DSLRs continue to evolve. And, this evolution will continue. There’s no stopping it.
A few years ago, purists scoffed at chimping on the preview screen to see how exposures looked. Then, a loud minority (of probably the same purists) cried afoul when Live View displays began showing up on just about every DSLR released. The latest purist revolt has come as a result of the inclusion of video capture as a “must-have” feature in almost every DSLR released.
Just hop on about any photo gear forum and you’ll find plenty of critical comments concerning the latest bells and whistles attached to DSLRs. Many proclaim that they will not buy a given camera because it has a specific feature – again, the latest villain is video.
If you think the above examples of departure from a pure SLR camera are annoying, you may very well consider the addition of a touchscreen on a DSLR to be heresy. Chris posed the question of whether photographers want a DSLR with a touchscreen (among other features) back in July. The handful of well-reasoned comments brought up issues regarding interaction with the camera and accessibility to its features. One commenter noted, “Just because it’s possible doesn’t make it desirable. I have one DSLR that only displays the settings on the LCD on the back of the camera; it is bulky and time consuming to take my eye away from the camera, select the setting and walk through a menu to set it.”
While the above image appears to have been produced by my 7-year-old, I can assure you that is not the case. The image actually appears in US Patent Application No. 12/422,695, which was originally filed by Canon on April 13, 2009 and published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office on October 22, 2009.
The patent clearly exposes Canon’s implementation of a touchscreen DSLR.