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Comment by headcanon | Hacker News Reader

as good as these cameras are, I feel like its a real missed opportunity not to partner with Canon or Nikon to get deep integration with their lens systems and essentially turn this into a DSLR that happens to use the iPhone as a sensor. I realize there are lens attachments in the wild but they're mostly trash, and its nowhere close to what it could be.

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Smartphones have already killed off the casual camera market. I don't think Canon or Nikon would be willing to help Apple kill off the high-end camera market, too.

That's the thing though, they wouldn't be killing off anything except the $500 sensor shell. A DSLR is literally a lens platform. Let apple sell the razor, they can continue selling razorblades.

Sell a "case" that holds and attaches lenses for a hundred bucks or so, bundle it with an app, and allow people to continue using the same lenses, which they make more money on anyway. Commercially, this would be a huge win for whichever of the camera giants decides to do this first.

Additionally, under this model, the cost of the phone + case ($800 + $100) is higher than the cost of the DSLR sensor by itself (which runs about $600 new), so it doesn't necessarily make it obsolete, but it gives iPhone owners a lower barrier to entry for DSLR lenses, which I would imagine would drive lens sales quite a bit. I really don't see a downside here, if it's possible on a technical basis

Is it possible where cameras simply become so good on devices, that the next hollywood blockbuster is filmed on an iphone?

I know that is ridiculous, but I remember a "1mp" camera was advertised everywhere as a thing for a phone to have. It wasn't that long ago really.

Let's say your 2040 Iphone captures 4000mp of the entire visible scene. Then you have some special software that unicorns everything into amazing sauce.

I know this is all pretty whimsical, but none the less, I feel that the path we are going down is one that Nikon and Canon can't finish.

> Is it possible [...] that the next hollywood blockbuster is filmed on an iphone?

Yes.

"How one of the best films at Sundance was shot using an iPhone 5S" https://www.theverge.com/2015/1/28/7925023/sundance-film-fes...

Or if you want something a bit more Hollywood, Gondry is experimenting with it.

"Michel Gondry debuts film shot entirely on Apple's iPhone 7" http://mashable.com/2017/07/01/michel-gondry-iphone-7-film/#...

Canon and Nikon aren't even willing to seriously get into the mirrorless camera space (which Sony is currently dominating), there is no way they would be willing to get into the cell phone camera space.

The problem with mirror less is that you can't ignore physics. Once you add on the comparatively longer lens, the biggest selling point(size reduction), isn't realized.

That really depends on the platform. If you're willing to go with a higher crop factor you will see real world size reductions in the lens.

For example, compare the size of the Panasonic M43 35-100/2.8 to the Canon 70-200/2.8 or Canon 70-200/4.0

http://camerasize.com/compact/#333.7,333.294,521.366,ha,t

There's a noticeable reduction in size and weight with the M43 gear if you're OK with the compromises of using a crop sensor.

I used to have an APS-C DSLR and carried a few lenses with me on trips. My main system now is Nikon 1 and in the same space in my bag that my DSLR and lenses used to take, I can put two bodies and five lenses.

While I know that many people consider the Nikon 1 system a joke, I chose it because it works very well for my specific needs (I also have some M43 gear but I still prefer my N1 gear because of the size). Obviously, I wouldn't recommend it to most people, since their needs don't necessarily line up with mine.

Main selling-points for mirrorless SLRs in my circle of photographer colleagues are:

1. Frame rate

2. Elimination of mirror-bounce blurring at slow shutter speeds

3. WYSIWYG viewfinder

Most of them are invested in Nikon or Canon lenses and are ready to throw thousands of dollars at the first mirrorless SLR from either of them which is exactly the same size as current mirror bodies. Many find the Sony mirror less bodies too small to hold.

I suspect that's the minority view. For most people (myself included), mirrorless (Fujifilm X-series) gives us most of capabilities of a DSLR in a far smaller/lighter package. But get above 135mm (35mm equivalent) focal length and those savings effectively go away.

Don't get me wrong, I use my Fujifilm camera more than my full-frame Canon DSLRs. But it's almost solely because the Fujifilm is smaller and lighter to travel with.

1,3 I rarely care about, and if 2 is a concern at such low shutter speeds, then break out the tripod, and exposure delay. I'll set mine for a second or two after mirror up, and voila. Plus, you're going to need new lenses, or extensions to adapt your existing FX lenses to it. The sensor distance won't be correct otherwise.

Of course, it will be fun to play with any new tech.

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