Is there a future for DSLR?

[Bjørn Rørslett]

The least the photographic world needs is an camera designed for appearance rather than functionality. Good grief.

The reason why companies "copy" the DSLR might be because the D/SLR concept has matured in terms of ergonomics? A nicely handling D/SLR pays tribute to the fact that most humans have two hands.

[Frank Fremerey]

"As a digiback for my Sinar the Sony Full Frame Mirrorless Bodies seem to be a very good choice, because I can win nearly two centimeters moving the sensor nearer to the back standart for versatile movements."
How do you cope with all the colour artefacts generated in that manner? Or are the lenses really long focal lengths the 24x36 format considered? I tried with my Sony on the Arca-Swiss F-line camera and results were in general horrible.

I can *recommend* the Apo Macro ED Nikkor 5.6/120mm for table tops and the near field. Stunning results. I have not seen anything comparable with standard optics.

I can *highly recommend* the Schneider Apo Digitar 5.6/120mm (the one with 15cm image circle @f=11 and infinity) for Portraits and infinity work.

Have not tried other lenses yet, but I will not go any shorter, because I can not move my Standarts properly with shorter focal lengths.

I am looking for the AMED Nikkor of 210mm to gain more space for movements. And I will give the sinar Back Standart for Nikon DSLRs a try too.

[Harald]

Hi Bjørn,

i did not say, that a DSLR is a bad design. A Palm or a Windows CE-Phone were also good devices. What happended? Apple presented the IPhone.... ;)Was ist totally new? No! But the ergonomic and combination of all good features where so good, that today every phone works like an Iphone.

Harald

[tommiejeep]

Yes, but they only really sued Samsung... 

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Let's not get started on the bad ergonomics of 'smart' phones. There are enough material to discuss from the camera arena.

[ArendV]

I guess you all know this promo from Fuji, to lighten the debate 

[Bjørn Rørslett]

The answer is mirrorless. What was the question?

[Harald]

Hi Bjørn,

i do not want to talk about smartphones: To boring. I just want to talk about the question: Why was the Iphone so successful? It just combined many ideas which where already available. But this "perfect".
And now think about a camera with sensor , AF-System and "Speed" of a Nikon, a hybrid viewfinder better then Fuji, IBIS like Olympus/Sony and ergonomics from the best of two worlds. (Do not make the camera too small, a DF is nearly just right...)

Harald

[Jakov Minić]

Why not talk about smart phones?
I am taking more and more images with mine. Image quality is not always the most important. A snap with my phone and the ability to share the image instantaneously trumps the image quality on many occasions...

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Open a separate smartphone thread, Jakov. Please.

[Jakov Minić]

Jan Anne beat me to it, and there are some great images there too
http://nikongear.net/revival/index.php/topic,1899.0.html

This is a thread about the future of DSLRs, and I believe that smartphones also threaten the market, hence should not be excluded from discussion. (Boolean logic)

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Using that kind of logic, we might as well discuss the impact of climate change on camera development.

This thread deals with cameras that cannot substitute for a phone. OK?

[Ilkka Nissilä]

I don't think the smartphone is much of a real alternative for a photographer. It's convenient to snap shots of people and things that you see and but the user interface is poorly suited to the task and the optics are very limited in capability.

Now that the D500 supports continuous transfer of images to a phone, you can just shoot normally and have the same convenience of e-mailing the images or posting them online as you would with a smartphone. At least if Nikon's software works well. Previous implementations had the drawback that you had to establish the connection every time and the software is very limited in functionality. Hopefully with the new generation this will have been solved. Of course then there is the problem that this is just one camera so far (the D500) and it'll take a while for this functionality to be integrated into other models.

Personally I prefer the "slow photography" approach (where images are meticulously planned, executed and edited before anyone gets to see them) but cannot deny that there are merits to sometimes being able to do it very quickly. Also,  in the studio, I want to see images immediately after on the big screen, without using a cable (simply because experience has taught me that if there is a cable, someone will trip on it). These functionalities should be as easy to use as possible. I think Nikon gets it but they are too slow to implement it in a truly fluid manner. I think it must be because of their limited software development resources (and their apparently limited know-how related to programming on a general purpose computer with other software running at the same time and greatly varying configuration options both software and hardware).

E.g. the D750, D7200 etc. really need better applications for phone operation than Nikon is providing so far. But perhaps it's just too early. Anyway I think for Nikon's success in migrating new generations to use dedicated cameras instead of (or in addition to smartphones), the fluidity of co-operation between the two devices is crucial.

[Jakov Minić]

Ilkka, I agree with every single letter that you have written. Of all the features that I have been missing since the D300 is the connectivity and the ability to immediately share images. I too am sick and tired of cables and card readers!

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Studio, cables, tripping, now that sounds familiar ... Just goes to show that once armed with a camera, you can trip and likely damage yourself and the camera everywhere.

Technical solutions should just work. We all agree to that pipe dream. Merely wish they weren't so evasive and elusive, though.