okay. i was kinda bored and whipped this up really quick.
it's a rough idea of what a combo iPod/digital camera could possibly look like.
yeah, i know it's be tough to make the optics fit in there, but humor me.
discuss and rip apart to your hearts's content.
Comments
I've been hoping that someone would release an external AA or AAA battery pack that attaches to the firewire port, one that has a tuner built in even. It could have pass through capability for the headphones and firewire snaps in so it would stick. In a pinch, a camera module could be added to an iPod as well, although it might be ugly or unwieldy.
It was popular in Japan, but it's not an idea that'll ever catch on here. Sony-Ericsson and all the other cell phone makers are trying to add cameras to their phones...At least that makes a little more sense...it's still not a great idea, IMHO.
I mean, with the phone, why trade instant gratification for a crappy photo...assuming you are able to send the photo to recipients wirelessly? I'd rather have a nice'ish Digital Elph and wait till I get back to a computer to upload nice, crisp photos.
With an mp3 player and still camera, where's the convergence?
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With an mp3 player and still camera, where's the convergence?</strong><hr></blockquote>
where's the convergence of an MP3 player and an address book?
not everything needs to make sense.
why this particular converegence?
to have one less thing to carry around.
the iPod has a screen large enough for a viewfinder. just needs to color.
iPod has plenty of storage.
the iPods control mechanism could very easily be adapted for use as camera controls (scroll for menus, center button to take snapshots)
the only real drawback of my design is where to stick the optics, but that's what Apple pays people to figure out.
myself, i'd take a lot more photos with my digital camera if i didn't hate lugging it around. i think that goes for a lot of other people as well. combine a good quality camera with an iPod and you've got a winner.
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the iPod has a screen large enough for a viewfinder. just needs to color.
iPod has plenty of storage.
the iPods control mechanism could very easily be adapted for use as camera controls (scroll for menus, center button to take snapshots)
the only real drawback of my design is where to stick the optics, but that's what Apple pays people to figure out.
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Everyone, think of how much the iPod costs. Factor in optics...plus screen, plus design to fit in current or slightly larger iPod.
-assume its its $200 quality optics (as low as i'd expect from apple)
-color LCD is expensive...but would make for sweet iTune visualizatios on the iPod, haha
-perhaps pictures would fade in and out liek the one screen saver on OS X
-basis of my replying is think of the cost...it would be over $800...mide as wll throw in a cell phone, PDA....and we have a total of $2000
perhaps they could sell this with a speical offer
*buy one iDevice and get an iBrator free* <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
[ 09-25-2002: Message edited by: ast3r3x ]</p>
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where's the convergence of an MP3 player and an address book?
...</strong><hr></blockquote>
Uh, it didn't originally have an address book. It was added via software. No retooling of hardware was needed at all. Glomming a sucktacular plastic lens onto an iPod, making it thicker and more unwieldy is not progress.
Adding a color LCD to the iPod would also raise the price considerably. I never use the LCD on my cameras to frame shots anyway. In fact, on one camera it's not even possible to do that. Any decent digital camera in this class should have an optical rangefinder, to conserve battery power.
Not a good idea. It doesn't fit into Apple's Digital Hub strategy. This is what I call a digital Swiss Army Knife.
<strong>Not a good idea. It doesn't fit into Apple's Digital Hub strategy. This is what I call a digital Swiss Army Knife.</strong><hr></blockquote>
do you have something against the swiss ?
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do you have something against the swiss ?
Yeah, their cheese is a damn rip-off with all those freaking holes!
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Yeah, their cheese is a damn rip-off with all those freaking holes!
hey this is not the only cheese we produce !
there are TONS of other cheese.
the "Emmentaler" or "Swiss Cheese" how you call it is just the one who is the most famous because of his holes...
and why would it be a rip-off ?
Of course, I think it would make more sense for Apple to promote Firewire in digital still cameras. As the industry gradually moves towards higher resolutions(better photo printers factor into this), and larger storage, a faster connection makes sense.
Firewire makes more sense than USB 2, as it opens the doors to a new world of features. Consider the idea of two cameras that can be directly connected to swap photos, without a PC being involved. Or on an iPod-related note... just connect your digital camera and external firewire hard drive, and tansfer photos to the hard drive. It could be a great way to give tiny cameras huge amounts of storage.
<strong>The convergence lies in the fact that with a 5, 10, or 20 GB HD, you could store a frellin' lot of pictures.</strong><hr></blockquote>
A frellin' lot of crap pictures is what you're going to store, unless the iPod bloats to more twice the thickness. A decent 3 megapixel JPEG is a little over 1 MB in size. You can already store a frellin' lot of pictures on 256 or 512 MB flash card...and it'll probably last longer than any tiny HDD being written to so many times.
<strong>The convergence lies in the fact that with a 5, 10, or 20 GB HD, you could store a frellin' lot of pictures.
Of course, I think it would make more sense for Apple to promote Firewire in digital still cameras. As the industry gradually moves towards higher resolutions(better photo printers factor into this), and larger storage, a faster connection makes sense.
Firewire makes more sense than USB 2, as it opens the doors to a new world of features. Consider the idea of two cameras that can be directly connected to swap photos, without a PC being involved. Or on an iPod-related note... just connect your digital camera and external firewire hard drive, and tansfer photos to the hard drive. It could be a great way to give tiny cameras huge amounts of storage.</strong><hr></blockquote>
and you can store even more without your MP3 library taking up disk space. The whole convergence scenario for the iPod dosent make sense becouse it wouldnt be a "camera done right" or even better than anyone elses cameras, and would add to the cost of the iPod.
Of course, it it added a huge amount to the price, I'd most likely wait. I waited to buy the iPod until the price dropped.
1) Pros won't be using any Apple camera.
2) Apple's not going to make a D-SLR.
MicroDrive might have been a boon a few years ago, but there exist 1 GB and 2 GB type II CompactFlash cards that are much faster than MicroDrive. D-SLRs need solid-state memory anyway. With the new cameras getting 5 FPS at 10+ mpixel, it's not feasible to have to wait for the slow writing speed of a Microdrive or Toshiba HDD... Think about why Lexar just introduced Write-Accelerated CF cards...