What's next?

I'll go for dynamic range too.

Dynamic range is quite a technical term I don't think it's so easy to promote but I do hope that will become better.

Video and HDR will most likely be the promotion thing of this and next year, together with 3D maybe (surely for compacts just look at photokina).

I personally think 3D will be one of the quickest passing fads ever seen. (Until we can see the effect without those stupid glasses anyway).

I would rather see a return of stereoscopic photos than more of the current 3D. At least you can look at one side of the stereoscopes without the glasses and not end up with a headache!

I have seen suggestions of 3D displays which don't need glasses, presumably using a similar technique to some car dashboard screens which display a satnav to the driver and a DVD to the passenger.

3D and Holophotography have been around for a very long time. I don't think they have ever been more than niche.

As for people complaining about the price of the K5, I have barely seen a ripple. Nothing compared to the hysterics of the K7 having video - for those who remember some people thought this was the equivilent of selling out to the devil.

I think the next thing we actually see on cameras is the thing that already exists on mobile phones with cameras - 3G allowing you to publish you pictures online as soon as you take them. It won't appeal to serious enthusiasts and professionals, but would to the majority of people who take pictures.

This already possible, I believe it was either Sony or Philips who have such a screen for commercial use, still to expensive for most mortals.

however the Nintendo 3DS comes with a 3D screen that doesn't need glasses so the future is near.

The Nimslo 3D Camera from the 1980's produced prints that didn't
need a viewer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimslo

I think most of the films i've seen recently have been 3d. To the point where i've initially been disappointed by 2d ones. Not sure how big 3d photography will be though. A lot of the tricks of photography rely on how it flattens things into a 2d image.

That's not fully because of the camera but because they used lenticular prints.
The 3D monitors/screens that don't need glasses use this technique as well.



Lenticular prints are an ingenious way of producing multiple or 3D images in one picture without requiring a special viewing device. The final picture comprises of a number of images that are printed as very fine interlaced stripes. A special screen is laid over the top of the picture allowing the viewer to see only the stripes which correspond to one particular image at a time. The screen is called a lenticular screen and it comprises of a series of very fine lenses running in the same direction as the stripes. As the viewing angle changes, a different image will be visible. If the stripes are horizontal, then the final picture will contain a series of images that can be seen by tilting the picture. Vertical stripes are used for 3D pictures however as each eye will have a different viewing angle and therefore be able to see a different image. Horizontal lenticular prints are often used to show motion sequences e.g. a horse running and are commonly used in promotional novelties like the football card in Appendix B. If a horizontal lenticular picture is turned through 90 degrees, a confused and blurred image results as the two images seen by the eyes do not match and cannot be resolved to make a 3D image. A 3D Lenticular picture turned through 90 degrees allows the viewers to see the individual images used to create effect.

Quite a lot of people are able to look at normal stereo photo
pairs and see in stereo without a viewer. The viewer just tricks
the eye a bit better.

3D films came out years ago, but they used two
projectors in sync. They had problems when one film
snapped and had to be spliced back causing the 3D
to go out of sync.

If so then any stereo photographing device applies to your earlier comment, not just the Nimslo.
In 1841 Henry Collen made a stereoscopic calotype portrait of Charles Babbage, so the idea is quite old.

Stereo photography was very popular in Victorian times.

I've still got a Stitz beamsplitter from the 70's similar
to the Pentax one except the mirrors are adjustable so
it works with any lens, up to 300mm I think. I've also
got a Novoflex focusing rack that's marked on the side
for stereo. i.e. you use it sideways and take 2 shots
a specific distance apart. Any focusing rack would do,
but you would have to use a ruler for the distance.

The manufacturers are driving new developements, and they are all chasing 3D filming at present. Why? because they get to sell people new displays, yet again. Its got to the point they are forcing the filmmakers & broadcasters to make things in 3D, even though there is virtually no demand from consumers and the broadcasters in particular haven't even got anything like fully-converted to HD yet (quite shockingly so, in fact, considering how long its been out, but infrastructure isn't cheap).

Anyway, that's somewhat off-topic - as for photography, I'd suggest that medium-term the whole SLR concept is doomed, why have a mechanical shutter when you can do it in software... short-term? will be ideas from P&S/Cameraphones to make them more accessable - i.e. auto-focus on faces, auto-panaorama, wireless connection to other devices & maybe the internet.

History is littered with people who have lost a lot of money thinking that 3D is going to be the next big earner.

The Nimslo took years to develop and shares in the company kept going up and up because everyone wanted to get in on the action. Anyone with a bit of photographic knowledge knew all along that it would just be a big flop on release

Nope, that has existed (and with the exception of the Nikon DX 35mm has been static) for a very long time indeed. It's just that Pentax finally noticed it. (sort of: I guess as their first return to the cheap fast prime market two out of three isn't bad )

As for which number is likely to be the next battleground, I'd guess AF points (though I don't think we're done with high ISO yet).