On Thu, Feb 19, 2009 at 01:16:42PM -0700, John Celio scripsit: > If one were to cram a square sensor into a 35mm-based body, wouldn't > the size of the mirror need to be increased vertically (assuming the > sensor is the same height and width as the width of the current sensor > Pentax uses)? This is the reason I doubt a square sensor'd dSLR is on > the way. The whole mirror box system would have to be redesigned to > accommodate the larger mirror without pushing the lens mount further > out. I don't think Pentax could afford that kind of major R&D.
But Pentax have to redesign the mirror box anyway, because 3 frames per second is starting to look very bad on the spec sheet, which is hurting them in the market. (Or at least, so the standard narrative goes.) As a way to give Pentax lots more dots in the image while keeping the DA lenses working, a square sensor seems like a plausible approach. It's especially a plausible approach if the sensor production can use the "damn, bad corner" square sensors as APS-C sensors in the KxxD cameras, whether physically or electronically cropped. (The K20D sensor is electronically cropped, after all; the sensor has pixels that the camera does not process.) The major downside seems to me to be composing for square; that's a large and potentially annoying change for people with deeply ingrained habits for some other aspect ratio. -- Graydon -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
