and the high-res viewing and multi-touch controls) could be in the handheld device. There's tons of possibility here that could be amazingly liberating and powerful.

[Clavius]

My wife has an Android phone and tablet. NO WAY do I want to have to deal with that on my camera!!!!!!! I use my DSLR to take pictures period I don't even want video and I'm doing quite fine with out Live View also. Call me old school but it works for me!

Some people even want android to run in cars. They dream of all the apps that can be created to aid the driver. I just have nightmares of having to reboot the boardcomputer while going 130 kph. Or being forced to 'like' something before I can put in second gear.

[Stone G.]

Some people even want android to run in cars. They dream of all the apps that can be created to aid the driver. I just have nightmares of having to reboot the boardcomputer while going 130 kph. Or being forced to 'like' something before I can put in second gear.

Very good observation, I like (no pun intended) that!!!

Still, in some respects the idea of downloading apps that would allow me to do things in a slightly different way appeals to me:

• Suppose I could download an app that would allow me to set focal lenght of my MF lenses with continous settings rather than the current, discrete settings? I would ceratinly be interested (for the O-GPS1 Astrotracer function).
• And I would also be interested in an app that would allow me more freedom in USER settings, such as combinations of mirror lock-up, bulb, bracketed and interval shooting.

What I am not prepared for yet is turning my DSLR into a tablet computer with touch screen and voice control. ("You are not following my instructions! Please shoot to the right in the histogram").

[dadipentak]

While I don't share his enthusiasm about the prospect, I'm sure marinb's vision is a plausibly accurate prediction of the (or "a") future. We will be assimilated (by android or a variant or competitor.) The world as we know it is certainly doomed. Repent! Submit! Or not.

[JimJohnson]

Common guys! Let's dream a little. I dream of a camera with full and deep customisation. Any other ideas?

Okay - we can REALLY make the camera as we know it obsolete. We simply wear glasses that record everything we see. The data storage would be connected to the recording glasses by near field wireless, and the recorder connected via a cellular network to really massive storage. You can manipulate the image however you want via heads-up projections and gesture control. The fact is, that technology is almost already here.

The operating system is totally immaterial and grows more so every day. All that is needed is a common API (application programming interface) to pass the data between whatever device you are using and the remote back end system doing the heavy lifting.

[normhead]

Ya, I'm still thinking of the K1000 of digital. I'd be happy with a basic DSLR, FF for the larger easier to focus in manual screen, TV, AV, TAV and bulb shooting modes. An EV button and an ISO button. And a timer button on the front. No jpeg mode, a switch somewhere on the body for bracketed exposures and almost no use of menus. Like only for things like cleaning the sensor or formatting a memory card. I actually need so few things, I find the current number of menu items a complete waste of time. Use that processing power to speed up my image processing time. Not to run a phone system. As was said before, if you want a camera with a phone in it, get an iPhone 4s. I want to pay for simpler and more functional. These days, that would be unique in a Camera system. On our K-x, it's ridiculous, but you actually have to go into the menus to switch from single point to 11 point focusing. Sorry, but that's just ridiculous.

Engineers should quit focussing on squeezing more stuff into menus. And that would mean not focusing on putting a phone OS on a camera. I shot for years with a Program plus... menus? I don't need no stinking menus.

[madbrain]

Okay - we can REALLY make the camera as we know it obsolete. We simply wear glasses that record everything we see.

That's not going to make cameras obsolete. Sometimes they can see more than you can see. For example when using long focal lengths, telescopes, etc. Not to mention full IR cameras.
It would make most P&S cameras obsolete, though.

The data storage would be connected to the recording glasses by near field wireless, and the recorder connected via a cellular network to really massive storage. You can manipulate the image however you want via heads-up projections and gesture control. The fact is, that technology is almost already here.

You are not thinking big enough. Who needs gestures when you have this ?
Brain computer interface - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[derekkite]

This will come. The challenge manufacturers face is adding more functionality to their processing engines. At one point it is cheaper for them to take a well tested io base with interfaces to almost all devices imaginable and then add the extras on top. The same necessary get image data from sensor, process maybe, and write to card. They can focus their resources on getting the most out of the sensor, or af. The code to buffer and quickly write to whatever is alresdy done and thoroughly tested. And it opens up possibilities in the realm of open api, remote control and communication, etc. Processing power is getting cheaper all the time.

[madbrain]

This will come. The challenge manufacturers face is adding more functionality to their processing engines. At one point it is cheaper for them to take a well tested io base with interfaces to almost all devices imaginable and then add the extras on top.

For some definition of "well-tested". But I think the Android code base overall is way too large. It is also ever-changing and continuously breaks its interfaces, just like Linux.
The way it is going, I don't see it ever maturing. Thus, I don't think it will ever get to be stable enough for use in a single-purpose embedded system like a camera. Rebooting and waiting minutes is already extremely annoying with a phone. But it's just completely unacceptable with a camera.

The moment you have openness and allow third party applications, you introduce the potential for more instability. There would have to be some justification for the added footprint of a general purpose OS like android.

I think if this does come to cameras, we will all be longing for our old more stable cameras ...

[derekkite]

I don't disagree with you. Android probably isn't the right thing for a camera. But the point stands. The world is changing. I use the usb to load the photos onto my hard drive, raw, I select the decent ones, upload them to Google+ so I can show them on my andoid tablet. Someone is going to come up with a way to take a couple of those steps out of the process. And it will require more capability in the camera. And then you run into the real difficulty of adding things to your existing codebase that it wasn't designed to handle. You run into a situation where the effort to make it work is far too onerous, and you have to start over again. There are good real time software stacks available that come with all the goodies; you just add on the stuff specific to your hardware and application.

I'm certain these issues are being seriously discussed at Pentax Ricoh. What will the world look like in a decade? Taking pictures is one thing, it needs to work very well. Then what? Are PC's with usb inputs going to be as common then as today? Maybe, maybe not. They had better be prepared for the eventuality, and many others as well.

The simple camera mentioned above, a K1000 required that you remove the film, put it into a little can, take it somewhere to be developed. That world was great, but it is gone. What comes tomorrow may be unimaginable today, but if you are stuck with rewriting from scratch you are out of business.

And yes, I don't want a bunch of bells and whistles that get in my way. I want bells and whistles that do what I want easily, reliably.

[Alizarine]

Well, as I see, I am quite alone in my opinion. But, I can bet than in a few years, there will be such cameras, DSLR with touch screen... etc.

The upcoming Canon 650D has a swivel touchscreen~

BTW, as I said somewhere else... sorry but I don't like the idea of over-computerizing the DSLR.
1. It slows the camera down a lot.
2. I think a 3"-diagonal screen is small for web viewing and a lot of visual apps... I mean, isn't that the reason why phones, from the diminutive Nokia 8210 have grown to colossal 4-incher screens we have nowadays?
3. Over-customization with apps steals the focus from "taking pictures" to "editing pictures" which, I believe, are still best done on another device, which does not take pictures. While some may say that the wealth of features in today's DSLRs do the same thing, at least they still serve the same purpose- help "take" the picture.

The farthest I can imagine my camera doing is re-sizing photos by itself and uploading selected photos via WiFi to photo display sites, or my tablet nearby. But no, not Facebook on my future Kmounter >_<