Ronald Arvidsson a écrit :
Hi,
I'm sure you're right. The whole idea of the "digital revolution" is
that you dont upgrade but buy new stuff. However, I'm sure more memory
can be pressed into the cameras without incresing the space. The whole
evolution of the elctronics world goes in the direction boudble the
stuff in a year or so on the same space as before, or alternatively
double the prestanda for the sme price as the the "worse capacity"
component.
So the problem is not if its doable its what the manufacturers want. I
heard recently a camera repairman complain that newer Canons and
Minoltas were not easily repaired and just made for consumption
whereas the other camera brands are repairable.
Cheers,
Ronald
Indeed... IFAIK, the DS already has more buffer than the D, and
unfortunately, Pentax downsized the buffer again on the DL (which I
can't really understand, things being what they are).
Hopefully, a future D2 will upgrade the D with all nice D + DS2 features
+ more (incl. more buffer)???
Making "open" SLRs, i.e. interchangeable focusing screens,
interchangeable backs etc... makes some sense. Firmware upgrades is
necessary (too bad we didn't have that with film SLRs, that sometimes
had known exposure/AF issues that could have been fixed from software,
even at that time!). Now giving access to RAM chips is another story. It
means putting those RAMS on sockets instead of surface-soldered, which
is much more expensive, less robust, for a marginal end-user benefit.
IMO the comparison with digital assistants it not fully relevant, because:
- these devices are general purpose, and are more subject to memory
extension for user specific needs, simply because every user will load
her own set of applications. Cameras are not (yet?).
- these devices operating systems are typically designed to be
extensible. Camera firmware is typically much more "hard-wired" to a
specific hardware, and won't bother actually SENSING how much memory
there is to make the best use of it. It KNOWS how much memory there is,
and won't use more even if it's there (arguably it's a 'simple' firmware
upgrade).
On the other hand, let's be really open-minded: what if we actually
merged a Palm-like platform and a DSLR? The most interesting benefit
would be customization, for people doing WEIRD things with their camera
and wanting help from additional programs. I think one could imagine a
few interesting applications:
- add anything you want to EXIF
- dynamic JPEG compression: the camera chooses the JPEG compression
level based on the scene, in order to ensure a (selected) quality level.
- add new output formats (JPEG 2000, multiple formats at once...)
- live upload your photos onto a secured hard disk somewhere in the net.
- automatic extended DOF (esp. for macros): the camera takes
multiple shots with varying focus distances (programmable), then merges
all images into an "extended DOF" photo.
- automatic extended dynamics: same as above, with different
exposures and automatic combination, for very contrasty scenes
- many astronomy applications: e.g the camera determines the
photographed area automagically from star databases, then digitally
follows star apparent movement into a virtual long exposure
- upload your own panoramic assistant (like on P&S) if you want.
- ... fill in the blanks here ...
All this in a open architecture, where anyone can write his own plugin.
Basically extend the Camera firmware as much as you want... THEN
extending RAM will be a must.
Am I getting slightly off-topic, am I simply dreaming? Or I'm just
crazy <|%-P
Regards
Patrice
