sganger
Forum Enthusiast
I posted this yesterday in the D80 forum to a reasonably large response so I thought I'd repost it in this forum to reach a different crowd and get a different response.
If a digital camera were to have been made 30-40 years ago, it would probably have looked like this:
(that's of course only if the digital circuitry could fit in a body of the same ergonomics as those required of film, kind of a large "if" I know...I'm mainly referring to the clear and obvious differences of styling and size as compared to today's cameras).
Take a look at the above camera, it's pretty, isn't it? Simple, unassuming silver and black finish; excellently placed, simple controls; simple feature set offering no more than you need but leaving out nothing (at the time) that was necessary. The key to this is it's a simple camera. And you know what it does? It takes pictures. It doesn't process them; it doesn't edit them; it doesn't crop, resize, and print them; it just takes pictures. That's a crazy idea, I'm aware, but isn't it a rather nice idea at the same time?
I own a Nikon FM and I can't tell you how many times I've thought I'd trade my D80 in a heartbeat for a digital sensor in that Nikon FM because I've never held any device, mechanical or electric, that feels so right in my hands. So here's a thought: what if Nikon made a camera styled after the FM or original F but with a digital sensor? And if there's too much circuitry, take it out! What about a digital camera in the body of an old film camera with absolutely no processing beyond what is necessary to retrieve the pictures from the camera. No jpeg processing, no white balance, no nothing. Everything can be done in post. You're provided with a program to do so like capture nx's raw processing tools that allows you to use all of the current in-camera processing tools. Maybe an AF sensor but no motor so only AF-S lenses focus. No metering. Even better, no stupid metering dial on top of the camera! One for shutter speed, one for iso.
What's further, this zoom craze is driving me....well, CRAZY! How about the camera comes with a nice little 50mm f/1.8 lens like they used to. Having used my D80 for 6 months with only a 50mm f/1.8 I can say the quality of beginner pictures would GREATLY increase from the necessitated learning curve of such a camera.
This has been a bit of a long post, but if you've gotten this far, you're my hero =)
What do you think?
If a digital camera were to have been made 30-40 years ago, it would probably have looked like this:
(that's of course only if the digital circuitry could fit in a body of the same ergonomics as those required of film, kind of a large "if" I know...I'm mainly referring to the clear and obvious differences of styling and size as compared to today's cameras).
Take a look at the above camera, it's pretty, isn't it? Simple, unassuming silver and black finish; excellently placed, simple controls; simple feature set offering no more than you need but leaving out nothing (at the time) that was necessary. The key to this is it's a simple camera. And you know what it does? It takes pictures. It doesn't process them; it doesn't edit them; it doesn't crop, resize, and print them; it just takes pictures. That's a crazy idea, I'm aware, but isn't it a rather nice idea at the same time?
I own a Nikon FM and I can't tell you how many times I've thought I'd trade my D80 in a heartbeat for a digital sensor in that Nikon FM because I've never held any device, mechanical or electric, that feels so right in my hands. So here's a thought: what if Nikon made a camera styled after the FM or original F but with a digital sensor? And if there's too much circuitry, take it out! What about a digital camera in the body of an old film camera with absolutely no processing beyond what is necessary to retrieve the pictures from the camera. No jpeg processing, no white balance, no nothing. Everything can be done in post. You're provided with a program to do so like capture nx's raw processing tools that allows you to use all of the current in-camera processing tools. Maybe an AF sensor but no motor so only AF-S lenses focus. No metering. Even better, no stupid metering dial on top of the camera! One for shutter speed, one for iso.
What's further, this zoom craze is driving me....well, CRAZY! How about the camera comes with a nice little 50mm f/1.8 lens like they used to. Having used my D80 for 6 months with only a 50mm f/1.8 I can say the quality of beginner pictures would GREATLY increase from the necessitated learning curve of such a camera.
This has been a bit of a long post, but if you've gotten this far, you're my hero =)
What do you think?
