Good or bad, photography as a medium is closely tied to the technological heritage of our cameras. As a result, technological developments often influence the type of gear we use and the type of photographs we take. With that in mind, here are some areas of innovation that are likely to create even more change in the way we take pictures and the way manufacturers design cameras in the future.

1. Liquid Lenses As much as I love a fancy new lens, they’re pretty inconvenient when you think about it: they’re bulky, expensive, fragile tubes of glass.

Imagine, then, a lens that didn’t need glass at all. What about one that uses water instead? The liquid lens uses electrical signals to shape a drop of liquid to focus light on the film plane.

According to some, liquid lenses offer the potential for an 85% size reduction in lenses and they’ve already been used in a number of imaging devices like security cameras and barcode scanners.

So far, no one’s been able to build a liquid lens large enough and sharp enough for use on a high-end digital camera, but the potential isn’t lost on lens manufacturers.

Olympus, Sony, Samsung, and Canon have all filed patents for liquid lens systems.

Perhaps some day, one of them will be wheeling out super-telephoto lenses just a few inches long with lightning fast focus based on these designs.

[Read on for more innovations such as Super-High Definition Video.]