
Hand held with the 60mm VR on my D700 (I think?). That was a very rewarding hour of lying in wet grass.
We’re
getting very close to a pair of big Nikon announcements (at least), one we know
almost for certain is the D7000, which, while exciting, isn’t quite earth
shattering. It will be a DSLR just like all of the other DSLRs, an upgrade
rather than an entirely new product. The second announcement however could be
quite a bit more exciting if the long-rumoured Nikon EVIL (Electronic
Viewfinder, Interchangeable Lens) is finally announced. My money is on this
type of camera being announced sometime this month, but it’s far from a sure
thing (Nikon has cited historical precedents as the reason for their slow
response to consumer demand for EVIL cameras, they’ve seen new camera concepts
fail before). There have also been scattered rumours of a similar type of
camera from Canon and Sony has already released two EVIL models that are
selling like dolphin meat (to soon?) in Japan. Smaller players like
Panasonic and Olympus have also had EVIL
cameras out for quite some time now.
Sounds
exciting, yah? Now if only the general public knew what the hell an EVIL camera
was. So here’s the deal, I’m going to explain it to you and you are going to
explain it to everyone you know between the ages of nine and ninety and we’ll
see if it catches on. Deal? Deal.
There
are actually two new classes of camera involved here because an EVIL camera is
essentially a compromise between a point-and-shoot and a DSLR. First we’ll
cover the stripped down DSLR models and then move on to the glorified P&S
types, possibly finishing off with some wild speculation, incredibly inaccurate
hearsay and a chaser of innuendo. Enough small talk, lets get to it.
So
I’ll assume you know the basics of how a DSLR works: there’s a mirror and one
of those sensor things and an optical viewfinder with that prism that flips
everything right side up so you can see what’s going on without becoming
disorienting and dying in an embarrassing manner. The DSLR-style EVIL concept is really quite
easy to grasp since the IL (Interchangeable Lens) part of the equation stays
the same. The EV (Electronic Viewfinder) is what we have to get our collective
minds around. Essentially what has happened is the removal of the entire mirror
and prism assembly. They have replaced it with an electronic viewfinder,
essentially a tiny live-view LCD inside of the camera, which allows you to
focus and frame your photos in a traditional manner. The Panasonic GH1 is a
great example of this and you can clearly see the benefits of such a design; you
get the look and feel of a traditional SLR camera in a much, much smaller
package. The GH1 is significantly more compact and lighter than a Nikon D90 or
Canon 50D yet you still have the ability to change lenses, focus and frame in a
manner you’re use too and best of all, you get a real sensor. In the case of the GH1 it’s a four thirds system, so
it is a bit (roughly 33% in area) smaller than a Nikon or Canon DX/EF-S sensor,
but it’s a heck of a step up from your camera phone or compact. Next paragraph,
please.
The
second class of EVIL camera is literally just a giant P&S that you can swap
out the lenses on. If you gave Red Green a roll of duct tape, a compact camera,
some old SLR lenses and a few minutes of alone time he could produce a
reasonable approximation. These cameras (Olympus EP-1 for reference) have much
larger sensors than your average compact and the ability to change lenses but
other than those two things they are really no different than your typical
point-and-shoot. Sure they have a few more high-end software features (re:
marketing gags) that most compact cameras won’t have but they also have a much
higher price point, not even taking into account the extra lenses a user may or
may not purchase. All in all these are just big, bad, compact cameras that
don’t suck. That pretty much sums up the compact EVIL side of things, so if at
this point you are wondering what this all means… keep reading.
There
are clear benefits and drawbacks to both of these new styles of camera. On the
plus side, compared to a DSLR, is lower weight and mass which leads to better
portability and the not to be overlooked advantage of cheaper lenses. On the
downside we have lower image quality and less resilience (these things won’t
take the pounding a D300s, or even a D90 or 50D will). Compared to compacts
everything just turns around and goes in the opposite direction. Better image
quality and much better toughness are the upside, while the downside becomes
the size, weight and portability of the cameras along with cost and the fact
that you even have to purchase lenses. So that’s the deal, everyone is clear?
Let’s hurry up and get into the wild speculation portion of this shindig.
I
speculate that EVIL cameras are the new point-and-shoots! There, I said it.
That really is my honest, totally unprofessional, opinion. Traditional (ha, as
if) compact digital cameras are under attack from not only these new compact
EVIL cameras at the top but also from phone cameras in a huge way at the bottom
of the giant camera food chain. With new technology like backside-illuminated
sensors pushing camera phones into the 6 MP range, with totally decent ISO
performance too boot, I really can’t see a niche for the pocket sized cameras
anymore. I’m not sure they will cease to exist entirely anytime soon but the
massive portion of the market they have occupied is under attack and the
prognosis is not good. The average consumer who has a cell phone camera (most
new cell phone cameras are in the 4 to 6 MP range) and wants something more out
of his photographic experience is going to leap right over the compact camera
market and head straight for an EVIL camera, especially as prices fall after
this initial status-seeking ends and the EVIL cameras aren’t the new kid on the
block anymore.
So
there it is, everything you ever needed to know about this EVIL revolution. Now
let’s just hope some of this actually comes to fruition, for my ego’s sake, at
least. Oh and I’m sorry I never got to the innuendo, but it’s just so hard
to fit it all in there when the
subject is such a mouthful all by
itself. That’s what she said…
Later.
www.PrecariousPhotography.com