Old Camera Catalog MVP is available to preview
Hello all,
Many of you are aware that I've been building an app/website on the side based on the idea of building an easily searchable catalog of old cameras. Currently, when I search for old cameras it involves opening multiples sites to find out what cameras were made with the specs I want, or during a certain period of time, or from a manufacturer, and then another site to find relevant specs. There are a few decent catalogs for film era cameras, but none I've found for digital, and neither are easily searchable.
The MVP is now available for viewing and feedback: https://old-camera-catalog.web.app/search
Remember that minimal viable product (MVP) means it's a rough sketch. Styling was the least priority, and functionality is minimal. This is intentional. The idea is that it is more efficient to make changes and pivot from core assumptions about the app earlier, rather than after I've invested hours upon hours.
I am not inviting my YouTube community as a while to preview this app just yet. When I do that I will have more formal Google Forms for user feedback.
For now I am sharing with you, my good friends and forum community and wanting to get more personal feedback from you if possible.
Let me know:
- What's confusing
- What were you expecting that wasn't there?
- What additional attributes would you like to search for?
- What additional information would you like when you click into a camera?
- Now that you see the idea in its first phase, is it useful?
And then of course any general feedback. And if you are super excited about the idea, feel free to share your dream features that would make this website the most useful/fun.
Thanks sincerely,
James
AHHH this is so cool! Looks great, too! Very clean, I like the grid and photo focus.
Thoughts:
- I'd love to filter CMOS vs CCD
- The sorting of megapixel sizes is confusing… it's not numeric
- When I tick one filter, e.g. Mirrorless, it jumps to the top on reload… I get why you're doing that (ease of clicking it off again, right?) but it's awkward
- On a laptop with a wide browser, the product view page's data is spread out too wide to easily read… label all the way on the left, value all the way on the right
- Maybe a third camera type, compact? I guess a compact digicam is technically mirrorless, but that's not the way I think of it…
These are tiny little nitpicks. I love it already!
Quote from ahoyhere on March 1, 2022, 11:19 pmAHHH this is so cool! Looks great, too! Very clean, I like the grid and photo focus.
Thoughts:
- I'd love to filter CMOS vs CCD
- The sorting of megapixel sizes is confusing… it's not numeric
- When I tick one filter, e.g. Mirrorless, it jumps to the top on reload… I get why you're doing that (ease of clicking it off again, right?) but it's awkward
- On a laptop with a wide browser, the product view page's data is spread out too wide to easily read… label all the way on the left, value all the way on the right
- Maybe a third camera type, compact? I guess a compact digicam is technically mirrorless, but that's not the way I think of it…
These are tiny little nitpicks. I love it already!
Thanks for the feedback so soon!
- I'd love to filter CMOS vs CCD Yes, will do. That is a great idea.
- The sorting of megapixel sizes is confusing… it's not numeric Yeah, I think it's based on readout from the DB. Sorting it numerically I can fix easy, but I actually have other ideas. I was thinking of changing this to either an input range or slider... any thoughts from what you've seen using filters on other websites?
- When I tick one filter, e.g. Mirrorless, it jumps to the top on reload… I get why you're doing that (ease of clicking it off again, right?) but it's awkward Okay, noted. This is also a quick change, so I'll see how other people feel about it. I can see how things moving around can be disorienting.
- On a laptop with a wide browser, the product view page's data is spread out too wide to easily read… label all the way on the left, value all the way on the right Yes, I agree. That camera page is due for a big styling overhaul along with some more content. I should also point out I concentrated on mobile first, so the large desktop experience is probably the worst 😁
- Maybe a third camera type, compact? I guess a compact digicam is technically mirrorless, but that's not the way I think of it… Yeah, I like that. I was thinking that just DSLR/mirrorless wasn't too helpful. If that's the case maybe compact/DSLR/interchangeable mirrorless or something like that.
There are some other filter/attribute additions/adjustments I've been thinking of. Like having a focal range/max aperture for the fixed lens cameras. Keep suggestions like that coming and I'll make a list.
Also forgot to say in the original post but obviously the camera sampling is small. I didn't want to spend a lot of time filling the DB with entries I would just have to go back and change. Just enough to demo 🙂
Excellent!
Focal lengths for fixed lens cameras would be neat. ILC Mirrorless makes sense to me!
I know it’s early days but I actually spent some time using DPReview’s search before trying to figure out “what were the last/newest CCD cameras?” and it was a major PITA. Your app is definitely going to be better and easier to use.
I assume you’re already thinking along these lines — and major scope creep — but it would be fun to be able to read and write NEW starred reviews on these old cams. Very different than reading the old ones from when the cameras came out.
Writing reviews would be a very fun thing i agree!
I agree with @ahoyhere's comments. I agree a slider for MP would be good.
Some filters I would use are: number of control wheels, screen info: size and articulation, resolution of viewfinder if EVF, things to do with AF like number of AF points, shooting rate and buffer size, whether it has shake reduction, built-in flash, camera weight, astrotracer. Some (most?) of these may be better as sub-menu filter options so the main filter menu doesn't get too large. Like:
LCD screen
....yes/no
........size
........articulation
But sometimes less is more and may lead us to finding/considering cameras we wouldn't otherwise.
I like the reviews idea. Would be neat if we could add sample images also.
I like the ideas of those sub menus. I think there would be some other ways to add some lesser used but really helpful filters like that too. It's important to at least think about capturing that information now, because once it's in the DB I can always add more filters later. I just need to get closer to finalizing what attributes I want to actually save about each camera.
I'll add those attributes to my list. Thanks for bringing them up. Bring up anymore as you think of them.
And yes reviews, comments, pictures, all part of the grander idea. I'll put together a list of features that myself and you all have brainstormed with me, and maybe you can help me decide which ones to tackle first.
One more thing (ha ha… how I dreaded those words as a consultant) that could be cool…
Rather than straight specs, how about a list of Known Fors?
Like the Ricoh GRD IV is Known For having beautiful T-max-like b&w jpegs and great for street shooting because of the two-mode snap focus.
Obviously subjective. But those subjective qualities are the reason we buy vintage cams, right?
Don't think you'd need to worry about filtering based on these bc they aren't quantitative.
Quote from ahoyhere on March 2, 2022, 6:16 pmOne more thing (ha ha… how I dreaded those words as a consultant) that could be cool…
Rather than straight specs, how about a list of Known Fors?
Like the Ricoh GRD IV is Known For having beautiful T-max-like b&w jpegs and great for street shooting because of the two-mode snap focus.
Obviously subjective. But those subjective qualities are the reason we buy vintage cams, right?
Don't think you'd need to worry about filtering based on these bc they aren't quantitative.
Yeah, certainly I think that would be nice at least under the camera page. I do plan on writing more detailed descriptions along with resources and more on that page. But I like the idea of maybe having a short capture like that for what the camera is known for.
Deployed new version with sensor type field searchable. I haven't had time to work on it otherwise, but keep the feedback and ideas coming 🙂
Just an update: I am refining the database and storing 5 times the information about each camera thanks to yours and others feedback. Some of these fields will be searchable via an advanced search input option, and others will only be displayed on the camera page.
In addition I will revamp the camera page.
After these things are done I'll submit another prototype for your inspection and feedback 🙂
