Should Apple make a camera?

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I absolutely hate the vertical format for video, it always feels like I am missing a huge chunk of the scene.

I’m all for it… but let them tackle the Fuji X100 social media market… People are spending a lot for the trendy Fuji for their JPG’s and ease of use… if Apple did something within their eco system but have their processing, fixed lens, small, social media friendly… they would kill it…

Maybe Apple would be the first to do a circular sensor. Do V/H at the same time, so you can get both and then process in post. Cover all formats in one shot/video.

You should revisit the smartphone vs full frame image quality test. It has definitely not been my experience that smartphones can compete with full frame in low light photography.

The iPhone is their CAMERA

Tony hit the nail on the head. Making “3D Spatial” photos for the Vision Pro is a real opportunity. A good camera that does this must be n the works. Demo the Vision Pro in the APple Store and see for yourself. Baseball - your 3d view is right next to the 1st baseman, Mountain Climbing, Alicia Keys In the recording studio feels like your in the room.

Their camera would probably create files which can't be viewed on PC or android

Apple possibly doing this is very intriguing indeed. I always thought that if cell phone makers were getting close to FF or APC mirrorless camera quality with their small sensors squeezing every drop of performance out of those sensors, FF and APC camera makers could just take that sensor technology and make bigger versions with way better quality. Now, if someone like Apple made bigger sensors and lenses AND apply their computational photography tech to it - that could be pure gold

Way back in 1994, I purchased the first Apple Camera: The QuickTake 100. It was $750, shot 640 x 480 pictures (up to 8), and you had to use Apple’s QuickTake software to get them off the camera. It was a horrible little camera, but was the first Digital Camera that was available to the consumer. My tech marketing company shot the Seattle Space Needle with the camera, and also built the Space Needles first website. Apples iPhone cameras are so good for the average photographer, It will be interesting to see if Apple plans a serious entry into the photo market with a freestanding camera.

I was working for Sony Ericsson (and, prior to that, Ericsson) when the original iPhone was being developed. The industry didn't take it especially seriously for many reasons: smart phones were only interesting to enterprise customers, apps needed to be developed in-house, Apple had no idea about how to through type testing, Apple had no idea how to go through customer acceptance and the carriers would force them to put hard green and red buttons on the phone. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, and wrong. People who have come into cellphones after the iPhone have no idea how different the industry looked before that. There's no reason they couldn't do the same with a camera - assuming people want a camera that is grounded in the Apple ecosystem and oriented towards content creation. Knowing Apple (and the AI race in general), I'd read the T&C's carefully if you're proprietary about your photos.

Short answer: No. Long answer: Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I agree more with Chelsea; they'll bring something to the professional market for professional blogging and multicamera streaming and filmmaking, get into bed with a lens manufacturer—Canon, Sony, or whatever—and share their mount. It'll have native Integration with Siri, iCloud, and Final Cut. A.I. sound will remove the need for wireless mics at a certain distance. It'll be something that doesn't look easy to hold initially, a black box as a solid unit with no buttons, dials or switches with touchscreen controls, you'll need to buy grips to suit the type of creative you are. There are very few inputs, probably just USB-C and an inbuilt battery. It'll have a decent enough microphone but be prepared to get some additional dongles if you want something better. FCP and the Cloud will sync external audio for you automatically. The whole point is that all your peripheral devices connect wirelessly, and third parties will create cages, shells, cases or power packs as they always do. Some professional technology will be used in the future to help sell 'Pro iPhones', but that market won't be interested in a dedicated camera.

I wonder what mount they will use. Will they have their own or use one like Blackmagic camera does. Another thing is instead of physical dials, they may try touch scrolling dials. You use swipe your finger to change, this keeps the camera smooth looking and keeps the versatility, except when wearing gloves. They will have to add Siri to change your settings and since it's for a market that wants more control than a smart phone, they will have to have lots of manual features while dropping the PASM. They will have you turn on or off which items you want auto or manual. The camera will turn on silently as you pick it up. And stay with an auto on feature disabled. The camera may have a large lens with a few smaller lenses on the side for computational enhancements for low light. And if it's well weather sealed effectively, it might even be waterproof. Blackmagic pocket cinema camera was a really slick futuristic camera, so it might look more like that. But for the consumer it might do something like what DJI did with their Pocket camera. My big question is if they will be making their own lenses or will you be able to use third party lenses and if it is third party, who will it be. Sony, Canon, Nikon, Fuji, Panasonic, Leica, Arri. lol.

Are you still using three Canon RPs? I would love a video on how to set that up because they have a record limit.

What censor size do you think this will be? I wonder if they go too big if the computational work will be throttled? MFT size?

This is fun to think about, and I’ve sometimes wondered if Apple would make a camera as well. However, I’m just not sure if it makes business sense. Apple has done a lot of marketing that presents the iPhone as a tool for photography. An Apple camera would contradict all of that. I thinks it’s more likely that Apple will try to get a larger sensor in an existing product, like the iPhone or iPad.

Could we see a square sensor? It would make it much easier to create content that can be cropped both for social media and also for more traditional use. I agree with Tony that we will see a camera at maybe up to 1500$. I think it has to be small tho. Then Apple would hit a bigger market of content creators that want a step up from the phone, and maybe not necessarily want to spend several thousands of dollars for a pro camera. I work as a communications adviser in Norway and can see the value in having a camera that you can take a picture or a video with, immediately edit it on the same device and then upload it to social media. It would give a much faster workflow without sacrificing image quality. Going live without a fuzz is also valuable I think.

I’m thinking of pulling my FM2 n out. But where to get fujifilm 64

Can I just say working for Fujifilm as I do, the smart phone has made it ever so easy to take photos, however most people over 40 have no idea how to upload their images wirelessly from their phones to the kiosks. The technology is too complicated for them whether you use an app or scan QR codes. It is a massive problem plaguing photo labs everywhere at this time. Technology has surpassed 80% of the population due to the iPhone and android technology. Print sales are down massively due to this problem created by smartphone cameras.