The reason behind DSLRs unchanged design.
Before I begin I must clarify that I am discussing the design from an aesthetics aspect rather than a technological viewpoint. The inner workings and hidden elements of DSLRs from today differ massively to their relatives from 15 years ago. However, the design remains almost untouched when it comes to form, dimensions and button configurations.
What makes this question more interesting to me is how the photography market is ever developing with new models being released left, right and centre. A prime example of this is with the introduction of Action Cameras within the past decade; their form bears little resemblance to conventional cameras, proving that manufactures aren’t scared of change or new design styles. Regular point-and-shoot cameras and compacts camera’s design have also moved on a considerable way since their release, adopting new materials, updated forms and following design trends, proving that their companies are willing to invest in design.
Both cameras pictured above were designed to be the flagship model in Nikons range, aimed solely at professionals who wanted the best that the company could offer, their high price reflected this! However, the D2x (pictured left) was released back in 2005, while the D5 (picture right) is Nikon’s current flagship model and was released over a decade later in 2016. Visually the design remains almost unchanged; the angles are slightly less aggressive and the split lines are tighter but all in all, you’d struggle to see 10 years’ worth of development.
I’ve thought of a few reasons which may explain why the design team have had such simple briefs for the last fifteen or so years…
1// “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”
This is a common phrase used in many different scenarios during everyday life, but it isn’t one which is often found within design. If every designer, engineer or company adopted this mindset then the progressive world that we live in would seize to be and we would be living amongst products from decades ago. I struggle to see why camera manufacturers would use this mentality for their DSLR range especially as this isn’t the case for their lower cost point and shoot cameras.
2// Fear of change
They may be stuck in their ways, so to speak, which could be due to a fear of change. Not that they are directly scared but rather they worry that the customers may not welcome a redesign; this is a fair concern as of course, customers make sales and sales drive the business. This comes back to my first point of if it isn’t broke don’t fix it? Why change a formula that is working? Well because while you may not loose customers, you may stop potential new customers from investing. On the face of it an electrical product with dated aesthetics will imply that its internals are also outdated, which is never a desirable feature.
3// Plug and Play for repeat customers
Could the stubbornness of DSLR users be the reason that the cameras design isn’t developing? If you give a Nikon fanatic a Canon camera, or vice versa, they will recoil in confusion and look at the product as if it is completely foreign. The layout and configuration of the buttons differs between the manufactures but it’s nothing that a couple of hours of fiddling can’t solve. But this is often overlooked, the camera is slated and promptly forcefully handed back to its owner. It’s this attitude and unwillingness to change that could cause the reservations of camera companies to alter the design.
4// They are soon to become obsolete so there isn’t much point in changing the design up now
If you are to ‘Google’ “Are DSLRs becoming obsolete” it will return pages upon pages of articles claiming that there isn’t a future for DSLRs due to phones produce images of comparable quality. But the dates on some of these articles date back to 2010 and in terms of technology, this is lifetimes ago and DSLR sales are still very much alive! While iphones with their Portrait Lighting can produce incredible photos which ten years ago we could only have dreamed of, they are still far from being an alternative for a professional photographer. Nikon, Canon, Sony etc. will know this and for that reason I don’t think that this is the reason for the lack of development.
5// Function over form
A lot of photographers view their DSLR as an extension of themselves, they are rarely seen without their camera of choice in their hand or strapped to their body. For this reason, the product must be comfortable for the user as any issues with its ergonomics would be quickly pointed out. This requires the product to be ergonomically focused which may explain their unchanged form as any dramatic design changes could have negative impacts on the hands on experience. Out of these five reasons, I think that this is the most plausible explanation to the unchanged design. I don’t think that this justifies their decision as I believe that a design can be visually interesting without compromising ergonomics and that there isn't one solution in terms of ergonomics. It would be extremely interesting to see what would happen if a market leader such as Nikon or Canon released a model with visual variation and see how the market would respond, but perhaps that’s wishful thinking from me!
However, there is an underlying benefit of a product having an ‘outdated’ design, and this is the fact that it is almost impossible for it to age! As you saw earlier in this blog, its almost impossible to distinguish the difference between today’s camera and a camera from a decade ago… so, well, there’s that!
