Canon's Wonder Camera: all high-res, all in focus, all the time [Video]

Canon has been showing off its vision of the future of the photography, and when they name a concept the Wonder Camera you have to realise they're aiming high.  According to Canon's crystal-ball gazers, one day in the not too distant future we'll have junked our regular DSLRs and replaced them with a single camera that, thanks to high-end optics, can shoot both extreme zoom and extreme macro images; gizmag shot a video demo of the camera, which will also apparently have a massively high resolution sensor and be shooting video all the time rather than a series of stills.Video demo after the cut

That continuous video, Canon suggests, together with the high resolution and frame rate, means photographers will be able to pick just about any frame from the footage and pull it out as a still image.  Canon demonstrated the Wonder Camera's various strengths by taking a single high-resolution image of the whole Expo 2010 auditorium and then picking out a number of individual portrait shots based on those people who were smiling at the time.

If you're wondering about focus, Canon say the Wonder Camera will be able to keep everything in-frame crisp and sharp at once.  As for controls and connectivity, figure a huge touchscreen and high-speed wireless for easy transfers and sharing.  Heady stuff, but the great thing about concepts is that you generally have quite a few years for people to forget all the great things you've promised.