iCam Concept
Beautiful renderings of the “iCam”, a concept created by Italian designer Antonio DeRosa. The concept case would add interchangeable lenses — along with various other features — to the iPhone 5. Very reminiscent of the Camera Futura concept. I would certainly be first in line for something like this; I love the idea of these modular devices that leverage the processing power of computing devices, like an iPhone, that you may already have. I know it’s a long shot, but let’s hope this makes it out of concept-land.
On a side note, still waiting to upgrade to the 4S (I think I can get it December 10th without getting gouged), can’t wait to check out the camera on there, seen some pretty amazing things from my friends who have the 4S already.
8 Comments Leave A Comment
JamesM says:
November 28, 2011 at 2:43 pmSomething *like* this HAS to be the future for photography. The glass (lens) and the photosensitive plane (film/sensor) have always been the 2 most important parts of photographic capture quality – the camera is merely a box that contains it all. It actually seems crazy to think that we’re still using a bulky SLR with dated UIs and weaker processing muscle to handle the tech side of digital photography. To be fair, the same can be said for many of the separate devices we use day to day, with clunky sub-par tech inside. It’s beginning to feel increasingly like needless duplication when we have a slimmer, faster device sitting quietly in our pocket which could do the job better, if only they were coupled together.
I recently upgraded to the iPhone 4S and took it on a trip to Thailand. In the bright sunlight out there, the picture quality I got was SERIOUSLY impressive. Low-light is typically grainy as you’d expect, but yeah overall the resolution, clarity, sharpness… very impressed. It’s no longer a “phone cam”, it’s a serious compact camera. You don’t need a separate compact anymore, and if we could put better glass infront of it as the iCam concept shows, it’d be competitive with some digi SLRs.
JamesM says:
November 28, 2011 at 2:46 pmSomething *like* this HAS to be the future for photography. The glass (lens) and the photosensitive plane (film/sensor) have always been the 2 most important parts of photographic capture quality – the camera is merely a box that contains it all. It actually seems crazy to think that we’re still using a bulky SLR with dated UIs and weaker processing muscle to handle the tech side of digital photography. To be fair, the same can be said for many of the separate devices we use day to day, with clunky sub-par tech inside. It’s beginning to feel increasingly like needless duplication when we have a slimmer, faster device sitting quietly in our pocket which could do the job better, if only they were coupled together.
I recently upgraded to the iPhone 4S and took it on a trip to Thailand. In the bright sunlight out there, the picture quality I got was SERIOUSLY impressive. Low-light is typically grainy as you’d expect, but overall in good light, the resolution, clarity, sharpness… SO impressive. It’s no longer a “phone cam”, it’s a serious compact camera. You don’t need a separate compact anymore, and if we could put better glass infront of it as the iCam concept shows, it’d be competitive with some digi SLRs.
Nick Hess says:
November 28, 2011 at 3:59 pmVery cool concept, definitely the best I’ve seen. He really thought out the details like the zoom toggle, eject button, and front LCD.
I’m waiting to upgrade to the 4S too, once I ditch AT&T for Verizon. Lens seems far superior.
kombizz@yahoo.com says:
November 30, 2011 at 12:01 amWhat a beautiful concept of near future design.
I am sure mny people would love to have such a nice camera, although the designer should think something smart about that big lens.
Jake Sargeant says:
November 30, 2011 at 11:49 amIf they keep the design lightweight, minimal and with the ability to interchange lenses…this would be a very very fun toy that I’d love having around for sure.
todd says:
December 1, 2011 at 7:14 amthis seems to be an already manufactured version of the same idea, although it looks a lot more shoddy. i would imagine it would take some damage, but, at least you can enhance your photos from the get go without losing as much quality as running your filters apres-photo.
http://photojojo.com/store/awesomeness/iphone-lens-dial/
Lisa says:
December 1, 2011 at 3:54 pmToo bulky (still), sort of defeats the purpose of having a flat device like the iPhone if one has to clip an apparatus onto it as proposed in the concept shown on this website.
Plus, what most photographers seem to forget: the iPhone was never intended to cater to photographers, and thus I doubt the phone will ever become as thin as the designer here hopes it will. Because, if it became this thin it would definitely be a hundred steps backwards as far as usability is concerned since no one will be able to hold it properly anymore. It will slip out of your hands easily (the iPods right now are already scratching on that limit, they can be very flimsy).
I would rather try to focus on the development of a lens that fits into a device like the iPhone which is so versatile that different lenses are not needed. And for all other things, seriously guys, please take your SLRs or dSLRs, that’s what they were made for. No point and shoot camera and no iPhone will be able to come close to that (not yet, and strapping something with a lens to it won’t help the case either).
JamesM says:
December 2, 2011 at 1:33 pm“…strapping something with a lens to it won’t help the case either”
Of course it will.
The quality of the lens is (becoming) the ONLY differentiator, since megapixel values and ISO sensitivity in compacts and mobiles now match low-end SLRs, which in turn had to first exceed the quality of film to be successful.
It’s becoming more a battle of physics than specifically electronics: how do we bend light to our will, without a lot of glass (a bulky lens)?