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Dumb Things Camera Companies are Still Doing

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Re: Dumb Things Camera Companies are Still Doing

#191
post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Android is on a camera, I want some sort of a hypervisor situation where it does not interfere with real-time operations. My Canon T4i will very responsively snap a picture once I have locked the focus, aperture, and shutter speed. I do not want to lose that and "gain" lagdroid.

That would be pretty easy. Lazy solution would basically to just stick an extra processor in the existing hardware that would just poll the camera for data and time critical operations would be handled by the original system

Would that "extra processor" not be better off just being your phone?

Re: Dumb Things Camera Companies are Still Doing

#192
post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Android is on a camera, I want some sort of a hypervisor situation where it does not interfere with real-time operations. My Canon T4i will very responsively snap a picture once I have locked the focus, aperture, and shutter speed. I do not want to lose that and "gain" lagdroid.

That would be pretty easy. Lazy solution would basically to just stick an extra processor in the existing hardware that would just poll the camera for data and time critical operations would be handled by the original system

And now you're up to your neck in a networking swamp that also drains the battery like it's going out of style. But yeah, it's easy.

Re: Dumb Things Camera Companies are Still Doing

#193
post #164

As said in this [1] article, one of the worst thing camera makers are guilty of is not slapping Android on their cameras to open up th instant publication, photo manipulation, etc. It's a shame that a professional camera is 90% of the time simply not as useful as a smartphone, even ... as a camera. [1]: https://mondaynote.com/memo-to-camera-makers-put-android-in-...

Battery life could be a concern. While using my Nikon DSLR I won't turn it off at all until I'm done for the day and that seems to barely affect the battery. I can leave it in a drawer for months, pick it up and snap a hundred pictures and put it back in the drawer for a few more months and the battery is still fine. In fact, I'd be surprised if I charge it more than once a year (mind you, since phone cameras became…

I don't understand. A phone that's 7mm thick and the size of your hand can operate for like 16-24 hours on a charge. A 1.5 lb hunk of plastic that's nearly a cubic foot in volume can't? Maybe we need better camera batteries.

Re: Dumb Things Camera Companies are Still Doing

#194

I love 1/4-20 sockets. Attach my camera to a flash bracket? Yep. Attach an eyebolt to attach a carabiner to attach a neck strap? Yep. Attach a hand strap or a 40mm, 80mm, or 200mm Arca Swiss plate. Yep. Yep, Yep and Yep. There's nothing stopping a photographer from permanently attaching an Arca-Swiss plate to the bottom of a camera body with a bit of cyanoacrylate or some screws if it makes better photographs. For me…

The only thing wrong with the 1/4-20 mount is that there's only one. Camera manufacturers should add a second one half an inch to the side so that plates can be mounted with two points of attachment, which would eliminate concerns with twisting and loosening.

Wanting to force the weight and cost of Arca Swiss on everyone is just selfish. In fact most of these complaints are just examples of wanting everyone else to subsidize features they might not need that this guy happens to want.

The Qi demand on the other hand is just dumb. Wireless charging requires close proximity, so you'd have to set your camera down just so or it would fail to charge. With different lenses changing the balance point and accessories like portrait grips changing the shape, many people would never get Qi to work properly. Plus in a world where enthusiasts largely have multiple batteries anyway, wireless charging built into the camera seems utterly useless. I'd rather rapidly charge my battery in a dedicated charger than leave my camera on its own charging pad all the time.

Re: Dumb Things Camera Companies are Still Doing

#195
post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be pretty easy. Lazy solution would basically to just stick an extra processor in the existing hardware that would just poll the camera for data and time critical operations would be handled by the original system

Would that "extra processor" not be better off just being your phone?

If I had a pair of extra hands, perhaps. Note that this goes double into the other issues - now you're worrying about compatibility with the other device, and the communication link.

Re: Dumb Things Camera Companies are Still Doing

#196
post #164

As said in this [1] article, one of the worst thing camera makers are guilty of is not slapping Android on their cameras to open up th instant publication, photo manipulation, etc. It's a shame that a professional camera is 90% of the time simply not as useful as a smartphone, even ... as a camera. [1]: https://mondaynote.com/memo-to-camera-makers-put-android-in-...

