DPReview TV: Our USB ports should do more!

everyone hated apple dongles and we are trying to add more of that to camera? it is going to look so bad.Just imagine your camera with bunch of ugly dongles attached all over it. There is always someone complaining about something. by then people will say why we only have 1 usb c ...when you connect battery, you can not add memory card and cannot transfer data ...blah blah...and then they will ask for multiple usb c port.....just like the single memory card slot thing.

The side sd card idea is obsolete! Here in DoD we don’t use SD cards, nope. We storage the photos straight into the cloud via fast blazing data hub. We shoot and our guys at a given embassy can download the intel or even guys at the Pentagon! It is amazing to shoot photos while printing a 3D map in seconds 20,000 miles away! So the se card thing no, let’s download straight to the cloud, the tech is solid!

The first request should be an USB-C port exposed, strong and elements proof.. Then maybe all other cool ideas.

Preach!

That round mirror over the fireplace giving Chris a saintly halo was certainly unintentional, right?

So the progression of things is to ... do everything with tiny adapters, that you leave at home or lose? No sorry, Chris, that is not a good idea. I mean I had to love that Jordon was suprised that that MacBook has no ports - didn't he check that before ordering? And there are tons of great laptops out there, that have power, AdobeRGB and a tablet and touch in their screen, AND have USB-A, HDMI and SD, ...by HP, Lenovo, ... so why even bother with that legacy piece of technology anymore, especially when you are talking here about "progression of technology" :-D
Yeah, you can add some stuff via USB like headphones etc., but don't let them do what Apple did to the smart phones: let the manufactures get rid of the REAL ports because "hey those people just shall adapt their headphones" - yeah thanks Apple for that, because now everyone is doing it.

I like the format, but please... use modern tech as an example to go for, not a MacBook ;)...

USB-C should be doing everything. There's literally no reason for any other port if you do it right.

what ever they say, i love the hell out of the DF ,

Keep dreaming! 😂

Yes, please continue this new segment. Maybe give it a particular title to call it out.

Excellent!

Nice video. Beard's getting long Chris. :)

That's a generally good list of desirable connectivity. I'm guessing that my cameras will have to be added to the list of devices secured by my multi-device computers security subscription.

THUNDERBOLT 3 OR THUNDERBOLT 4!!!! ONE PORT TO RULE THEM ALL!!!! IT WAS MADE FOR EXACTLY WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT.

Currently the camera is the device that you would connect to a computer so the camera was the transmitter. What you're asking for is the camera to be the computer/receiver that you attach other devices but this requires extra processors/processing power which aren't there yet. Also, what makes USB work well on computers is having an OS with access to drivers; OS driver support is going to be the most challenging part about getting USB devices to work on a camera. Maybe if all camera's started using Android...

Killer, killer video! Thank you so much for the idea and I really really hope to manufacturers are listening!d

The framing of the mirror in the background makes Chris look quite um, angelic?

Yes!!! holy crap I have been wishing for these kinds of functionality for so long!!!!!!

And we need a good handsome selfie travel mft camera. A EM10 +selfie. A gx7 +selfie+ibis.
Selfie people deserve some respect, don't just give us the ugly plastic gf9 or epl9, produce the best travel selfie camera sure will sell big. Put in a hybrid ibis + handsome em10 body + selfie screen+ 12mm f1.7~f2.5 range ois lens (compatible for dual is). Perfect combination.

Yep. Good ideas.

this is excellent nice rant thanks

Yep. Been thinking this for years. Less random ports and more adaptable universal ports.
Surprised dumping directly to SSD isnt already a feature tbh

I've recently bought an EOS R, which has cured my GAS, so I'm now much more interested in this type of video than camera reviews. More please !

standalone cameras are doomed. They'll never do any of that.

Yes, we need these features! Thanks for summarising! Don't you want to launch a petition that we can sign? Or make a voting like Fujirumors? That would underline the popular interest, too!

