Being passionate about photography, there are several questions we have asked ourselves for quite some time:
Why cameras today still look like they did 60 years ago?
Why does my camera not help me on the way to becoming a better photographer?
Why is it not possible to share an image taken right there and then from the camera over a social network?
Why are our cameras not expandable through apps in the same way as our mobile phones are?
We set out to find the answers to these and many other questions and wrote about them at length in our blog posts describing highlights from our market and user research findings, as well as the point of view that we generated based on these.
We felt compelled to look some three to four years into the future and rethink a camera for “the rest of us” – neither professionals nor point-and-shooters – the ones that the industry calls “prosumers”.
We aimed to design a platform for aspiring photographers that facilitates the taking of the “perfect picture” and that allows the user to grow, experiment and develop their skills.
We did this in the form of a “what if” product design concept, whose purpose it is to excite, inspire and to provoke both potential users, as well as the rather stagnant photography industry.
With these things in mind, we set out to create what we call “Camera Futura”, a concept that:
features an innovative new product architecture
leverages the power of a true mobile software platform
connects media for sharing and connects people for collaborating
Product Architecture
The arrival of digital technology in the photography space opened the doors for new camera architectures, which in turn offer new possibilities for use. This potential has so far remained untapped and the industry has quickly settled in for easily sustained innovations that incrementally improvements of ease of use and affordability.
Camera Futura challenges conventions by combining the lens with a full frame CMOS sensor into one packaged unit, which can be controlled wirelessly from the camera body. It combines this with the power of modern mobile smartphone technology to create truly the most powerful and yet friendly and accessible experience for a high end camera.
Attached to the body, the camera behaves like a contemporary digital camera; with manual controls for focus and zoom on the lens, as well as aperture and shutter speed dials on the body. However, once the lens is detached from the body, Camera Futura is an entirely different beast and reveals its true potential, by using the hardware architecture that we have christened “WVIL”, which stands for “Wireless Viewfinder, Interchangeable Lens”.
The camera body now acts as a wireless viewfinder for the lens that could be handheld or mounted on a tripod. Furthermore, lens controls such as zoom and focus are now facilitated through the use of the touch screen.
Separating the sensor from the body has 2 distinct advantages. First it allows for innovation in new types of dedicated glass – whether it be dual-sensor 3D stereoscopy, ultra-widescreen aspect ratio, or 360° lenses. The possibilities are limitless. Secondly, the Camera Futura concept also allows for adapters for a variety of standard mounts, so that users can still shoot with their existing lenses – even using different sensor mount combinations such that multiple lens manufacturers could be used on the same camera body.
On top of all that, Camera Futura’s body is also unlike anything that has been seen yet, as it consists of two parts:
First, there is the frame which is built for improved ergonomics and extended battery life and storage. It contains an additional battery, SDHC storage, lens locking mount and dedicated physical dials to control camera features.
This frame then holds the display unit, a powerful device with multi-touch high resolution display. Such a unit could leverage an existing smartphone platform, and even un-dock as such a dedicated device.
Connectivity
WLAN, Bluetooth, GPS, compasses and other receivers are a given with mobile phones – and they have all found their way into Camera Futura and connect the system to have it wirelessly linked to computers, phones, other cameras and the cloud to offer a wide variety of new possibilities and scenarios, not the least of which includes immediate and direct sharing to social networks from the camera.
Many of the most popular social media services feature image integration or are even centered around photography. While the sharing of photos and photography tips & tricks is possible from smartphones, these capabilities are now available where they naturally belong: a digital camera.
Camera Futura allows the direct sharing of photos and shooting styles from the camera to social media services such as facebook, twitter or flickr.
Integration of Hardware and Software
While camera makers still speak of “firmware” that is installed on their devices, the mobile phone industry has discovered the power of software platforms. Camera Futura brings this idea to the camera space leveraging the power of full mobile operating systems.
Camera Futura is built around a software platform that uses touch screen technology and will allow for purpose-built apps to be installed. Such apps can be used for on-camera post-processing, unique shooting style creation and sharing, professional guidance and tutorials, and other advanced technology enhancements (e.g. 3D imaging, face recognition, etc.)
Website & CES Product Demonstration
As mentioned above, Camera Futura is currently a design study only – we have begun to detail the industrial and user interface design of the product and have prototypes in the form of animated user interaction sequences, product renderings and a non-working appearance model.
In our quest to excite, inspire and to provoke, we came up with the idea to stage a show floor product introduction at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where we played the parts of product manager and visitors to convey the idea of the product in a realistic setting.
We also created a mini-site to describe Camera Futura and the WVIL system – if you haven’t seen it yet, go check it out at http://www.wvil.de" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
We understand that both the YouTube video and the website have led some to believe that this was a mere hoax. And while Camera Futura is far from being released, we created these assets to spark a discussion around the question of “what if” the product was really available. We believe such a product will soon be demoed on the CES show floor in some not too far off time.
What’s Next?
While this article turns out to be quite comprehensive, we are sure that it will leave many questions unanswered. Please bear with us for a little while, as we prepare some specials on the camera’s industrial and interaction design.
In the meantime, we are looking forward to your comments and suggestions and hope that they will prompt an inspiring debate.
