The invention of an American genius.

This wonderful advertisement for Edwin Land’s Polaroid SX-70 instant camera is thrilling to watch.

Almost eleven minutes long, and reveling for a considerable part in the fabulous technology of the machine, there is no better way, other than using one, of appreciating what Dr. Land had accomplished with his magic machine. The sheer simplicity of the SX-70′s user interface would not be rivaled until the iPad came along forty years later, and having used both, I can assure you only one is magic, and it’s not the product designed in Cupertino.

The film was made by Charles and Ray Eames, whose other accomplishments include architectural and furniture design. Talent is seldom evenly distributed.

Film for the SX-70:

A bunch of criminally insane people in Holland got together, bought out the old Polaroid film making hardware and got down to making film for the SX-70, and you can still buy it here. Bless them!

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Incredibly useless.

It takes quite an effort to accomplish all of these design criteria:

• Make the ugliest camera since digital was invented
• Equip it with a microscopic sensor in a body the size of the MFT competition
• Trash your reputation and an expectant, loyal user base

Nikon, with its new mirrorless V1 has accomplished all three at the highest possible level of failure.

Nikon V1 – camel as camera.

It’s said a camel is a horse designed by a committee. Well, the V1 is a camel of a camera, doubtless with lots of costly market research thrown in. Steve Jobs has famously stated that Apple uses no market research. Rather, it gives the consumer what Apple thinks they need – the Next Great Thing. But had you told Nikon to listen to their user base and give them something useful, like an APS-C camera with an EVF and a range of small, fast lenses, they would doubtless have deferred to the committee. And you would still have ended up with a V1.

The funniest part? They will make an adapter which will allow use of gargantuan Nikon-mount lenses on this piece of crap.

At least Fuji’s equally worthless X10 is pretty to look at. And if you don’t think looks matter, how do you feel about your picture taking chances when you have to fight the gag reflex every time you pick your camera up?

For those looking for portability and other uses for their pocket camera, get an iPhone 4 or, better, next month’s iPhone 5 with an 8mp sensor.

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Bloomberg nails it.

Bloomberg has an interesting piece on how Nikon and Canon are missing the boat by not offering a mirrorless DSLR.

Click the picture to read the article.

As an early adopter and buyer of the first EVF interchangeable lens MFT DSLR, the Panasonic G1, I tend to agree that it’s the future. The EVF will only get better, it’s cheaper to make than the prism/mirror combination used in old tech, and there are no moving parts and no need for complex retrofocus lens designs to clear flapping mirrors.

While I tend to take this quote – “Mirrorless cameras accounted for 40.5 percent of SLR sales in the country in July, surging from 5 percent in early 2009, according to BCN.” – with a bushel of salt, there’s reason to believe that mirrorless DSLRs are gaining market share. Apochryphal data are mostly useless (just because your local bookstore is full does not tell you whether it’s booming or having a going-out-of-business sale), yet I constantly read that big DSLR owners are dumping their heavy gear for something they actually will take along on the next trip. I know, having done likewise with my (quite superb, I hasten to add) Canon 5D outfit with no fewer than eight lenses, in preference for the Panny G1 with but three compact zooms. Yes, it almost always goes along with me, not something that could be said of the 5D.

Still, I keep hoping that someone at these two dominant gear makers is working on an APS-C or full frame EVF design with a silent shutter and fast focus – things now found in several models in the Panasonic range. The disappointing Fuji X10, with its miniscule sensor almost got it right. What’s needed is a fast lens with a 28-90mm zoom range, compactness, silence, no shutter or focus lag and a proper sensor, not some nail clipping. The lens doesn’t even have to be removable. Price it at $750 and you will be rich. Canon and Nikon – are you listening?

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What a scam.

It’s five years since I sold my first – and last – Leica and sadly the former German masters of design have given me no reason to regret that decision.

You thought $7,000 for a camera body with no lens, no autofocus lenses available and a sixty year old viewfinder design, allied with a noisy shutter was a lot?

You are a piker.

Because for a mere $1,000 extra you can have the 2 cent red paper dot on the front (you know, the one that says you are rich and screams ‘steal me and my owner’s wallet’) removed and the word ‘Leica’ engraved in script on the top plate like they used to do twenty years ago. And lest we forget, Leica has made the LCD glass tougher than the one made of pure cheese on the ‘base’ model. Such a deal.

Here’s the latest blurb from the antiquarians at Leica Camera:

Hey, but “Hang on a minute”, you say. I get one of the smallest cameras out there. The factory says so.

Uh huh. And for a bit less you can get a Panny G3 whose modern sensor will rival the M9′s dated Kodak one (so much for a ‘lifetime camera’), offers auto everything, is super quiet and comes with a great choice of lenses, some even branded (if not made) by Leica. No red dot at those prices, though. But you do get a pro-quality movie mode to compensate. As a point of reference, the red outline of the M9 is superimposed on the G3 body below.

And you can buy 13 of those for the price of one M9P or a mere 11 for the price of one regular M9. That way, when your Panny blows after 50,000 exposures you recycle it and pull the next one out of its box. Better still, get smart, buy one, and upgrade to a G4 in 18 months. It will be even better.

As for logo removal, my roll of black electrician’s tape should last the next five generations in Dr. P’s lineage.

A fool and his money are easily parted.

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