panzerneo
Member
I was thinking last night that it would be great if a manufacturer would open up their software, publish an API (application programming interface) and leverage programmers' creativity. Just like iPhone, Google phone and computers in general.
A good example of what might come out can be seen with http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK.
Even though Canon is closed, people still managed to do some pretty interesting stuff with it.
No offense to japanese engineers, but their one size fits all menu layouts always leave some users behind. Especially rangefinders folks. But menus are just a small example.
The Micro 4/3 format is allowing thousands of old lenses to be re-used on new digital cameras. Hence, another realm of possibilities would be to have an API to re-use the embedded sensor tune-ups for legacy lenses corrections.
As we've seen on the new M43 Olympus 17mm, without them, the lens is rather sucky. And I suspect one of the reasons we get outstanding quality pictures out-of-the-box with the kit zoom lenses is because of digital correction.
Now, imagine we let DIY folks, lens nuts, etc, do a proper mapping of distortions and other problems, for OLD compatible lenses. There's already plenty of tools to automate this process and this would be a one-time operation for each lens type.
Then upload the data in the camera and let the user select the lens as a menu option. The camera would then optimize itself for this old-timer lens that no camera manufacturer in the World would have the energy to think about. And yet, my old Leica, Jupiter, Angenieux, (insert your favorite) lens would shoot pictures that would be even better than before, right out-of-the-box!
No need for Leica's 6-bits encoding,
No messing around with stupid RAW software on my PC/Mac, just give me the best picture possible.
Do you see what I'm trying to explain? There really is no technological constraint. It's just the matter of accepting openness and over time let creativity explore these new dimensions.
Some people will argue that manufacturers will not do this because they're trying to 'protect' their stuff, what ever that means. But in this century, this does not hold any more, and the winner is the one that can harness the biggest community of passionate users and developers.
When Microsoft, Google or Apple compare their stuff (gear, platform, services), you'll notice one of the most important metrics they use is how many developers they manage to attract. That's free labor for them! And we users benefit down the line.
Let's apply the same forces, to photography!
A good example of what might come out can be seen with http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK.
Even though Canon is closed, people still managed to do some pretty interesting stuff with it.
No offense to japanese engineers, but their one size fits all menu layouts always leave some users behind. Especially rangefinders folks. But menus are just a small example.
The Micro 4/3 format is allowing thousands of old lenses to be re-used on new digital cameras. Hence, another realm of possibilities would be to have an API to re-use the embedded sensor tune-ups for legacy lenses corrections.
As we've seen on the new M43 Olympus 17mm, without them, the lens is rather sucky. And I suspect one of the reasons we get outstanding quality pictures out-of-the-box with the kit zoom lenses is because of digital correction.
Now, imagine we let DIY folks, lens nuts, etc, do a proper mapping of distortions and other problems, for OLD compatible lenses. There's already plenty of tools to automate this process and this would be a one-time operation for each lens type.
Then upload the data in the camera and let the user select the lens as a menu option. The camera would then optimize itself for this old-timer lens that no camera manufacturer in the World would have the energy to think about. And yet, my old Leica, Jupiter, Angenieux, (insert your favorite) lens would shoot pictures that would be even better than before, right out-of-the-box!
No need for Leica's 6-bits encoding,
No messing around with stupid RAW software on my PC/Mac, just give me the best picture possible.
Do you see what I'm trying to explain? There really is no technological constraint. It's just the matter of accepting openness and over time let creativity explore these new dimensions.
Some people will argue that manufacturers will not do this because they're trying to 'protect' their stuff, what ever that means. But in this century, this does not hold any more, and the winner is the one that can harness the biggest community of passionate users and developers.
When Microsoft, Google or Apple compare their stuff (gear, platform, services), you'll notice one of the most important metrics they use is how many developers they manage to attract. That's free labor for them! And we users benefit down the line.
Let's apply the same forces, to photography!
Last edited:
Al Kaplan
Veteran
And I guess they could approach Raid for his gold mine of data on lenses?
Ain't gonna happen. The great majority of legacy lenses will contimue to sit unused because most people don't care about them beyond the fact that they used to own them and USE them. The kit zoom is just so damned convenient, you don't need an f/1.4 lens when you can just crank up the ISO, and what the hell is "bokeh" anyway?
Ain't gonna happen. The great majority of legacy lenses will contimue to sit unused because most people don't care about them beyond the fact that they used to own them and USE them. The kit zoom is just so damned convenient, you don't need an f/1.4 lens when you can just crank up the ISO, and what the hell is "bokeh" anyway?