I’ve long complained about the usability and connectivity of cameras, and while the big manufacturers seem happy to keep punishing us with shoddy interfaces and annoying memory cards, an upstart has shown us a vision of the future.

Almost six years ago, I asked why my mom’s fridge is better connected than my camera. In that time, very little has changed, and like me, photographer and educator Tony Northrup wonders why. It still amazes me how difficult it is to share and copy images from a camera, and most menu systems are still a labyrinth of blocky text and inconsistent abbreviations, awkwardly navigated with buttons and wheels.

Imagine being able to type the first few letters of a menu item or even find it by voice command. Imagine being able to post to social media from your camera. Imagine having a cloud storage app on your camera that automatically syncs all your raw files, even without Wi-Fi. Of course, putting a mobile operating system on a camera introduces a number of complications, but it’s hard to believe that they are insurmountable.

Given that Sony makes mobile devices, it mystifies me that they haven’t done something like this already or, at the very least, established better connectivity and intelligent menus.

Is this the future? Probably not any time soon for high-end MILCs, but for prosumer to consumer models, I wonder if it’s the next logical step, especially when it provides an appealing bridge for newcomers between mobile devices and “proper” cameras. You can read more about the Yongnuo YN455 here. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.