I feel like it might make more sense to put a cheap Bluetooth module and let it just stream to your actual phone

I believe Sony already has this starting with the A6300.

While my A6000 doesn't have bluetooth, it supports NFC and wifi and I can easily transfer photos to my phone. Sony's PlayMemories Android app is actually pretty cool. You can use it as a remote control - seeing exactly what the camera sees. You can adjust aperture, focus, set a timer, etc.

Re: Dumb Things Camera Companies are Still Doing

#197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like an iPhone with a bigger camera chip. I don’t think Apple will venture into dedicated camera equipment. The iPhone camera is one of the big selling points and keeps people upgrading. Apple will not sacrifice their cash cow for a comparatively niche market. A dedicated device also goes against the unification that Apple seems to pursue.

> Apple will not sacrifice their cash cow for a comparatively niche market. I never understood that reasoning. As an individual, I can't simultaneously develop 10 different products, but a large company sitting on billions in cash could develop 1000 niche products simultaneously. In fact, some large companies (Procter & Gamble, 3M, General Electric) have thousands or tens of thousands of products. To use your Apple e…

"As an individual, I can't simultaneously develop 10 different products, but a large company sitting on billions in cash could develop 1000 niche products simultaneously."

Because the question faced by large companies, and even merely medium-sized and small companies, is not what can we do, but what's the best thing to do.

If I've got a product line with 100 engineers that is making me a million per engineer, and I've got a product line with 5 engineers making a quarter million per engineer, and I decide I'm going to hire 10 more engineers, even though it is true that I can't guarantee that the scaling numbers will hold when I add more engineers, it is still often the rational choice to assign those 10 new engineers to my very profitable product. In fact it can make sense to eliminate the product line with 5 engineers and put them on the really profitable product. The fact that I could do 11 projects with 10 engineers each isn't very interesting because odds are that the other 10 projects won't be as profitable, and I won't get anywhere near as much money.

Meanwhile, some other company in the market might very happily take on the less profitable, but still profitable, smaller niche. They can do it with different degrees of overhead, maybe in a different cheaper location, and perhaps with fewer compliance requirements bearing down on them, etc.

There are, of course, endless, endless nuances and "what ifs" you could play. This comment is not a course in resource allocation for business. It's just a comment intended to point you in the direction of answering the question "Why don't GooFaceZonaSoft do all the things?" in a reasonable manner. It also explains why GooFaceZonaSoft still acts resource constrained quite often, and why despite the fact the tech industry tends to develop very large giants at the top there's always, always a ton of smaller companies and there's never any risk that the entire industry is all going to consolidate into one big company, because the first thing that mega corporation would do is divest a ton of the less profitable sub-businesses, which would promptly reform externally.

Re: Dumb Things Camera Companies are Still Doing

#198
I just want to say when iPhone supports external flash I will probably never use Canon again. And I've used it for 10+ years professionally in the studio. Seriously, it's like Japan's products are moving at the same speed as their economy, i.e. not at all in the past 20 years.

Re: Dumb Things Camera Companies are Still Doing

#199

I just want to say when iPhone supports external flash I will probably never use Canon again. And I've used it for 10+ years professionally in the studio. Seriously, it's like Japan's products are moving at the same speed as their economy, i.e. not at all in the past 20 years.

Most modern LED's are bright enough that you don't need a discrete "flashing" type of external light for most such use cases, you know?

Re: Dumb Things Camera Companies are Still Doing

#200
post #164

As said in this [1] article, one of the worst thing camera makers are guilty of is not slapping Android on their cameras to open up th instant publication, photo manipulation, etc. It's a shame that a professional camera is 90% of the time simply not as useful as a smartphone, even ... as a camera. [1]: https://mondaynote.com/memo-to-camera-makers-put-android-in-...

The issue is startup time. Do you want to wait 30 seconds after you turn on your camera?
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