While I think the digital camera revolution has been amazing, there are two things I want to see built in to digital cameras (especially the pro level SLRs):

1. Better exposure controls when taking the picture. I want to be able to dial in my exposure at the sensor level, as if I am applying a graduated neutral density filter anywhere on the sensor.

   Imagine you are taking a sunset picture in Joshua Tree National Park at the Cholla Cactus Garden. Your image might look something like

   

   Now, this image isn’t great by any means, but it exemplifies the problem. At the time of the shot I had a 1 stop graduated ND filter in my bag, which I applied to my lens by lining up the filter with the sun on the horizon. As you can see the bottom part is still a little dark and the sky is a little washed out and probably would have benefited from a 2 stop GND.

   There are several common workarounds for this:

   1. Use the correct filter to begin with
   2. Take two exposures, one for the sunlight part and one for the shadow area and then combine in photoshop
   3. Take a different picture that doesn’t have the problem

   While all of these offer varying degrees of success, they are still not ideal. The first isn’t always possible due to what filters you are carrying. The second requires a fair amount of work and most photographers will tell you it is better to make the necessary adjustments in camera before taking the shot (or after reviewing the first shot and taking the second).

   What if there was another option? Namely, what if you could select the top part of the LCD in your digital camera and tell the camera to expose these sensors 2 stops less than the bottom part. The camera could have a grid that it lays out over the LCD like

   

   (just not in blue) and you could dial in the exposures on the grid by saying each cell is + or - the cameras chosen exposure. The user interface for this is critical, but I think it could be done without being too complicated. Most digitals have a thumbpad on them all ready that could be used to navigate and select the grid. The key would be able to do this quickly. Better yet, there would be some presets that automatically defaulted to certain exposures like I described.

   Think of the possibilities. Say you want the sun to be in your image, but it is really bright. You could dial back the cells around the sun by 2 or 3 stops and thus bring them in line with the rest of your image, so that your highlights are not blown out. Or that area that is in deep shadow could be opened up to show detail, just as your eye does.

   Now, I am not saying this is doable with the current technology, just something I think would be really powerful.

2. Digital Backs for film cameras - I have a really nice Canon EOS 3 that I love. It is a solid, well built, easy to use film camera. I bought it a few years ago and I have really enjoyed using it. But, alas, it is not digital. Why can’t they make me a digital back (similar to a polaroid back) for my camera that has an LCD and some of the whiz bang features of the new digital cameras. They do it for some medium format cameras. I would think it would be possible. It doesn’t have to be totally integrated with the camera, I am not asking for that. Just give me the basics to do digital capture using my existing camera.

Am I crazy? Am I asking for too much? The economics of my second idea may not be there for Canon of Nikon, but I would think it would be viable for some third party manufacturer, as I am sure there are a whole lot of people out there with film cameras that would like to take digital images, but don’t want to spend $1500 for a pro level SLR that matches the features in their existing pro level film SLR. As for the first idea, I don’t know how CCD sensors work, completely, so I am not sure it is doable but I would think it is.

I guess time will tell.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 16th, 2006 at 12:01 pm and is filed under Photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.