It took a long time ...

[Greg Beetham]

Tom, funny you should mention that because it reminds me of an idea I sent to a friend in an email last year. I was thinking that Sony could save lots of money and maybe make their cameras more stylish if they got rid of the lens, sensor, LCD, mirror, and all external controls. Maybe it would just be a cool, hip talisman-like device you carry around. It doesn't take any photos at all, but it does have a GPS unit inside that records all the places you take it -- Apple iphones do this already. Then with Bluetooth your computer gets the location coordinates from the "camera" and then good example photos from that location are downloaded from a Sony db. Maybe options would also allow you to specify a type of photo (cat on sofa, dog looking up at you, bookshelves in dim light, etc.) and a good photo of that type will be downloaded. I think it would be a hit for Sony.

By the way, back to the A22/A11 design. I suspect that we will see Sony migrate these feature improvements to higher level bodies over time. Sony users demand a lot and would not stand for all this good stuff not being moved up the line. Maybe not the A77, but maybe the A78 will get the improvements: no EVF, no handgrip, no IBIS, etc.

I’m not sure how big the market would actually be for a camera without a lens, rear LDC or sensor, it would depend on the price I guess, if Sony went in with a keen price right out of the box that’d be the key to success I reckon. But there’s one thing I’m not totally convinced about, and that’s the clapper thingy; What occurred to me was, what if one is in a crowd taking the odd photo of some event and there was a spontaneous outbreak of applause right when you had a perfect shot lined up? The camera would most likely turn off and back on again with each clap and unless you could count the number of claps you wouldn’t really know if the camera was on or off at the end of it, I reckon Sony would have to include an option to turn off and on the turn on an off clapper function also…leave no stone unturned so to speak….hmm but then you wouldn’t be able to turn the clapper off or on unless the camera was on and it would be a bit of a problem if you turned the camera off with it off…like I say I’m not sure about that one.
Greg

[bfitzgerald]

There will always be a dedicated market for cameras even if some insist the i-phone will conquer the world it won't. It might stop some buying a separate compact but size again is a limitation here..you'll only get so much lens..so much sensor size and it's a phone not a camera which has controls designed for that. Whatever Apple or Nokia want to "think" they're in for a rude shock on the longer term their ambitions are nothing more than pipe dreams.

[bakubo]

I’m not sure how big the market would actually be for a camera without a lens, rear LDC or sensor, it would depend on the price I guess, if Sony went in with a keen price right out of the box that’d be the key to success I reckon.

Don't underestimate the cool factor. If Sony has a great advertising campaign (well, we are talking Sony so that is probably not in the cards ) and gets the right people to be seen with it then it might be the new in thing.

But there’s one thing I’m not totally convinced about, and that’s the clapper thingy; What occurred to me was, what if one is in a crowd taking the odd photo of some event and there was a spontaneous outbreak of applause right when you had a perfect shot lined up? The camera would most likely turn off and back on again with each clap and unless you could count the number of claps you wouldn’t really know if the camera was on or off at the end of it, I reckon Sony would have to include an option to turn off and on the turn on an off clapper function also…leave no stone unturned so to speak….hmm but then you wouldn’t be able to turn the clapper off or on unless the camera was on and it would be a bit of a problem if you turned the camera off with it off…like I say I’m not sure about that one.

Does the Clapper have some downsides? Yes. Just get the crack A700 control wheel designers teamed up with the crack A55 external flash interface designers and they would come up with a nifty Clapper control design for the A11. Actually, some of those examples could, with good marketing, be made out to be cool features! Just remember that poorly debugged, poorly thought out, poorly implemented features are something we are accustomed to so Sony won't hesitate to put it out there.

[twm47099]

But there’s one thing I’m not totally convinced about, and that’s the clapper thingy; What occurred to me was, what if one is in a crowd taking the odd photo of some event and there was a spontaneous outbreak of applause right when you had a perfect shot lined up? The camera would most likely turn off and back on again with each clap and unless you could count the number of claps you wouldn’t really know if the camera was on or off at the end of it, I reckon Sony would have to include an option to turn off and on the turn on an off clapper function also…leave no stone unturned so to speak….hmm but then you wouldn’t be able to turn the clapper off or on unless the camera was on and it would be a bit of a problem if you turned the camera off with it off…like I say I’m not sure about that one.
Greg

Actually the clapper could be one of the creative controls (applause) for the automatic camera - If everybody is clapping, it must be shot worthy.

Although I think the GPS recording with a catalog of shots has its appeal also - cutout all the annoying camera and PP steps.

tom