Ultra Simple Camera: Too Perfect To Be True?
Mike Johnston of the great photography blog Luminous Landscape wants a new camera, and it does almost nothing but take pictures. He dubs this fantasy-cam the DMD (Decisive Moment Digital), and it is noteworthy as an antidote to the bell-and-whistle-fest that is the modern digicam.
Johnston wants a simple tool, quiet, with no flash, a fixed wide angle lens, an optical viewfinder and DNG + JPEG only. In fact, it has almost nothing not found on the simple, basic film cameras of old, other than being digital. And you know what? I want one.
So there you have it: a small, light, unobtrusive carry-around camera with great handling and world-class responsiveness, capable of being used in all manner of lighting conditions and yielding DSLR-quality results on the gallery wall. The 21st-century equivalent of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s stealthy street-shootin’ Leica.
The Leica comparison is an apt one. The M8 comes the closest to Mike’s dream camera, but cost as much as a small car. There’s definitely a (probably large) niche for a product like this. Simple, stripped down, easy to use, fast and reliable. Sign me up. But enough talk. What would you like to see in the perfect camera?
‘DMD’: The digital camera I’d Like to Own [Luminous Landscape via Kottke]
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Flickr
Tags: consumer technology, home cinema, cool gear, electronic toys