Several companies are introducing new models of digital cameras in August and September, planning to have their latest cameras on store shelves in time for the upcoming holiday season. You've read about many of the new cameras in this blog.
It's great to have new cameras to consider for holiday gifts ... that's not the problem. Instead, my pet peeve relates to the naming of these new cameras.
DSC-TX1? CL65? WS80? D3000? Blecch.
How about a name that consumers can actually remember easily?
With the list above, I don't want to seem as though I'm picking on any particular company because this problem exists across all camera manufacturers, and I've never understood it. A car manufacturer wouldn't give the public the TJK-540 model, for example.
Some companies do a decent job branding their camera families, such as Cyber-shot or Coolpix. But they always seem to add a hard-to-remember collection of letters and numbers after that brand name.
Does this bother you, too, or am I the only one who can't remember names like RFX-Z980? Let me know in the comments section ... and if you have some ideas for better names manufacturers should give their cameras, list those, too.
Anyway, keep an eye on the blog for announcements of several new cameras over the next few weeks. And, if needed before you go shopping, check back with the blog so you can give yourself a reminder of the odd names.
Comments
I never thought of that but you are right! The same thing can be said of most electronic devices. It actually doesn’t bother me as much. It only bothers me when the darn thing breaks down. It’s a pain to find solutions for a model that has so many random letters and numbers as its name ;p
do your homework. it’s because manufacturers have to renew trademarks and copyrights for names, a costly practice over the years. the unique number/alpha combinations assigned to cameras, electronic devices et al do not have to be renewed.
I agree. I am asked by many folks for recommendations and it is impossible to sort through the naming conventions.
The Digital SLRs seem to have some standards with single digits being the pro quality, double digits representing the “prosumer” models, and three digits representing the “consumer” models. But even that will not last long I’m sure…
Is there any device to asist in viewing thru a digital camera in light or sunlight conditions? In other worda an attachable viewfinder for digital cameras..
What annoys me is that Canon reverses its old designations: D30 and 30D are completely different cameras.
For George Lyon, I saw an idea of chopping the end off a slide viewer and placing this over the screen, this works well but the device is a bit bulky to carry. Good luck in finding an old slide viewer!
There was a scene in the short-lived excellent show, Sports Night, where Dana (Felicity Huffman) got a camera catalog in the mail and because she was trying to take her mind off things, she latched onto the “Soshi Suntac RD-blahblahblah,” with all the bells and whistles. When her coworkers asked her if she knew what it was, she replied, “No, but I find myself in the market for one.” It’s been confusing people for a long time!
It might be so that they don’t make a mistake of giving a name which will hurt sales. Years ago, Chevrolet had a car which was called Nova. When it was sold in Latin America, the same name was kept. The only problem was that the name was taken to mean “It doesn’t go” (No va.). The car’s name was later changed for those sold in Latin America.
I was a pro photographer for 40 years or so in the days when both the market and the makers were more intelligent on average. And older too. You are right to question the brainpower of the young people who market cameras now – so don’t let us ask why they do this, reason does not come into it. Was that answer pc enough?
I don’t like copy names like Nikon D40 and Canon 40 D.
Blame George Lucas. He gave us R2D2 and C3PO twenty-something years ago and nobody complained then.
For George Lyon: If you carry your camera in a camera bag, just toss in a large, linen napkin. When needed, place it over your head and then bring your camera up underneath it about 3-4″ from your eye. Make sure it doesn’t cover up the lens! The darker the better when you’re out in direct sunlight but you may wish to opt for a lighter color so in a pinch it can be used as a reflector. Happy shooting.