Nikon are due to announce a replacement to the D2X and its subsequent update, the D2Xs anytime in the next few days. I won't be adding any of the rumours I have been hearing but I can tell you some of the things I personally hope it will have.
1. Greatly improved low light / high iso image quality.
2. Elimination of any back-focus problems.
3. SD & CF card options (like Canon).
4. Rubber body covers that don't fall off.
That is pretty much all I need improved. I know it will have higher resolution, faster fps, better metering and faster AF so if all of my wishes were included as well I would be a happy snapper!
There is one thing however that I hope/dream someone will build/design in the near future.
I wish someone would come up with a simple remote transmit unit that would eliminate the need for a laptop or pda and would allow you to SIMPLY transmit INSTANTLY from the sideline without an assistant or tech. No need to stop shooting, download cards, select images, caption, edit and transmit. This would ALL be done in camera with a simple setup before an assignment.
It could either screw underneath the body or sit on the hotshoe (like a pocketwizard) and connect to the camera via the 10 pin plug. Better still, how about Nikon and Canon build bluetooth into their next models! Then the bluetooth enabled transmit unit could go in a pocket or waistpack and not get in the way at all.It would be designed to work with participating high-speed cellular data networks, like Australia's NextG network and would require the relevent sim card inserted. Imagine something about the size of a cigarette pack with an lcd display.
I might be able to easily explain its use by describing how it would operate.
Before commencing assignment the unit can be plugged in to a laptop (even better, use a portable bluetooth keyboard and enter info straight into the unit via the lcd display) and data added to an "iptc stationary pad". IPTC details like job name, photographer info, relevent generic caption details, copyright info etc. that are automatically added to images sent via the unit. The unit could also hold numerous ftp connection details which could be edited and saved. How about built in smtp mail software if your client doesn't support ftp? Include the smtp server details, email address, message and max message size and your images will send via email.
What about specific captions with particular players names I hear you ask? Well, if you record a voice caption in the camera (which all pro models now offer) it will be uploaded alongside the picture file so the client can adjust the caption at their end.
What about filesize? Well, you could set options like quality of jpg compression, resize to specific pixels on the longest side, max file size.
Finally, how would it know what pics to send? Well, this would have to be done in a similar fashion to the old Canon D2000/Kodak DCS520 where you 'tag' a file in camera. Once the file is tagged it is automatically sent and a confirmation would appear on the transmit unit lcd when the file had been uploaded.
Ok you tech companies, feel free to steal my idea and get to work on this. I am SURE that tens of thousands of these units would sell all around the world to companies like AP, Reuters, Getty, AFP and all newspaper publishers.
By the way, I want a freebee!
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