Patent: Large LCD equipped mirrorless camera

[FramerMCB]

It might seem unusual to all of us used to buttons, but for someone brought up on smart phones (and considering transitioning into a dedicated camera) it might seem very natural. I agree it might have waterproofing advantages too, although it's increasing the scratchable / shatterable area at the same time.

That was my first thought was this looks like a Camera that functions like a smartphone. Maybe with built-in WiFi one could Stream to it as well...

 

[Sean C]

That mockup still shows the viewfinder in the location for an SLR. Why aren't they moving that to the left side so our noses have room? That should be one of the benefits of a mirrorless system...
I'm glad to see them work on an interface like that, with a good UI design it could be a good compromise for the Rebels. I don't want it to give up the rear thumbwheel or thumb grip on the higher end camera, though maybe the left side buttons could go with a really good UI. Not the buttons used when your eye is on the viewfinder though.

 

[magarity]

This is excellent and has so much potential.
It should be dual OS with Android and, ideally, 4G/5G connectivity at least as an option because Canon still can't get their act together with wifi/bluetooth sharing

OK I get your point about pairing wanting improvement but no, putting Android into a camera is a truly horrific idea. Android is only slightly less worse than iOS in terms of user control over the device. Ever try to install your own new version of Android on a smart phone after the manufacturer moved on to new models and no longer provides updates? Talk about an exercise in nightmares. And then there's the bloatware; the last thing we need is a camera that has built in (uninstallable) facebook/twitter/instagram/wechat/snapchat/tumblr/weibo clients.

 

[gmon750]

Sorry. Not for me. Cost or not, I prefer the tactile, physical buttons and have zero desire to take my eye off the scene to look at the back of a camera to find a function.

This reminds me of an article not too long about about an order to remove all the touch-screen interfaces on the U.S. military ships because the touch-interface and its clumsy design was partially responsible for the ship colliding with another ship. So it's back to analog butts, handles, etc...

Sure, some folks will not like this, but I hate software interfaces on cameras. I love my iPhone's interface, but I don't want it on my camera.

 

[jolyonralph]

OK I get your point about pairing wanting improvement but no, putting Android into a camera is a truly horrific idea. Android is only slightly less worse than iOS in terms of user control over the device. Ever try to install your own new version of Android on a smart phone after the manufacturer moved on to new models and no longer provides updates? Talk about an exercise in nightmares. And then there's the bloatware; the last thing we need is a camera that has built in (uninstallable) facebook/twitter/instagram/wechat/snapchat/tumblr/weibo clients.

I don't think any of these are serious concerns.

Firstly, as I said Android would have to be a dual OS that you'd choose to boot into as and when you need it. If it comes to a point in five years or more time when this specific version of Android is no longer supported by Google for security updates and Canon has also stopped providing updates you could simply chose not to start Android on it and keep it running within the standard Canon OS.

I don't think installing a custom version of Android on a phone is any harder than installing a custom firmware (eg magic lantern) on a camera. And for the same reasons that's something only 1% of people would do.

I don't know any phone (at least not from a reputable source) that has unstallable facebook/twitter/instagram/wechat etc clients. I know that if Canon are expecting this new format to take off they'd be very aware of how such things would look to reviewers so I'd be pretty certain that the only uninstallable stuff on there would be the stuff that is directly required to integrate with the camera.

And maybe the camera only needs one card slot if it can sync photos with your Amazon Photos/Google Photos/Dropbox etc on the fly in the background


My one concern about this idea, and something that could kill the android idea dead, is the ergonomics of using an on-screen keyboard with it - especially if a heavy lens is attached!