(SR4) More news about the rumored GH1 Sony competitor…

Catastrophile says:

i second the touchscreen, and would add that i need the screen to be either fully articulated (like GH1 not just tiltable like A380) or better if the whole back panel (LCD+controllers on the back) is detachable.

danworx says:

I agree Sky_walker, but there are too noisy lenses available right now, while your points are certainly more important.

Touchscreens are already very usable. Also i would prefer the complete backside of the camera for display use instead of wasting space for buttons. A touchscreen interface can be much more intuitive when done properly. Also customisation would be very easy to implement. Just think of all settings you frequently use, at a touch of your fingertip. Also iPhone like sliders for fast changes would be very handy.

I found the Touchscreen use of recent DSC-Ts very promising for future enhencements towards usability.

And please don’t waste any R&D for eye level Viewfinders, they are definitely not necessary as soon as you get used to a screen.
By the way, since the introduction of Steadycam, Monitors are used to frame Movie Cameras with huge success… and that’s definitely more difficult than framing stills (have tried it with a 16mm Arri Film cam on a pro rig).

Sky_walker says:

“And please don’t waste any R&D for eye level Viewfinders, they are definitely not necessary as soon as you get used to a screen.” – hehe, I say other way around: screen is definitely not necessary when you get used to good eye-level viewfinders.
Besides that: Major part of photography pleasure is using the optical viewfinder

#
Completely agreed about Touchscreens, but honestly – I’ve never seen a camera which let me to customize the menu in the way I’d like it to be…. but who knows? Perhaps one day…

danworx says:

“hehe, I say other way around: screen is definitely not necessary when you get used to good eye-level viewfinders.
Besides that: Major part of photography pleasure is using the optical viewfinder ”

I’m curious how you would shoot with the camera in positions where your arms can reach but your head would have difficulties to get to…
Talking about for example holding the camera over the handrail of a bridge (with the camera pointed sideways to get a half profile of somebody looking of the bridge). You would be able to just see the screen but definitely not to look through the finder! Lowangle shots are much easier too (I don’t fancy lying on my belly or folding myself into impossible figures to get lowangle shots).

Using a screen to frame a shot definitly frees your imagination for positioning the camera. You will very likely use different angles much more frequently than with a (eye level) finder just because they are so much easier to reach.

And by the way I started with eye level finders and had some difficulties adapting to screens, but now I don’t miss finders at all.

One last advantage of touchscreens is the possibility to tap on a point on the screen that shall be in focus, that is really a handy feature I use a lot because it’s much faster than multiple clicks on the navigational button.

electrofurious says:

i am sorry but i dont understand what is the point in including a feature like in-body stabilization?!?! what did those who compiled the poll thought? that sony would introduce their camera without stabilization or that they’ll suddenly start to do in-lens IS, both are very unlikely and it just goes without saying that the camera will have in-body IS, just as it goes without saying that there will be manual controls, RAW, AEB…etc, so it was pointless to include something like that.

Also high ISO noise, sony has been making APS-C sensors for a very long time and they will simply use the same sensors they use in their Alpha range, they are already in a fierce competition on this aspect of image quality with other mnfr’s, it is not going to make a difference when we ask for something that they have been trying hard to improve for years. The same for AF which will be CDAF, this has been used in digital compacts for ages, and any thing they can do to improve it will be done without a proof of popularity by a poll.

I mean we should send “messages” about the features which are a matter of decision, the Sony managers/designers wonder: will we make the camera with articulated screen or not? with an EVF or not? In any camera the answer could be yes or no, so we need to tell sony about that not about body IS or AF or that we want good image quality, of course we all want that. And where is the memory stick vs CompactFlash or SD cards in the poll, completely forgotten and left out! Somebody has missed his/her cup of coffee before writing down this poll.