Good or bad, photography as a medium is closely tied to the technological heritage of our cameras. As a result, technological developments often influence the tyoe of gear we use and the type of photographs we take. With that in mind, here are some areas of innovation that are likely to create even more change in the way we take pictures and the way manufacturers design cameras in the future.
The liquid lens uses electrical signals to shape a drop of liquid to focus light on the film plane. According to some, liquid lenses offer the potential for an 85% size reduction in lenses, and they’ve already been used in a number of imaging devices like security cameras and barcode scanners.
So far, no one’s been able to build a liquid lens large enough and sharp enough for use on a high-end digital camera, but the potential isn’t lost on lens manufacturers. Olympus, Sony, Samsung and Canon have all filed patents for liquid lens systems
Tech savvy camera-owners have already found plenty of ways to tinker with their gear on the back-end. The folks at Magic Lantern, for example, have already figured out how to grab RAW video from certain Canon DSLRs, and have even put a simple video game on the Canon EOS 7D.
But just recently, Sony released the Application Programming Interface (API) for a small portion of its camera lineup, allowing developers to build apps for smartphones that can communicate with wireless Sony cameras. It looks like Sony hopes third parties will use this information to build wi-fi remotes for its cameras. It’s a positive sign that Sony is open to distributing proprietary data to the public, just like Apple did for its iPhones back in 2008.
If Sony, or another camera manufacturer, continue down this path and open up more of their private development tools, they’re sure to see new and inspired programs created for their cameras.
Thinking about the Photography Industry can be a little down and a head held high. And with these four inventions, it would be a reason to hold your head up high. My favorite has to be the liquid lenses, which are used in security cameras and barcode scanners but they reduce up to 85% of any condensation on the camera. Pretty nifty.