Modular upgradeable DSLRs

[howard smith]

[font color=\'#000000\']In the film world, you may be talking Hasselblad.  Lots of lenses, lots of backs, lots of view finders, and several bodies.  The merger with Imacon could bring them back to that idea with digital.[/font]

[bee1000]

[font color=\'#000000\']Interesting idea. Nikon kinda did this already with their D1H and D1X, didn't they? Fast, lower-megapixel sports/journalism model and a slower, high-megapixel model. I don't remember the price points, so maybe that isn't a perfect example. And they are totally different cameras - you can't buy one camera and switch between "X" mode and "H" mode.

I would be surprised, however, (happy, too, but definitely surprised) to see the day when most people are content to keep a DSLR body for a decade or 2. I'm amazed there is any interest in going from the Canon 10D to the 20D, for instance.[/font]

[BJL]

[font color=\'#000000\']I'm all for modular design and am quite positive it'll happen. When it'll happen is the question...[/font]

[font color=\'#000000\']It sounds like you want Dell to start making (not just selling) digital cameras.[/font]

[Tony Collins]

[font color=\'#000000\']When the DSLR finally becomes a mature product, do you think that a manufacturer will offer a camera where the buyer can take the standard body and specify performance according to their needs? Large buffer for sports action, full or panoramic frame for landscape, cropped high pixel density for distant/small wildlife etc. Would the ability to upgrade new features for a guaranteed three product cycles encourage more sales? Perhaps the big players wouldn't be interested, but it would be a unique selling feature for a smaller brand. DSLR sales are bound to start tailing off soon when most users have a camera which is good enough. Prior to digital, I had a 20 year old Olympus OM that I didn't feel compelled to trade up from every 3 years. Will more and bigger is better carry on indefinitely until we all have billboard sized inkjet printers in the garage?[/font]

[BJL]

[font color=\'#000000\']Highly modular camera bodies seem to be going out of fashion, but factory upgradability might be a new trend in high end digital.

On the modular front, Mamiya, probably the most vital MF maker, has eliminated interchangable viewfinders from its recent SLR models, and is now pushing a digital MF body with integrated digital sensor instead of a separate back; apparently at a great cost saving. Also, Nikon has just announced their "ultimate" high end film camera, the F6, and it no longer has the interchangable viewfinders of previous F series bodies.

Factory upgradability has been offered in one case so far, with Kodak offering a sensor upgrade for their 14/n bodies. Maybe that idea will spread a bit.[/font]

[61Dynamic]

[font color=\'#000000\']I'm all for modular design and am quite positive it'll happen. When it'll happen is the question...

Would the ability to upgrade new features for a guaranteed three product cycles encourage more sales?

Definatly. Just as it has in every other industry that utilizes standards.

Perhaps the big players wouldn't be interested, but it would be a unique selling feature for a smaller brand.

And all it would take is a smaller brand to adopt a modular design  that customers like to get the bigger companies in the game. Consumer demand is what drives the market and no company is above that (despite what the RIAA would tell ya). If people get a taste of modular design and it's possabilities, they'll demand more and the other companies will have no choice but to support it.

Another question is how modular design should be implemented. I personally think it should be that you buy a body just as you would buy a film body. The modular components would be the sensor, image processor (or those two together) and RAM.

This way photographers could carry around defferent types of sensors for different needs (as done with film) and upgrade RAM as their needs call for it. Do I want to use my small-frame 6mp chip so I can get an longer effective focal length and store more images, or do I want to use my full-frame high-mp sensor for some wide-angle shooting? How about my BW imaging chip? A photographer could have all sorts of chips designed for certain aplications.[/font]

[61Dynamic]

[font color=\'#000000\']

It sounds like you want Dell to start making (not just selling) digital cameras.

lol, if they want to. The more companies that do it, the stiffer the competition and thus the better products for us to use.

On an unrelated, but related note: Dell is working on a plan to sell their own printers (not Lexmarks [AKA Pinto Printers] renamed as Dells) in order to influence the price of inks. They're hoping by selling their inks as they sell PCs (by cutting out the middle man) they can reduce the cost of ink considerably.[/font]