Idea for a modern camera for the age

[firewireguy]

I've been thinking about this for a while now and in my head it makes a lot of sense.

Most images these days are consumed on screens, many of them miniscule, not as prints and the size most people print is no larger than 10x8".

And yet these days the ever upwards march to higher megapixel bodies is unrelenting. But unless you're cropping incredibly severely or you're making photos for 30' billboards (and even then I question the need), then an average 24MP camera is overkill.

Now more than almost 20 years ago there is no need for a lot of pixels.

So with that said.. In today's world of Instagram and modest printing, most people with cameras would be better served by a 35mm ICL camera with a 6MP sensor with gigantic pixels for swallowing light.

A modern sensor technology with so few pixels would produce really nice images. The files would be small, the quality would be high, there's still room for cropping and getting good results at the kind of sizes people actually use their photos at.

And because the files are so small, the camera wouldn't have to be as powerful to push all those bits around. Top out at 1080p video whilst we're at it and use cheap SD cards.

And because of all that prices could be dramatically cut to the extent that ICL photography can be brought back to the masses in the same way that the D50 and 300D did 20 years ago.

Would you also buy such a camera or think it'd be popular?

 

[ancient_mariner]

Would you also buy such a camera or think it'd be popular

Absolutely not.

People have phones with a camera function, and have come to see the kinds of images they produce as normal. No ILC will ever be as small and convenient as a phone and nobody would want to carry a heavily crippled camera alongside their phone.

This might have sold a little 20 years ago, but that's past and will never come again in our lifetimes.

I couldn't imagine wanting such a thing as a photographer.

 

[AndrewFlannigan]

I couldn't imagine wanting such a thing as a photographer.

I can imagine it because I still have (and carry everywhere) the tiny Canon Ixus 70.

It's that little bit easier to use than the camera in my iPhone but it only gives me better pictures, in the sense that the optical viewfinder suits my needs. Perhaps some Chinese entrepreneur will come out with a device like the OP describes but I can't see it selling in large numbers unless it's ever so cheap.

I see it as the successor to the Minox cameras and like them, it has its uses, for the right person in the right place at the right time...

 

[ancient_mariner]

I can imagine it because I still have (and carry everywhere) the tiny Canon Ixus 70.

It's that little bit easier to use than the camera in my iPhone but it only gives me better pictures, in the sense that the optical viewfinder suits my needs. Perhaps some Chinese entrepreneur will come out with a device like the OP describes but I can't see it selling in large numbers unless it's ever so cheap.

I see it as the successor to the Minox cameras and like them, it has its uses, for the right person in the right place at the right time...

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I'd suggest that among enthusiast photographers, you are quite unusual in your preferences.

 

[AndrewFlannigan]

I'd suggest that among enthusiast photographers, you are quite unusual in your preferences.

You may be correct.

Then again, we cannot know for sure how much of an outlier any particular person is, in any given group, unless we have clear information on who makes up the group and how many members are in the group. I can't imagine that anyone could provide that information, in this context, because I don't know how someone would identify such membership.

 

[Nikon photographer]

Last month I took a holiday in Menorca, obviously it wasn't a photography trip,but of course I still wanted some decent shots, but didn't want to lug a load of gear with me, I had a choice of a Nikon Z7ii, Z5, or a Zfc, with a selection of lenses, or my old lightweight 10mp Olympus E-420 and 12-60 f2.8 lens, and that's what I took, it fitted in my messenger bag along with medication etc, as you say, most people don't print out large images, the biggest I print is usually 10x8, I've just had this 12x9 canvas print made from one of my images from the holiday, 10mp was more than enough.

 

[LCPete]

Do agree for 10 by 8 prints or viewing on small screens high MP isn’t needed , everyone's use is different though
I actually like zooming into a macro image and seeing all the incredible detail like in an insect compound eye

 

[firewireguy]

In my head the target market is less the enthusiast who frequents photography forums and spends £3k on a camera and lens. Instead it's the person who doesn't want to be crippled by their phone camera and is willing to carry a small camera for the ergonomics, tactile feel, picture quality and it not being a phone. Plenty of people are fed up with their fondle slabs and are seeking to disconnect and return to a simpler more organic experience.

Plenty of people used to carry DSLRs that were small and affordable. Now that affordable end doesn't exist so only enthusiasts use a camera.

It would be possible to make the best low light camera in a small package by forgoing megapixels and returning to basics.

 

[Jonnybrad2001]

In my head the target market is less the enthusiast who frequents photography forums and spends £3k on a camera and lens. Instead it's the person who doesn't want to be crippled by their phone camera and is willing to carry a small camera for the ergonomics, tactile feel, picture quality and it not being a phone. Plenty of people are fed up with their fondle slabs and are seeking to disconnect and return to a simpler more organic experience.

Plenty of people used to carry DSLRs that were small and affordable. Now that affordable end doesn't exist so only enthusiasts use a camera.

It would be possible to make the best low light camera in a small package by forgoing megapixels and returning to basics.

Only enthusiasts predominantly carry a camera because the smartphone killed the mass camera market. Economies of scale went out of the camera market.

Cameras aren't expensive because of more MP, they're expensive because of R&D and small sales.

The images out of modern DSLR are cleaner than 10mp cameras a decade or more ago even with the extra MP. If you tried to dev a camera back to a small MP sensor it'd be mind numbingly expensive because they'd expect to sell a few hundred of them. I get that most of don't 'need' the extra MP, but it really isn't costing us anything to have them as a bonus.

 

[Nikon photographer]

I went down the more MP game a few years ago, I do wonder why, as I'm still selling images taken on small MP cameras, I sold two while I was on holiday, one taken in 2001, on transparency film and scanned on my Epson scanner and another using a Nikon V1, (10mp) the A4 prints and 12x9 canvas prints I have in my office were taken with a selection of cameras ranging from a 5mp Kodak point and shoot, 6mp Nikon D70, 10mp Nikon P7100,Nikon D90 right upto my Z7ii, but it seems everyone has more MP's the better in there mind, so I doubt these days a camera with only 6 or 10mp would be a great seller, even though they would be perfectly usable for most photos taken by enthusiasts.

 

[the black fox]

I currently have four cameras an Olympus e.pl8 , a Nikon d7200, Nikon d500 , and a Nikon Z8 plus a host of lenses some unused since purchase . Each one does the same job but differently I.e take photos , it depends on what your final output criteria is .
Im currently in turkey and have taken the d7200 and a 70-300 lens for lightness and it’s the cheapest option if it’s stolen I could have taken any mix from above but lots of family/ holiday shots have been taken on the incredible I.phone 17 pro max . As you can see every option is covered so do we need another option ,definitely not