Alex and I have this long going conversation about how camera companies should just consult us to sell more cameras. So listen up Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, Leica, Olympus, Hasselblad, Sony. I’ll make you guys richer if you’d only listen.

1. Make a digital Xpan. Really.

2. Put a Canon 5D Mark II sensor into a Leica M9

3. Put a Canon 5D Mark II sensor into a proper video camera, with proper handling and interchange-able lens mount. Although we’ll be seeing the Panasonic Af100 soon in Dec, but it’s still a Micro 4/3 sensor, but we’ll see.

4. Make a digital rangefinder that is actually affordable, and no Leica, 10000 bucks for a body with no lens is not affordable to most. Fuji has the X100 coming, which is wildly exciting, but I think if they made it with a interchangeable lens mount, then we’ve got a winner.

5. The big names should enter the rangefinder arena. Leica owners are rich. Go bite into their pie. Go buy the Epson R-D1 recipe from Epson/Cosina, build it better, add a fullframe sensor, keep the analogue dials, add a EVF (electronic viewfinder) and you’ve got a M9 fighter. Even if you sell it for half the price of an M9, it’s still a heck of a lot of money.

Also, just some thoughts about cameras these days.

1. Stop making cameras with higher and higher megapixels. You don’t need 21 megapixels for a family photo. Simple logic, more pixels means more pixel density, which means more noise. Noise is nasty, so stop making the consumer think megapixels matter. Go make a camera with a huge sensor size and reasonable megapixel count so you get good ISO and proper quality images.

2. Mirrorless is the in-thing now, but if they really want people to spend the big bucks for it, then go make a decent EVF (electronic viewfinder), not something that covers “approximately” the frame. Approximate is lame. Go spend your R&D dollars to fix this. And no, Professionals do not like to take photos using the LCD. Come to think of it, even pro-sumers don’t like it. It makes the photo taking process shaky and it makes you look like a amateur. And guess what camera companies, pro-sumers and professionals are the ones spending the big bucks, so why don’t you try to satisfy them.

3. Go-retro. Trust me. Look at the success of the Olympus E-P1. Trust me, if the X100 is priced right. It’ll be an instant hit too. Go retro, make cameras like they used to. There’s a reason why Leica haven’t changed their look since the 1930s. It simply works. How come with the onslaught of digital, cameras (professional) got bigger and uglier? In my opinion, the Nikon F3, FM2, those were cameras that the companies should model after. Slim, rugged, built like a brick, works in all conditions, easy to operate, logical. Digital designs seem to be going backwards, not forwards.

4. Go buck up your colors and lens lineup, not make more camera bodies. What do I mean? Personally, I started out digital from the Nikon camp, but after a while, I realized that Canon just had better colors. I switched camp. Simple as that. Color is so important enough to me that I’m willing to spend thousands to switch camp. Some pals of mine switched camp from Nikon to Canon because of 1 lens. The 35mm F1.4. Lens limitations are the pitfalls of why Nikon lost out to Canon in the pro arena, although Nikon is finally showing signs of fighting back. Go update your lens arsenal and you might just win alot more professionals back. Boasting about lenses that are AI or AI-S is nothing to be proud of. Go make some modern pro lenses (primes) with modern coatings and stop it with the budget zooms.

I hope the camera companies are listening. It’s not that hard, really.

D.T

no comments to "if only they listened"