Nova DSLR concept reminds us that cameras need not be boring
By Paul Miller 
posted November 28th 2009 4:50PM
posted November 28th 2009 4:50PM
posted November 28th 2009 4:50PM
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
Maybe for a P&S, but no way am I going to put one of my lens on that!
"the idea is to allow for all sorts of hand holds"
..except any that might directly support the lens
Ha, looks like the shutter is operated by using the handles in a scissor like motion..
That would be ace. xD
@FORDY Yeah. Great for making blurry photos. Sharp photos, not so. I'd rather prefer it if my camera has another button, that has a built in 1-2 second delay, without blinking lights or changing settings. And with the mirror flapping away at the press of the button... So that the camera won't move from pressing the button and from the mirror hitting the roof of the camera. Having to move the camera in order to take a photo sounds like a very daft idea.
I want voice operated DSLR goggles.
Look, and say "shoot". I'm tellin' ya, it's the future ;)
how exactly does a weird handle make it "fun" ?
Wouldn't it be more helpful if the buttons faced the user?
Or can you rotate them?
Or is one shit out of luck?
Seems to be unergonomic, hard to use, and all photos will be a blurry mess because it is impossible to keep it stable. The design of a DSLR makes sense for photos. For videos not so much, but a real video camera (and the rigs people come up with for DSLRs) are much larger.
Oh, and he used a manual focus/manual aperture lens. How are you supposed to use it? When both hands have to be on the grips?
Nice. Wait until you see what we have coming - based on a 2003 design. ;) http://www.owonder.com.
Are you familiar with what makes an SLR an SLR? It's a mirror box that interrupts the light on the way to the film (sensor) and redirects it to your eye.
This has none of that, it simply is not an SLR. It's just a camera with interchangeable lenses, like a a micro 4/3rds camera.
it has all of that, it fits behind the lens. This camera is as big as a Rebel.
This makes no sense at all, there's no way you will be able to use a long telephoto lens with it. Try balancing it when you put a big 70-200mm f2.8 on that thing.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
@CL
[cell phones] if it ain't broken don't fix it. (Apple creates iPhone, changes whole industry)
[laptops] if it ain't broken, don't fix it. (Asus creates Netbooks, changes whole laptop market)
[File management] if it ain't broken, don't fix it. (DropBox creates dropbox, changes lives)
@(Unverified) All of your examples were considerably better than the status quo. This design is considerably *worse* than the status quo...
I like how it's a manual aperture lens on a Cannon branded camera.
And - as all the other people said - wouldn't like it for photos, and I don't think you could fit a mirror/prism on there. It's a digital camera, not an SLR.
LOL... actually, from the looks of it they simply glued an old MF lens to the front of this monstrosity.
@(Unverified) It doesn't look like a Canon lens. As far as I can tell, the lens doesn't say Canon, just the camera does. There are companies other than Canon that offer Canon EF mount lenses, both manual focus and auto focus lenses.
I guess it's an interesting idea, but you need the buttons to face the user. I don't see how this accommodates zooming, the user is supposed to be holding the lens with one hand (and controlling zoom, focus or even aperture), the camera with the other hand. I'm not convinced that this makes a more stable or ergonomic arrangement, but if the design excels at those tests, then I hope someone tries marketing it.
And there's a reason why the camera strap mount is on the top of the camcorder. Unless this designer fancied the idea of hanging the camera upside down, which still sounds awkward and a waste of time flipping it up right for a quick shot.
One better, make one of the handles move up and down, and twist, one for focus, one for zoom... I see it being more of one handle held vertical, close to your body for stability, while the other offers the zoom/focus controls... Buttons could be on both
I'd rather see DSLR goggles.
I suppose you COULD get away with using this..since all those snobby film purists who swear by traditional body styles and freak out over anything remotely new are all dying out.
I say if it gets us better quality, then I'm all for it!
Do you hear that?
That is the sound of my Nikon FE-2 vomiting.
I will give up film when you pry the film out of my chemical stained hands.
@the steven Preach it brothah! I shoot a Canon AE-1, and just got my hands on a Leica R4 :)
@the steven The FE2 was main camera for quite a while too. Lovely thing, a pleasure to use. People apply too much of a tech mindframe to judge cameras - for many photographic purposes, an outdated technology may merely be the gateway to a wholly different way of shooting and results.
If I throw it does it come back?
Does holding this camera also make your hair stand up as though there were the perfect breeze?
I kinda liked the old Kodak DC50 and DC290 format.
Not yet the digital binoculars from Star Wars that were digital zoom and synthetic wide angle all in one a magical f/1:10-4000 with 1:1 macro.
I do want a sentinel from The Matrix which would scurry up the wall and take a great 360 geotagged pano with all its eyes - in the dark. -
I honestly want to try one of these out before I say anything but i'm definitely glad to see some innovation in camera design :IO
pretty?
