When a professional photographer takes a picture, from a position physically close to his subject, the chances are that his SLR mirror mechanism will make an intrusive noise.
This, I’m told by people who do this for a living, is actually valuable feedback, which they would not want to do without -even though it can be an irritation for someone who is concentrating on a task.
Today’s invention is therefore a digital SLR with a carefully silenced mirror (this could be done with a combination of softer gears and a padded seal onto which the mirror would be brought quietly to rest).
In order to provide the required ‘feel,’ an electronically simulated mirror mechanism noise could be supplied to the user via an earpiece.
This would be chosen from a range of such noises -as recorded from a number of historically significant cameras or generated from a combination of these.
Adding a laser sight would allow the camera to be trained eg on someone’s face, from a pouch carried at the waist ie without the photographer being seen to stare at them through a great black box held at eye height.