Display technology holds the key to innovative new digital-camera products shown at the PMA (Photo Marketing Association) convention in Florida last week. Digital-camera makers used the event to usher in a whole new line of next-generation products boasting up to 3.5-inch-diagonal displays, some with touch screens. The cameras incorporated an abundance of new features that render the current generation of cameras all but obsolete. (At least, that was the manufacturers’ apparent intent.)

Steve Sechrist
Senior Analyst and Editor
of Projection Monthly &
Microdisplay Report

Driving the display-size increase in this market is the popular thin, shirt-pocket mini-cameras that use the main display to frame the shot rather than the traditional eyepiece viewfinder found on single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras.

There are several advantages to this design, not the least of which is advanced portability over the bulkier SLR models. Digital picture-taking increased by an order of magnitude with the advent of camera-phones, underscoring the point that a camera is only useful when you have it with you. And most photographers are interested in the high-end features of “prosumer” and digital SLR cameras. (But the largest camera display seen at PMA -Samsung’s 3.5-inch VGA display that permits digital photos to be viewed almost like traditional prints - is too big for a shirt-pocket camera. This impressive display was included in the Samsung Pro815, an SLR-like prosumer “superzoom” camera.

Framing the shot with a larger display provides the added convenience of instant gratification, akin to passing around the just-developed photos from the corner drug store - only without the waiting. It’s point, shoot and pass around for all to see.

While camera sizes continue to shrink, display screen sizes are growing to the point that they can now support a touch interface. This touch technology is being used by camera makers to simplify the user interface. Gone are the days of lost photo ops because of a forgotten camera adjustment buried several layers deep in the system sub-menu - or actuated by an impossibly small button positioned very near other impossibly small buttons. One early review of the Sony T33 shirt-pocket camera observed the on/off switch was parked right next to the shutter, which produced many unwanted shut-downs from new users.

As the screen size grows, power becomes a major concern for these portable digital cameras. According to some sources within camera companies, a predicted shift to OLED displays will help product designers address this issue with a brighter display that consumes less power than traditional LCDs. (That may well be true in the future, but to date only one OLED cell-phone display prototype has been publicly reported to be more efficient than an equivalent LCD.)

Kodak was first to offer an OLED digital camera display in their Easyshare LS 633 model that shipped in March of 2003 - but the product, with a 2.2-inch 512×218 display never made it to full world-wide distribution, with some analysts speculating that problems with manufacturing yield limited availability and raised costs. But three years is a long time in display development, and it’s entirely possible that the OLED displays in next year’s cameras will be both efficient and manufacturable at high yield. -SS