That's some really great suggestions

Thanks for the video Chris. I like what Blackmagicdesign did with the BMPCC 4K and its USB-C port. I hope, like you, other manufacturers follow.

i see that, a6300 a hand warmer 🖐 🤚

No adapters please, just build it into the god damn camera!
I don’t want to turn up to a shoot and then find out i can’t plug in my microphone and headphones because I have forgot a adapter!

HDMI via second USB C would be amazing, as well as webcam functionality

This!!! Looking forward to usb-c 15 minute quick charge to 80%. And, no matter what anyone says, all cameras should have flip to front screens, even professional ones.

sounds like we need thunderbolt 3 on camera...

the USB on camera is on device mode, not host mode

Every camera seems to have BT these days.
Can anyone tell me why no one has made it so we can connect BT headphones to them for video?
🤔

They also just need to firm up the USB ports actually knowing what is plugged into them and doing that and ONLY that. If I plug my Nikon Z6 into a USB-C power supply to charge, the camera actually ALSO acts as though I have a data connection going through USB-C, and disables everything transfer-related (bluetooth and wireless transfer are both greyed out, because it thinks it's plugged into a computer, I guess...?). This is SO bizarre since when I'm doing a wireless data transfer off the card, it's one of the most battery-annihilating things the Z6 can do, so naturally I want to plug it in.

Which immediately turns off all wireless data transfer. WTF.

I would like to have 2-4 USB-C ports so that I can use my wired Shutterboss and also external powerbank at the same time. That would solve many of my astrophotography ills.

Sounds great, but there would definitely need to be multiple USB-C ports then, because they would have several functions. If I have HDMI, headphone jack and a "stupid" USB-C port that can only charge or maybe transfer images, I can leave an external monitor attached and listen to the audio while I’m charging or transferring pictures. If I have only one or two USB-C ports, I can only do one or two of those things at a time.


This is actually a problem that Macbooks have. My Macbook Pro 2015 can

- power THREE monitors (1 HDMI, 2 thunderbolt)
- read an SD-card
- have two USB-devices attached, like a mouse and keyboard or a USB drive and a graphics tablet
- be powered/charged

All at the same time. That’s SEVEN things connected at the same time (ignoring the headphone jack).
A new Macbook Pro with 4 USB-C ports can only do four things at the same time. Which comes down to three "useful" things if you want to power it while doing something else. That’s ridiculous and very annoying. USB-C is very cool and very versatile, but you still can only do one thing per port at a time. Manufacturers seem to forget that (with phones as well – can’t use a wired headphone and charge your phone at the same time if it only has 1 USB-C port – ridiculous as well). We should always keep that in mind when talking about versatile ports like this – you need more of them to replace all of the old ones, ideally one per old port that you want to replace.

Ya, i dont care stupid video

Software hacks

Chris has been talking to camera conspiracy theories about the perfect camera 📷

I already had this revelation this week. Thanks for making a video about it.

Canon will never do this. They will make some funky version of USB. Like...type n or some crazy crap

Great ideas!

Nikon is the slowest pig in the block. Even though their gears are optically great. They are just not quick in innovation. USB-C can do pretty much everything. All outputs of all kinds at a high speed. Just do it.

Good ideas

I think the lack of usb to mic + headphones has been due to them wanting to limit some features for only being available on the more expensive cameras.

SSD require more power to use, the internal camera batterys may not be able to handle it.

Granted, it is a pain and involves expense to change connection port specs, but the advantages do outweigh the complaints. I have been thinking about this for over a year how usb-c would/could eliminate the complaints about the lack of audio ports, input and output, on a number of expensive cameras, Those ports could also provide access for other accessories that use a more universal connection. Who would want to go back to floppy disks, tape recording, and the obsolete systems that were first in use? It's time for the manufacturers to step up.

Gospel. Send this out to all manufacturers. Let's send it out every month as a reminder!