> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > >Nikon now makes its own sensor for the D2h > > I believe they have this chip OEM'd for them by someone else.
Meaning that it is a Nikon design, but Nikon does not actually build it in its own factory? I'll believe this, but it would still put Nikon in a better position than it was and pentax is in being dependant on some completely external company for their image quality. Lots of successful players in the computer and photography industry are basically fabless, or started that way. Given Nikon's apparent commitment to digital, I'm surprised that they wouldn't have tooled up to make sensors in house. Yes, everybody used to be dependant on film companies for their image quality, but you could put anybody's film in anybody's camera. I'd gladly mount the Canon EOS1Ds or EOS1DmkII chip in my Nikons if I could! > >Otherwise, there is still foveon who might be about to die from > >lack of sales, or who might be about to appear with a bigger chip > >in new DSLRs when their exclusive agreement with Sigma expires this year. > > I thought that agreement had already expired? (Hence toe new "Polaroid" > point-n-shoot with the Foveon chip.) Perhaps. Perhaps the arrangement only covers DSLRs? I learned that the arrangement was due to expire from somebody's web site, so it could be a little behind the times. Perhaps the arrangement has expired but new developments are not ready yet. Perhaps foveon is irrelevant despite having potentially better technology (betamax anyone...) > >There is sony who make the D100/*istD chip, and have not put out a > >successor for quite a while--I'd expect one soon. Sony also makes > >a lot of DP&S sensors that go in non-sony cameras. > > > >Kodak makes its own sensors, or at least did, for Nikon and Canon > >bodied cameras, and presumably for its DP&S cameras. > > Yes. They don't make the full-frame sensor for the 14n, though. (And I > think they've switched suppliers for the new version.) 'Cause the old one was nothing but trouble. It is interesting that Kodak was designing sensors for the F5-bodied DSLRs but apparently was not up to doing the sensor in their current (and only) DSLR. Kodak's financial troubles may stem from the fact that they don't really seem to know WHAT they DO make. Their pro DSLR is only assembled by Kodak, with the SLR part coming primarily from Nikon and the D part coming from someone else. > >Who made the full-frame sensors for the (not) MZ-D and the (not long) > >Contax N1D? Not Pentax, I'll bet, and probably not Contax. Perhaps > >the same sensor? > > Yes, the same sensor. Made by DALSA. Why is nobody else using it in 35mm-sized cameras? Canon, obviously, has better options. I presume that either the sensor is lousy or it is being used primarily in Medium-format systems where the cost isn't so offputting for some reason. DJE
