Canon Wonder Camera spells death of photography

Posted on 12 Jul 2010 at 12:17

Canon has unveiled its vision of the future of still photography with a concept device it calls the Canon Wonder Camera - and it's actually a video camera.

Unveiled - in purely hypothetical form - at the World Expo in Shanghai, the Wonder Camera is a futuristic device which predicts the death of still-image cameras in place of high-resolution video cameras from which individual frames can be selected and used in place of a photograph.

The Wonder Camera predicts the marriage of two developments to create an entirely new breed of device: the continuing increase in data storage densities and future enhancements in all-in-one lenses.

Featuring an integrated lens capable of operating in macro as well as telephoto modes out to 500mm equivalent ranges, the operation of the Wonder Camera is pretty simple: rather than taking individual images, you use it as a video camera and take continuous video streams. If a particularly noteworthy image pops up, you can make a note of where in the video stream it occurs with the press of a 'shutter' button for later printing.

It's a neat idea, but one which is sadly beyond the current capabilities of both lens and sensor technology: with consumer-grade HD camcorders maxing out at two megapixels, they lack the quality required to replace even a budget point-and-shoot still camera.

However much of a dream the device remains, it's clear that Canon is planning ahead - with Engadget predicting that the Wonder Camera could be a glimpse of as much as twenty years into the future.

Author: Gareth Halfacree

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