Whilst we wait for a Canon / Nikon mirrorless, a German man has appeared at CES with his own.
In this controversial YouTube clip, WVIL appears to be a smart phone or tablet connected to the cellular network. It looks like a Samsung Galaxy S with a customised camera-style hand-grip. It is probably running Android and has a custom app to control a lens unit with a sensor.
The claims for WVIL are enormous and the designer appears to make some pretty grand claims about the sensor especially. In the video he says he’s developed a custom full frame 35mm 31Mp CMOS sensor, which at first glance seems unlikely for there is nothing currently on the market with such gigantic specs. Also the zoom lens is too small and too close to the sensor for the CMOS to be full frame sized.
I’ve looked into this prototype and it doesn’t appear to be a hoax entirely…
The group working with WVIL.de is Seattle based Artefact Group. They are a marketing company, who produce prototypes and design concepts with the intention to go viral.
So WVIL is part good idea, part viral marketing campaign and part working prototype.
As for the claims of full frame sensor and all the rest – forget it.
The demonstration does appear to show a fully working prototype, probably with a small sensor – the combined lens and sensor unit is delivering a wireless live-view feed to the smart-phone app. I’m impressed with it and I want one, and as you can see the viral marketing campaign has worked quite well! So it’s interesting from that perspective too.
The smart phone has a proper camera grip and shutter release button, whilst an app controls the camera through a nice touch screen interface. The lens can be unattached from the body allowing a wireless hands-off control of the camera unit via the screen and grip.
It’s a great concept. Why do they have to make such ridiculous claims to get it noticed?
Yes the WVIL is an ‘artefact’ designed to drum up publicity, but it’s actually a great concept if it can be made to work. Your smart-phone would be the screen, an app would be the camera’s firmware and the lens / sensor unit could be purchased off the shelf along with the grip. If they bring something like this out for the iPhone, I’d buy one.
Whatever the end-game is on this, it is a lot more constructive than last week’s ‘4K hack’ fiasco.
