Just read this in Pop Photo

[clinton_abe]

I just got my December 2005 issue of Popular Photography. In it they

have an article titled "THE COMING DSLR EXPLOSION", written by

Herbert Keppler, about what the furture holds for the coming DSLRs.

There is something about the Sony/KM DSLRs.

 

"Nobody is quite sure what Sony will contribute to its DSLR joint

development agreement with partner Konica Minolta, which is

technologically very advanced. The two companies have announced they

would use the present Konica Minolta lensmount and Anti-Shake

technology. But Sony has its own CMOS technology which is considered

superior in many ways and much less expensive than the CCD

technology Konica Minolta is using in its imaging sensor system. My

suggestion: Sonu should contribute CMOS technology, plus marketing

know-how and many dollars and euros for advertising. Thanks to

Minolta's vast financial losses years ago, caused by a protracted

lawsuit brought by Honeywell for patent violation and monies sunk in

overforecasting Advanced Photo System (APS) sales, the company has

been starved for sufficient advertising and promotion of its

uniquely featured digital cameras. Sony should feed it."

 

Later in the article Keppler talks about full-frame SLRs. He

writes, "Pentax could make a full-frame SLR but won't. while Konica

Minolta couldn't-if it wants to use its Anti-Shake system."

 

Here's my suggestion for a way for Sony/KM to get around this

problem. How about a dual-format DSLR? Say they came out with a 14-

16MP full-frame DSLR that doesn't use the Anti-Shake system.

However, by flipping a switch, the camera then becomes a 1.5X APS-C

sized sensor camera with Anti-Shake. It is not impossible. In

the 'JUST OUT' section of the magazine, Pop Photo shows the new

Leica D-LUX 2. It switches between 16:9, 4:3, and 3:2 sized images

with the MP count going down from 10MP to 7MP and 6MP. If Sony/KM

came out with a switchable format you would go from say, a 14-16MP

full-frame to a 7-8MP APS-C camera.

[michael_hohner]

<blockquote><i>But Sony has its own CMOS technology which is considered superior in many ways and much less expensive than the CCD technology Konica Minolta is using in its imaging sensor system.</i></blockquote>

<p>

Keppler seems to be unaware that KM's imaging sensor is really Sony's, too.

[jacob_napthine]

OK, what about this...

 

Dynamic cropping. Full frame all the time, but if the sensor moves 1mm it cuts off 1mm of the frame. And so on. No switches, easy as.

 

But seriously, KM engineers are VERY good. What makes anyone think this is an insurmountable problem? They INVENTED Anti-shake once already!

Surely they can invent A.S. Mk2. Why is FF + AS not do-able?

Remember, chip-shift image stabilisation DIDN'T EXIST, what, 2.5 years ago? Now it comes in a pocket sized digi-cam costing less than a good lens.

 

Leicas (Panasonic + 50% co$t?) aspect ratio cropping sounds like a wank. Apart from saving on storage space, what good is it? Do you really need high speed burst mode in a digi-cam?

 

Really, first they're going broke (and need advice) now they can't improve something they invented?

[nate_macdonald]

I like the cropping idea, if you have a FF sensor with the same number of pixels per square centimetre as a 6 or 8 MP APS sensor, you shouldn't loose any detail. The only problem is that you're still using the same viewfinder that will see the same FF image. I wonder if it would be possible to dynamically magnify the viewfinder as well? Or perhaps just have a viewscreen with an APS "crop" stencilled in.

 

And if you want FF with anti-shake, I think making the sensor slightly smaller than FF would be worth it. You only need a very narrow margin to make anti-shake work and I think the benefits of that would outweigh your sensor being exactly the same size.

[cmphoto1]

How much does the sensor move? Would it need to crop all the way down to a APS-C sized image?

 

I doubt people are necessarily married to the 1.5 crop. If FF with AS were not possible, I would embrace non-AS/FF and a AS/1.2x (or whatever) option.

 

chad