Mike wrote:
> I have a decent-quality $650 3-mp p/s that's pretty limited--it simply has
> to be prefocused to be at all responsive, for instance. You have to achieve
> the "green dot" first or the camera is so slow as to be useless. But because
> of the extremely small size of the CCD and the extreme shortness of the
> lens, wonderful things become possible. First of all, depth of field is so
> great that at moderate apertures (I mean like f/2.8 or f/4) and ordinary
> camera-to-subject distances, pan-focus (i.e., everything in focus front to
> back) is the rule rather than the exception. d.o.f. at maximum aperture
> (f/1.8 on my camera) is amazing---it looks like maybe f/5.6 on a 35mm SLR.
> MACRO work is laughably easy--the camera has a "macro mode" and the d.o.f.
> is so great that it allows virtually "macro snapshooting." Bokeh is superb.
> Panoramics, even of numerous frames, are now simple.
>
> It really seems like many 35mm cameras in one. It's a zoom lens, but it's a
> high-speed lens too (how many film cameras have f/1.8 zooms??). It's a GOOD
> macro lens.
This is one of the main points; is there any reason to stick to the 35mm format for
digital? Is the 35mm system and its lenses the best or even a good platform for
digital? I'm not at all convinced.
The strength of the 35mm system is its small size and portability but this is only
relative. If you can get high resolution into a smaller chip, why not take advantage
of it? I do believe it should be possible to achieve better quality than 35mm film on
a chip considerably smaller than 24X36mm. This would make a far smaller system.
Imagine the equivalent of a 600/4 at the size and price of a 400/5.6. Of course, one
can argue that you can use only the central part of a high resolution 35mm sized chip,
digital zooming that would be. However, this makes strong demand on lenses that must
be designed to cover a larger image circle. Olympus have announced that they will
release a digital slr with interchangeable lenses in about one years time. Will they
choose the OM-system as platform or choose something smaller?
Then again, how about medium format? Are there going to be digital solution fitting
the Pentax medium format lenses? Or are these product lines doomed into obscurity only
fit for die-hard MF film shooters?
Sales of MF cameras and high-end 35mm slr's are falling world wide. The reason is
digital. Some of the losses are due to customers switching to digital but my guess is
that many are sitting on the fence waiting to buy digital when they feel the time is
right. Hence, they are less likely to spend money into expensive film based slr's.
P�l
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