Are SLRs the desktop PCs of the photography world?

<p>Highly capable, but not really where the innovation is happening...</p>

<p><a href="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/03/diy-cellphone-microscope">http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/03/diy-cellphone-microscope/</a></p>

<p>I think the <em>Wired</em> article is about an interesting hack, but not the kind of innovation that is going to change the world of imaging. Bolting stuff onto an iPhone is inevitable and even predictable, if anyone had cared enough to do so.</p>

<p>For years the picture phone was a staple of sci-fi visions of the future. Now it's here, and simply taken for granted.</p>

<p>One thing that has got to go, sooner or later (predicted back into the 1970s as a matter of fact), is the incredible kludge that is the mechanical mirror mechanism on SLRs. The Pellix, and other, more recent attempts notwithstanding, this thing has got to be made electronic rather than mechanical, sooner or later. Someday, there will be a completely solid state camera suitable for something more than snapshots. We're getting closer but still not quite there, IMHO.</p>

<p>As for desktops? That's still where the bang for buck is. For what you pay for a so-so laptop, you can get a heck of a lot of computing power on the desktop. Especially when you consider that many laptops are simply used as desktop machines anyhow.</p>

<p>You call lensbaby-style images of small objects innovative?</p>

<p>SLR/DSLR are early and late stage Lava Lamps. They'll always be available for nostalgic reasons. </p>

<p>Rangefinder form factor (X100, M9 et al) will be around forever for the reasons rangefinder users know about.</p>

<p>Smartphone/pad devices are high quality viewfinders and low quality cameras. I don't know if Nex and the like interface live, digitally with them, but so far they lack the necessary body mounting fittings.</p>

<p>All you have to do is go back to some World's Fairs to see how wrong predicting the future can be. Still it a fun thing to do, so I think DSLR's will be around for the foreseeable future. There may be changes like pellicle mirrors and/or electronic viewfinders, but the basic idea of a DSLR, that is a camera with interchangable lenses and through the lens viewing, is such a funtional camera that it should be around a long time to come.</p>

The Lava Lamp analogy seems wrong to me, as Lava Lamps were designed from the start to be a novelty, and were

never the principal form of lighting.

 

The desktop analogy is better.

 

Desktops aren't going anywhere, although the metal boxes themselves have vanished for some. (iMac and its

imitators).

 

Right now, Photoshop wants a big screen, lots of memory (RAM and rotating), fast processors, and a mouse. With

each new version, the requirements go up, not down.

 

Ditto for SLRs. Lots of serious photography is too difficult to do any other way, if it's even possible.

 

(Typed on an iPad. Desktop is easier to type on, but it's downstairs.)

I think so.

 

From what I understand, the gamers still prefer desktop PCs. To me it seems right. With a desktop it's easier to manage a workaround for an equipment failure, or upgrade one part in the system. I think for many, such factors outweigh size and mobility.

<p>I agree. Desktop computers are NOT going anywhere. What you see is the casual user and not very demanding users, opt for laptops. Series programming or design projects are not done on laptops, nearly as much as desktops. The general public has figured out they don't need to be tied down.</p>

<p>The ability to change out CPUs and hard drives and CD ROMS and video cards as you need to is something that keeps desktops a better platform for upgraders. The Apple iMac is going against that trend, but that's been Apple's stance for years. They really like ALL-in-One designs. They can push the newest thing more often.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Not sure about SLR's becoming anything. Nobody even makes one any longer that I can think of. However the future of the DSLR is unknown to me. They seem to sell very well and I figure they will just keep making them if people keep buying them. I cannot visualize a DSLR becoming anything more then just a camera. Nobody wants to carry a big ugly DSLR around because it will have some gimmick attached like internet or music or whatever it is you might think it could do.<br>

Hard to say what the future will bring. I guess the future depends on if it will be a future of poverty or prosperity.<br>

The PC will always be with us. I see it more for the business situation however. With homes trending down in size I figure that a laptop or ipad type device as becoming more popular then the PC for home use.</p>

<p>im still planning on building a desktop at some point. If for nothing more, the processors are a lot cheaper and a lot more capable. I dont see desktops going anywhere, the same as i dont see slr's going anywhere.</p>

@Ross:

 

Clarification: When I used the term "SLR", I was not referring to film cameras.

<p>I think this is a good analogy. The capabilities of desktops and slrs are growing as fast as the capabilities of laptops and iphones/digital point and shoot cameras. The thing to remember is that they are used for different purposes. I wouldn't go out for a night on the town with my friends with an slr as often as I would my iphone, and even though I have taken photos at a wedding with my camera phone, I wouldn't use an iphone as the sole tool for a photographer of a wedding.</p>