Thom Hogan on modular, programmable cameras of the future
In a recent essay, writer, photographer and Nikon hardware expert Thom Hogan wrote about the current state of camera design.
Since it was first published the essay has generated a lot of feedback and comment, which Thom has used to update the original article. If you’ve not read it yet, it’s well worth 30 minutes of your time.
Hogan’s premise is that cameras are fast becoming computers, at least as far as their internal components are concerned. Yet the external design is still tied to the design choices made in the days of film cameras, and to an extent the days when digital cameras were young and were not yet very computerized.
That’s changed now, completely, and forever. The modern camera is CPU, memory and communication ports, all of them tied to the sensor that does the work of taking pictures. But it has too many limitations, and making it communicate with any other device (or with the web) is much too difficult. It’s time, Hogan argues, for the camera to properly address the hidden computer side of its persona.
That means making cameras more modular, more programmable, and better at communicating with other devices.
“Workflow starts at the camera, and we need to be able to control it right there, not downstream when we finally get an image over to a computer. Unfortunately, we have almost no workflow control on our current over-featured cameras. None.”
He also has much to say on the subject of video in DSLRs, and argues in favour of a greater variety of devices, each optimized for a task (but still capable of other tasks):
“Nikon should have made a large sensor, F-mount endowed, dedicated video camera, which in my most recent commentaries I’ve dubbed the Nikon V1. Such a video camera should share as much as possible with the still cameras: same batteries, chargers, lenses, cards, you name it. But it should also be optimized for video, which means different ergonomics, consistent but video-centric UI, and quite a few specialized features. Should it be able to take stills? Yes, but it should be optimized for video. Should the still camera (D3s) be able to do video? Yes, but it should be optimized for stills.”
Hogan says camera manufacturers should decentralize and “make a camera that puts the user in control of everything”. That sounds like the last thing many of them would want to do – but Hogan says it’s “an ocean of opportunity” and seems to suggest at the start of his piece that long-term survival, in an era where sales of big, complicated cameras are declining, might depend on it.
