Camera Labs

Having looked at some of the features in the new nikon and other ILC's it seems that these cams have cracked the traditional limitations of compacts. The nikon has phase detect AF built in, always needing a dslr mirror in the past I think, and most ILC's seem to have very quick response when you fire the shutter, another traditional dslr feature.

Are these features a result of innovation, some new breakthrough or just down to the expense of putting these into traditionally cheap compacts. Will we see these features in non ILC compacts or are these features based on being able to charge dslr prices for ILC's.
Confused

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Some of the concepts are quite new, such as phase change on the sensor, although Fuji did get there first with that one. But that model didn't set the world alight, so I'm not sure we'll see phase change on lots of compacts in the future, especially as contrast-detect is getting faster all the time on these models.

Other 'innovations' such as removing the mirror for slim bodies and close lens-to-sensor distance have actually been around for decades with rangefinder cameras, but the benefit of digital means you can see exactly what you're going to get on the screen.

There's also miniaturisation of electronics to thank.

But a lot of it is a shift in attitude and a realisation such a camera is possible and would be popular.

I really like ILCs and am pleased they're shaking up the market. It'll be interesting to see how the camera landscape changes over the following years...