Trends in Digital Cameras: Variable-Angle Screen, Touch Screen and Wi-Fi Connectivity

Like the smart phones, the technology in digital cameras has kept on moving. Latest digital cameras especially DSLR and micro 4/3 mirrorless cameras have features that include tilting or variable-angle LCD screen, touch screen and Wi-Fi and NFC (near field communication) connectivity. Those features which are now popular to photographers will probably become standard for most digital cameras in the future.

In addition to camera control buttons, a touch screen provides the photographer convenience in selecting settings and working through the various menus in the cameras with just the touch of his or her fingers on the camera monitor.

Articulating screen, unlike fixed screen can be changed of its position around a hinge or a pivot. It helps the photographer compose his shots from various perspectives. There are two types of this screen, the tilting screen and the variable-angle screen. The tilting screen moves around one axis that is up or down. The variable-angle screen moves around in two axes that are right angle to each other. The screen can be tilted up and down up or move to the side of the camera.

With Wi-Fi and NFC connectivity, a photographer can seamlessly transfer or share pictures from the camera to the social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Pairing his digital camera with his smart phone installed with Android apps such as Image Sync, a photographer can use his phone to remotely control camera operations.  He can view what is seen by the camera lens trough the smart phone screen, adjust basic settings such as ISO, shutter speed and aperture and activate the shutter to finally take the picture.                                                                                                                

The variable-angle screen, the Wi-Fi and NFC connectivity are some of the best things that ever happen to one who loves to take his own picture such as self portraits or selfie or group picture where he wants to be included in the group. With his camera mounted on a tripod, he can take a desired pose by viewing himself in the camera’s articulating screen that is faced to his position. Using his phone as a remote controller, he can then activate the shutter when appropriate settings are in place. Most often, in taking pictures such as landscape, it is desired to have a very slow shutter speed and deep depth of field. In such situation hand holding a camera to take a picture is not ideal because a slight movement of the hand will cause blur in the picture, and a tripod and a self timer or remote control on which a smart phone is used will come in handy.

Major digital camera manufacturers such as Canon, Nikon, Sony, Samsung, Fuji, Olympus and Panasonic have incorporated the variable-angle screen, touch screen and Wi-Fi or the combination of all these features in some of their latest digital camera models. Pentax has also joined the band wagon by introducing into the market the K-S2 entry level DSLR with Wi-Fi and NFC connectivity and variable-angle screen.

The variable-angle screen, the touch screen and the Wi-Fi and NFC connectivity have become popular to photographers so that they are come on to would be buyers of digital cameras. Hopefully, in the near future, when the cost of camera production goes down, those features will also be available even in the most affordable and easy to use point-and-shoot camera.  And indeed, they have brought the world of digital photography to a higher level, and they also give the photographer a more enjoyable and better ways to take and share pictures.