No LCD digital camera. Will we see it soon?

loquax ludens said:
I'll post this again. Does this camera not already meet one of your two primary characteristics?

Fujfilm announces XP170 waterproof compact with wireless image transfer

If you simply tape an opaque cover over the LCD, this camera satisfies both of the characteristics you stipulated.

All of the benefits you listed above apply. The only time you'd have to lift the cover is to change a setting that is only accessible via a menu setting.

I doubt any manufacturer will eliminate the LCD screen any time soon, but the XP170 (and similar WIFI enabled cameras) enable the working style you described.

It's here. You can do it now.
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Taping the LCD is not an option.
That's just silly, might as well use it if it's there.

Think about this from manufacturing perspective.
Instead of fighting with thousands other companies for expensive OLED/MOLED/WhateverLED, you'd be introducing a brand new camera style that street-photography ninjas would love.

Heck, I'm not a street photographer and I like the idea 😀
 
PKR said:
I was told a story by a photographer: This guy was out in public with a view camera - tripod mounted etc. Some school kids came buy asking what he was doing. He stopped his work to talk to them. They asked if they could look into the back of the camera. He said fine and opend the lens up so they would have a bright image for viewing. One kid commented that his camera had the biggest LCD screen he had ever seen ..
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Even peeking through a TLR finder is enough to wow people nowadays.
 
I'm going to have to go with the keep the LCD crowd, but that is probably not the point. If there is a market for a non-LCD digital camera, someone is going tap it. However, I will be surprised if this is the case.
 
shadowfox said:
Taping the LCD is not an option.
That's just silly, might as well use it if it's there.

Think about this from manufacturing perspective.
Instead of fighting with thousands other companies for expensive OLED/MOLED/WhateverLED, you'd be introducing a brand new camera style that street-photography ninjas would love.

Heck, I'm not a street photographer and I like the idea 😀
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OK. I thought the point was the benefits that would accrue to the photographer by using such a camera, not that said benefits would be useful marketing points for a manufuacturer contemplating production of one.
 
^^No, I'm getting your point, but I think the thread up to now really has answered your question. It's not going to happen, for a variety of reasons. The biggest being IMO that no manufacturer in their right mind would invest in such a thing because 99% of the buying public wouldn't get it. You might as well expect Ford to go back to wooden wheels, or the way pedals were arranged before the Model A.
 
batterytypehah! said:
^^No, I'm getting your point, but I think the thread up to now really has answered your question. It's not going to happen, for a variety of reasons. The biggest being IMO that no manufacturer in their right mind would invest in such a thing because 99% of the buying public wouldn't get it. You might as well expect Ford to go back to wooden wheels, or the way pedals were arranged before the Model A.
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Really?

http://www.43rumors.com/new-panason...-small-step-today-a-big-step-into-the-future/

controlling the camera from your smartphone... hmmm, where have I heard that idea before?
 
I have an older retro styled Digital rather like what you'd like to see- a Leica/Panasonic DMC_LC1. It has a speed dial, an aperture ring, focus ring and Focal length control ring for the Vario-Summicron lens right where God intended them to be, and you can turn off the viewing screen, look through the electronic viewfinder and use it as a "rangefinder" if you wish.
 
people with digital cameras like to instantly see their product after a shot on the camera.

Now if they made a huge huge viewfinder with an lcd inside the viewfinder that would be genius
 
I use my Canon G11 with the LCD folded closed most of the time. For typical shots the AF is reliable, and so is exposure on P mode. The mode dial, exposure comp, and ISO are hard dials. It's pretty close to shooting without an LCD.

Ed
 
Why not switch off screen and use finder, optical where it is or add-on where it's missing? No need to buy expensive finder, twist some wire for approximate framing at WA and put into hot shoe. Aha, hot shoe is what's more critical 🙂
 
shadowfox said:

So how soon do you guys think we'll see a camera without LCD? Images are sent directly to your smartphone via Bluetooth.
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I've advocated this several times in the "Will the next Leica be screenless?" threads. I'd love an M8-style tiny LCD on the top of an otherwise screenless digital M.

The main advantages as I see it would be:

1. Better battery life.

2. Less expensive construction. BT chips are loads cheaper than good color LCDs.

3. More robust construction. No fragile LCD, stiffer body.

4. Encourage a more film-like shooting experience. NO CHIMPING!!1!

5. Actually, you can chimp on your phone. Phone? iPad 3! You're not tied to a screen resolution, because you can pick your output device, and upgrade that over time. You can chimp on a Retina Macbook Pro if you want. This component of the camera upgrade path goes away, magically.

I would love such a camera. Put an M7-style ISO dial on the back for setting that, and put the rest of the camera setting menu crap in an app for your device. You could drive it from a webpage, even.

That M would be the only M I would be certain to purchase in the future.
 
hteasley said:
I've advocated this several times in the "Will the next Leica be screenless?" threads. I'd love an M8-style tiny LCD on the top of an otherwise screenless digital M.
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The cost argument is pretty weak. Leica uses cheap 230k pixel LCDs, those cost less than $5, people put them in cheap phones and cameras under $100. I'm currently waiting for a very good 1 Mpixel LCD for replacing the one in my GRD IV and including delivery from China it will cost less than $40, or about 0.6% of a new M9, and that's for a single piece, bulk deliveries would be a lot cheaper. As battery life goes, you can increase the battery life by turning the LCD off. And as far as chimping is concerned - you can avoid chimping by simply not chimping, unless you feel that by yourself the urge will be too strong and you need the camera to help you 😉

I think there will never be a display-less digital Leica. The M-M has shown how far Leica is ready to go to cater to traditionalists and that one has an LCD, too. So no, that's it. It will never happen.

I think you guys who get put off by in-camera LCDs will just have to get used to not using them. It's not difficult. Way easier than futzing around with your phone when you want to change a setting on your camera.
 
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