More Bang for the Buck
Ken Milburn| October 18, 2008 4:42 pmThe recent Photokina show in Cologne, Germany made numerous announcements that portend significant new trends in digital photography:
> More resolution with less noise
> More full-frame cameras at lower prices
> Movies from DSLRs and larger frame compacts
> Larger frame, interchangeable lens compact cameras
More resolution with less image noise
For 4/3d size sensor cameras, pixel count has increased from 10MB to 12. For APS-C size sensors, it has increased to nearly 15MB in some cameras (e.g. Pentax K20D, Canon 50D), and for full frame sensors to more than 20 MB (Canon 5D Mk II, 21MB, Sony A-900 24.6 MB)
More full-frame cameras at lower prices
Full frame cameras are becoming commonplace at under $3,000, even from the big names. The Sony A900 is 24.6MP full-frame with a CMOS sensor. That is higher resolution than most medium-format sensors of a couple of years ago and even beats out the brand-new Canon 1Ds Mark III and 5D Mark II (21Mp CMOS sensor) . The Sony will retail for $3,000 and has built-in image stabilization and dust removal, but no live-view and no hot-shoe. The hot-shoe’s no big deal because Sony’s hot shoes only work with Sony’s very expensive flashes, so thank heavens for the PC sockete. The Canon EOS 5D Mark II only has 3 ferwer megapixels and no image stabilization but does have a hot shoe and a very large audience of folks who own Canon lenses and who plan to keep their Canon DSLRs as back-up cameras that can use the same lenses. It’s about $2, 700 with no lens. Nikon’s D700 is full-frame, but only 12.1 MP for $3,000. At the same time, DSLRs with APS-C size sensors are giving us more megapixels (the Pentax K20D at 14.5 MP still holds the megapixel per buck record, but Canon’s new 50D has 15.1 and only sells for $600 more) and keeping the body price down to about half that of the three mentioned above.
Leica has also announced a new DSLR that is roughly the same size as most top-of-the-line full-frame DSLR cameras, but with 43-percent larger sensor and much more resolution (37MP). No price has been announced, but it will be definitely in the Hassleblad league.
Movies from DSLRs and larger frame compacts
Along with Live View, DSLRs are starting to offer very high-resolution movie making. This gives us a great new tool for expanding our ability to communicate with our cameras without having to buy and carry along a lot of extra gear. The first DSLR to shoot 24-frame HD movies is the Nikon D-90, shown below.
The new 4/3ds compacts (look elsewhere in this article) may be even more useful for this purpose because so many of them will be used by journalists. Sadly, the new Panasonic Micro 4/3ds camera does not shoot movies, though Panasonic has announced that there will be a movie mode next year. New storage cards are also being introduced that have super-high capacity and data transfer rates. That’s perfect timing for high-definition movie-making. Although these cameras don’t have microphones, it would be no big deal to sync up recording made with a pocket recorder.
Larger frame, interchangeable lens compact cameras
What we’ve been missing, so far, in digital photography that was considered essential in some fields (sports, entertainment, journalism) were professional-quality, interchangeable-lens camera’s without reflex viewfinders. Leica, Contax, and Nikon all made cameras that were considered classics in that era. The advantages are that they are much lighter, less obtrusive, and quieter than DSLRs. Loosing the pentaprism and mirror really cuts down the body size and makes it possible to make shorter, smaller diameter lenses that have the same focal lengths. So its fairly easy for the reporter or sports photographer who’s in a rush to carry at least of a couple of cameras with different lenses. That means using faster, smaller primary lenses that are likely to be sharper than zooms.
There are two different approaches to these new cameras. One is being pioneer by Leica with their newly-announced M8.2. The sensor size is roughly the same as a 4/3ds camera. Resolution is around 10MP and the camera has a rangefinder.
The big news comes from Panasonic, which uses Olympus’s 4/3d sensors and Olympus with the introduction of “Micro 4/3ds” camera’s. These are both interchangeable lens cameras and both have 12MP resolution. Both are just a hair larger than compact cameras that have roughly 1/10th the sensor size and both use Olympus’ Live Mos sensors and have a pixel density of about 2.1MP/cm. So image quality should compare quite favorably with that of “semi-pro” DSLR cameras. The Olympus camera shoots movies. The Panasonic doesn’t, but has a super-high resolution LCD “reflex-like” viewfinder that everyone who’s used it raves about. It also comes in black and looks like a pro camera, so I’m expecting that it will be the one that makes a splash. It also comes in red. Oddly enough, if that makes it look more “amateur” perhaps it will be less subject to theft and less threatening to subjects. Here it is:
