Rob Studdert wrote:
Of course. I'm thinking more in terms of making certain parts of the body replaceable - typically the sensor itself and the A/Ds. So you wouldn't have B&W, night time and high speed camera bodies, but one body with interchangable B&W, night time and high speed modules (that would fit in your pocket.) If done the right way, switching between those would be at least as convenient as the camera control fiddling that you otherwise have to do. (Although having to bring separate units if of course a bit of an inconvenience in its own right.)On 15 Dec 2004 at 23:44, Toralf Lund wrote:
I think something that's missing from digital cameras, is some way to make true distinctions in the way the data is captured - analogues to the way you can choose between B&W and colour film, choose different kinds of film for different types if lighting, have others for "special effects" etc. (yeah, I know you can do wonders with image processing, but I'm thinking that allowing differences in characteristics at the sensor end would be even better.)
I've sort of dreaming of a kind of a cross between film and today's digital, but I've mentioned that earlier, I think.
I don't believe that what you suggest is an ideal approach (it has been tried and passed over, consider the DCS 760m). Optimally a sensor should have usable resolution to optical limits along with great SNR and dynamic range but as we know physically this isn't possible. There will always be compromises in performance but IMO it's still best to try to incorporate a sensor which offers the optimum capture and then post process for variations.
I really don't want have to choose between B&W, night time and high speed camera bodies, that would negate a great deal of what makes direct digital image capture so flexible and convenient.
And while we are dreaming, how about a storage medium where you can - like with film - tell what the contents are merely by looking at it, and also produce images by direct projection? Possibly in combination with the sensor. This might be a bit like the "electronic paper" some people are working on, only in a sense the other way around (you would obviously want to read the data back, too - but perhaps they're alrady planning that for electronic paper?)