Ugly.
Silly. You need to be able to hold the lens with one (ie your left) hand - to keep it steady, because that is where the centre of gravity often is and because that's where the zoom ring and manual focus are. Button driven zoom belongs firmly in the point and shoot category.
More questions: how do attach this to a tripod? Why the ancient lens? Why is the ancient lens upside down?
wow, maybe they can do this for compact cameras with a zoom control on one handle. but then you will look like a complete dork holding this device anyway. for dslrs, no way. the CG is way off in this concept with a heavy lens, as some here have mentioned
I see two current trends in large sensor camera design:
1) Keep SLR viewfinder because of its advantages (night, action shooting prowess and familiarity). This leads to the traditional form factor.
2) Ditch the viewfinder and make the thing as small as possible. Most successfully done so far by the micro 4/3s cameras.
So we're somewhat divorced from film but not the viewfinder. Killing the viewfinder must lead to some considerable utility in return - the most obvious one being small size right now. Just being different doesn't solve problems.
@YpoCaramel there's still no beating an optical viewfinder that is big and bright IMO
Terribly impractical and ugly. I'm not really a huge fan of this concept. Besides, if it ever gets out, it's most likely have the lens hard-mounted (not interchangable) and heavily underspecced.
There's so much wrong both ergonomically and functionally with this design concept that it's hard to come up with a list of what's right. It was obviously the results of a design exercise by a student who doesn't actually use a camera with any regularity. Maybe it could do double duty as a divining rod in case the shooter need to find a source of water, though.
Here's another concept: how about a interchangeable lens body (not a dSLR because there'd be an EVF and not a mirrorbox) with one single grip on the bottom like an old super-8 camera? At least with that you could still hold the camera with one hand and interact/steady the lens with the other. It'd still be inferior to the tried and true SLR form factor that we have now, though.
Why have anything more than the lens?
@Linesonthewall
awesome comment.
think outside the box, my friend.
To all the naysayers: have you looked at the linked pictures in the source?
There's many ways to hold the camera, and the one pictured above is arguably the worst. :)
Put the two handles together, hold it like a super-8 -> ergonomic awesomeness!
I'd have welcomed the idea to transform present DSLR designs to the large format alike stuff, but this...
doesn't work for me
So say we all!
I think that could be one possible future design for all cameras. Nice work, got to try it someday.
Leaving out the obvious appearance defects aside, that is the most unnatural way of taking professional pictures... the second hand needs to complete the fulcrum to get nice images at quick... before the moment disappears.
I want one
anyone who knows anything about photography knows this wouldn't work..
Can we change the current shape, yes...
is this the answer, no.....
I'll stick with a d90/300/3/3s... (no way i can afford the last 2, but that's not the point)....
@Nimer55
Agreed I would much rather stick to my 400D.
There's a reason DSLRs follow the same form factor that SLRs established decades ago. It's the most hand-holdable form there is. Ergonomics makes all the difference when you're holding an object to your eye, and have to hold it steady and manipulate the different functions of the camera.
This beast will not allow you to hand-hold at a slow shutter speed and focus manually (sometimes you have to do it yourself). Let alone have space for the requisite hardware in side.
There's a reason DSLRs follow the same form factor that SLRs established decades ago. It's the most hand-holdable form there is. Ergonomics makes all the difference when you're holding an object to your eye, and have to hold it steady and manipulate the different functions of the camera.
This beast will not allow you to hand-hold at a slow shutter speed and focus manually (sometimes you have to do it yourself). Let alone have space for the requisite hardwarein side.
DSLRs today are rectangles, the "handholdable" part is the handle and photographers found a way around the awkward shape [dictated by film] to keep it steady. This design is ergonomic and photographers can slide the handles together into one, cradle the lens and keep it steady better than any camera out there today.
Unless i'm missing something, like say Canon choosing this as a finalist or winner in some sort of future camera design competition, there's really nothing to discuss here. This is just a design from a design student's portfolio on Coroflot. With enough scouring, i'm sure Engadget could run a story nearly daily on some design student's work.
Nothing to see here folks.
I was in this class with this student, and there are a lot of features they though of, that cannot be explained in 2 pictures, that many people are commenting on. So I wanted to clear up a few things
-yes you can support the lens, you bring the two handles together to to make one handle and support away. Also this way you can tuck those elbows it and get a steadier shot as well as hold it way out and take a picture of yourself less awkwardly than a rectangular body.
- the buttons are meant to face away from the user so that they can operate them by feel, which is what most experienced photographers do, but current DSLRs don't really accommodate for.
-you don't squeeze the handles together to take a picture, you would get a shaky image every time, there is a shutter button, the model's finger is on it.
-oh and Erin is a girl. congratulations! see you in class.