So..what do you think the next "BIG THING" will be?

[Overread16 4]

Hmm my 400D has a sensor that turns the screen off whenever my face gets near the viewfinder (or if anything crosses the sensor) so that could easily be used to also turn the touch screen on/off. My worry would however be that more menus would be used and we would lose buttons of the camera - I'd hate to lose the ability to change certain settings on the fly without having to pull my head away from the camera body.
Further menus can be a pain in the neck to get through to change things (and don't get me started on canon not bothering to put descriptions on any of the custom functions on flashes!)

 

[Josh66]

(and don't get me started on canon not bothering to put descriptions on any of the custom functions on flashes!)

LOL, speaking of flashes - why can't they put a battery meter on them?

I'd like to know that I need to change batteries before I start missing shots because of the recycle times getting too long.

 

[Overread16 4]

Gah yes I'd love a battery meter as well!
That said I've been shooting with an older design flash (my new twinflash) and I've got to say at least with the newer flashes they are putting in sound proofing !

 

[peacock]

The money is in consumer - hobby camera markets: so maybe in the not too distant future we will see touch screen function menu selections...

There are already touchscreen cameras in the market. In fact I saw my friend using one 2 years ago. But obviously not a DSLR, you wouldn't want to have one for a DSLR anyway, when there's nothing wrong with physical buttons.

 

[Markw]

Thats exactly the point..we are talking about the next big thing in the DSLR camera line. I suppose it would have been nice to mention it, but I kind of thought it was self explanitory (sp).

Mark

 

[Garbz]

In camera HDR with tonemapping.

Full frame consumer market bodies.

It'll happen, probably sooner than later.

It'll happen less likely more than likely given the basic economics of sensors. No matter how good you make manufacturing you can fit more small sensors (the most expensive electrical part of a camera) on a wafer for the same amount of money. Even assuming perfect yields. In reality yield rates drop for larger sensors where a single problem knocks out a larger usable chunk of the wafer too.

When consumers actually start caring about image quality you may start seeing more large sensor point and shoots, but I don't see my sister or her friends giving 2 damns about the picture quality on their cameras, and they are the target market for this kind of thing.

Cheap wins over quality.

 

[Markw]

Cheap wins over quality

Spoken like a true sage.

Mark

 

[Mbnmac]

3D, it's already happening and with TV's now displaying it, computer screens are getting more common with it, cameras are the next logical step

 

[gsgary]

I hope it goes back to film

and at the current rate of progression, it will. I'm not even joking.

More and more I see older film cameras with spanking new top-notch lenses. I caught a guy not too long ago with a Canon EOS 1n 35mm with a 400 2.8 IS on the big end. Hell I'm saving my pennies for a 28-135 IS for my Elan 7e.

I think the next "big thing" is going to be some sort of media integration into the camera itself, be it YouTube or Flickr or something of the sort. As far as camera electronics themselves, I think you're going to see the flip-up mirror in DSLR's going away with cameras like the Olympus Pen and the Samsung variant. Another feature you're going to see popping up on many cameras (it already is available on a couple) is an HDR setting.

I use my 300F2.8L on my EOS5 but have a lot of fun with my rangefinder

 

[gsgary]

Translucent mirror technology

My main camera (1N RS) has a fixed pellicle mirror, and it's 15 years old.

It would be nice in a digital body though - dust would barely be an issue, and high frame rates would be easier. The 1N RS does 10 fps ... if the 1D MkIII & MkIV can do 10 fps while flipping a mirror each time - they could probably do at least 15 without having to move the mirror.

The light loss isn't even noticeable.

Really, the only downside I see with it on a digital body is that it would make the sensor and shutter inaccessible. Unless they made a digital body where you could open the back...

EDIT -> Shutter lag is another big benefit of the pellicle mirror. 6 millisecond shutter lag and zero blackout on the 1N RS. For perspective, the 1D MkIV has a shutter lag of 55 milliseconds, and the viewfinder blacks out for 80 milliseconds. <- EDIT

Full frame consumer market bodies.

That, and 100% viewfinders is what I'd like to see.

I hope it goes back to film

Well, digital is never going away... But it would be nice if film came back a little. Especially processing - it's getting harder and harder to find places that still do anything other than C-41 (especially where I live).

There are lots of places that specialise in film in the UK

 

[kami]

DSLRs with MP3 playing capabilities. Listen to music while you take pictures! Play music that puts you in the mood for the photo event at hand.

Or maybe "voice" activated DSLRs'! Just call out the settings! "ISO 800", "Shutter 1/200", "F 18", "WB cloudy", "cancel", "WB 3700k", You don't have to take your eyes off the veiw finder! lol

 

[Mbnmac]

You don't have to take your eyes off the veiw finder! lol

Why do you have to take your eyes off it now? all the info is displayed in it...

 

[Mike_E]

In camera HDR with tonemapping.

Full frame consumer market bodies.

It'll happen, probably sooner than later.

It'll happen less likely more than likely given the basic economics of sensors. No matter how good you make manufacturing you can fit more small sensors (the most expensive electrical part of a camera) on a wafer for the same amount of money. Even assuming perfect yields. In reality yield rates drop for larger sensors where a single problem knocks out a larger usable chunk of the wafer too.

When consumers actually start caring about image quality you may start seeing more large sensor point and shoots, but I don't see my sister or her friends giving 2 damns about the picture quality on their cameras, and they are the target market for this kind of thing.

Cheap wins over quality.

I just want 15 stops of dynamic range.

 

[D-B-J]

HDR in camera--some how, the program will allow for it to expose different parts of the photograph at different shutter lengths. I'm not sure how, but that would be sweet! Like turning on certain pixels to capture an image, at different shutter lengths, creating an HDR right then an there.

 

[Mike_E]

Honestly, I thought that there was already a camera with in-camera HDR.
Canon's In-Camera HDR Patent Will Let You Take Pictures Like This

A perfectly Hidgious looking image IMO but as I wasn't asked you can take it or leave it.