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June 18, 2009
The camera world just got more interesting
It’s been building up for months or years now. People have been predicting the end of the DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) dinosaur with the advent of the EVIL (Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens) digital camera. And yes, the Panasonic G-1 and GH-1 have led the charge, with strong support from those who have been fans all along. As well as various thumbs down from people who love the OVF (Optical View Finder) of the classic DSLRs. About yesterday, Olympus released a retro model PEN EP-1. Whilst a smaller company in a camera world dominated in numbers by Canon and Nikon, Olympus has always been a maverick, not afraid to take a tilt at conservatism. Fans may still remember the Yoshihisa Maitani – with his retirement, we thought that his mantle of innovation and willingness to take a gamble had been left to some hand fumbles in the current generation of Olympus engineers. Be that as it may, the PEN EP-1 arouses for those same fans, a feeling of spring and light again. It may not have to sure fire success of something like the OM-1, or the XA, but Y. Maitani didn’t always make surefire successes either.
With the EP-1 now on the scene, and hopefully to spawn a new genre of digital cameras, the camera etymologists will have a fun time classifying camera types. The non photographer layman, however, may just prefer to ask - “How big is it” or “How much does it cost?” and leave it at that. (The latter is often uttered by long suffering spouses (spice?) of camera fans. Let’s review some camera mis-categories…
The DSLR
Or more dyslexic-ally, the DLRS or DLSR. Why does one call it a Single Lens when we can fit any / many lenses on the same body? Hmm… Is it because we once had a genre of cameras called Twin Lens Reflex (TLR)? Try and point a young ‘un to a TLR on any high street. Can’t find one? Not even a Lubitel? Well, then why pursue the DSLR abbreviation? Is it because people who used to shoot an SLR still need a mirror to look at themselves through? Maybe they should be more aptly called Interchangeable Lens Reflex Camera. Could you come up with more modern, more descriptive acronym?
The Point and Shoot
For several years now, I have been holding out that “Point and Shoot” is an activity, not a camera. One can just as easily P&S with a Nikon D3X as with a Panasonic Kodak instant-disposable-film-thing-from-Safeway. Aching wrists and elbows notwithstanding. Really, I’d love to see this term go away, but camera marketers will be too enthralled by it’s mental pictorialisation to discard it.
The Compact Cam
Now, for me, that’s an apt title. Either you have something as thin as a ladies cosmetic compact or you have something as large as the EP-1 – both, you would expect to be aggressively flat and chic.
The Bridge Cam
The Bridge to what? The River Kwai? Originally meant as an in-between camera, something that has more semi-manual features than a cheap digital camera but lacking the mirror box mechanism of the DSLR. Or is that more semi-automatic features. How can you tell? It’s just a bridge.
The Ultra Zoom (UZ) or the Mega Zoom
That conjures up a biggish camera, with a 10x zoom or 12x or 16x or 24x zoom. El Macho – even outzooms the DSLR. But then. Even semi-compact cams like the Ricoh R8 do 10x now. When the lens retracts, the camera is indeed slim and svelte.
The DSLR like camera
Now, that appellation stings. You do know that “DSLR like” cameras don’t actually work at all or perform at all like DSLRs? They don’t have a Reflex optical path, they don’t use Phase Contrast Autofocus so they don’t click very quickly? They only thing DSLR like is that they have a hump.
The EVIL
Recently coined, EVIL (Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens) cameras were supposed to knock out the DSLRs. Like yesterday. Except that they haven’t yet. And the Olympus PEN EP-1 is pretty much in the spirit of an EVIL – i.e. anti-DSLR. Except that the EP-1 doesn’t have an Electronic Viewfinder. You can clip on a specialised viewfinder into the hotshoe, but that is single framed, Optical Viewfinder (OVF).
Aiyaiayai. How is all this jargon going to help me convince the spouse that I need to save up for an EP-1? Instead of getting that BlendTec Blender?
Posted by Anandasim at June 18, 2009 06:56 PM
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