Dawid Loubser
Member
Well well well, I have been expecting this, but not from Nikon! (I put my bets on Sony): A DSLR with a Movie Mode.
Now all that remains is for the mirror and the prism to disappear (and I suspect the first Micro four-thirds camera will also have a movie mode, hence it will combine all these attributes) and then we have broken all ties with the film SLR world.
In a way, this makes me happy (to see progress) but to be honest, I have become completely numbed these past years with the crazy rate at which new throw-away DSLR cameras are introduced, and the bewildering number of features they have. And I am a young technology geek!
I imagine that, if movies are your thing, this (or the later advancements of this feature) will make you very happy - imagine shooting movies with a 50mm f/1.2 lens, this must be brilliant.
On the other hand, I am strangely not tempted by this - in fact, the only thing that tempts my at this stage is medium- and panoramic-format film, which I am using now as regularly as my Canon 1D MkIIN.
What I find strange, is that many DSLRs will be sold which is a complete box of digital image and movie processing, but with this archaic moving mirror mechanism - such an odd transitionary phase we are currently at. I am afraid that Micro four-thirds has (in theory, at least, we've not seen any cameras) shown the way of the future for digital cameras. I also feel like we are, more than ever, in a period where a divide is growing (a good thing, in my opinion) between film and digital capture, with film being more dead than ever in the consumer category (now a Soccer Mom can capture movies of her son playing through an image-stabilised Nikon telephoto lens!) but on the other hand being revived by hobbyists and artists.
For some, it may be just to be different; to go against the crowd. For others, there is simply something calming and magical about making a good shot with an non-electrical larger-format camera. I embrace both mediums, but I am enjoying film more and more. My collection of Canon EF lenses will hopefully one day find a home on whatever technological marvel Canon brings out (which hopefully remains compatible with the EF lens mount!!) when they've disposed of the mirror and shutter assembly.
In the meantime, I am thoroughly enjoying my outdated digital camera I plan on testing Canon's durability claims for the 1-series, I am not planning to upgrade to one of these temporary, transitionary cameras. What I always find amusing, is that I have to put a *lot* of effort into making full usage of my now low-resolution sensor, and I use only the best L-series lenses. The slightest carelessness means that even 8.2MP is wasted, for in most of the frame, the sensor will not be out-resolved.
Luckily digital storage is cheap, because I find it amazing when I consider the countless billions of 20MP blurry snapshots that will be made in the next couple of years through cheap kit zoom lenses - they really should have abandoned the megapixel race, and I hope they will do so soon. When the next 50MP or whatever 1Ds Mk IV comes out, which will be diffraction-limited by most lenses close to wide-open (and, unfortunately, only the best canon-lenses could be called anything approaching "diffraction-limited" wide-open) somebody has to start saying, enough is enough. Now imagine 50MP in 1.6x crop camera with a plastic kit zoom lens. It will happen! I fear marketing will drive our "professional tools" into the same territory of madness that the current 12MP compact cameras experience - 50MP of tiny, blurry, artificially sharpened pixels stuffed into a 1.6x crop sensor.
Anyway, the implications of this movie mode may be huge. Especially when it gets to Pro-level DSLRs which cover sports and political events, etc.
I stand by the sidelines and look on in amusement at the great wheel of progress and corporate competitiveness, and continue trying to learn to work a Linhof
What are your thoughts?
Now all that remains is for the mirror and the prism to disappear (and I suspect the first Micro four-thirds camera will also have a movie mode, hence it will combine all these attributes) and then we have broken all ties with the film SLR world.
In a way, this makes me happy (to see progress) but to be honest, I have become completely numbed these past years with the crazy rate at which new throw-away DSLR cameras are introduced, and the bewildering number of features they have. And I am a young technology geek!
I imagine that, if movies are your thing, this (or the later advancements of this feature) will make you very happy - imagine shooting movies with a 50mm f/1.2 lens, this must be brilliant.
On the other hand, I am strangely not tempted by this - in fact, the only thing that tempts my at this stage is medium- and panoramic-format film, which I am using now as regularly as my Canon 1D MkIIN.
What I find strange, is that many DSLRs will be sold which is a complete box of digital image and movie processing, but with this archaic moving mirror mechanism - such an odd transitionary phase we are currently at. I am afraid that Micro four-thirds has (in theory, at least, we've not seen any cameras) shown the way of the future for digital cameras. I also feel like we are, more than ever, in a period where a divide is growing (a good thing, in my opinion) between film and digital capture, with film being more dead than ever in the consumer category (now a Soccer Mom can capture movies of her son playing through an image-stabilised Nikon telephoto lens!) but on the other hand being revived by hobbyists and artists.
For some, it may be just to be different; to go against the crowd. For others, there is simply something calming and magical about making a good shot with an non-electrical larger-format camera. I embrace both mediums, but I am enjoying film more and more. My collection of Canon EF lenses will hopefully one day find a home on whatever technological marvel Canon brings out (which hopefully remains compatible with the EF lens mount!!) when they've disposed of the mirror and shutter assembly.
In the meantime, I am thoroughly enjoying my outdated digital camera I plan on testing Canon's durability claims for the 1-series, I am not planning to upgrade to one of these temporary, transitionary cameras. What I always find amusing, is that I have to put a *lot* of effort into making full usage of my now low-resolution sensor, and I use only the best L-series lenses. The slightest carelessness means that even 8.2MP is wasted, for in most of the frame, the sensor will not be out-resolved.
Luckily digital storage is cheap, because I find it amazing when I consider the countless billions of 20MP blurry snapshots that will be made in the next couple of years through cheap kit zoom lenses - they really should have abandoned the megapixel race, and I hope they will do so soon. When the next 50MP or whatever 1Ds Mk IV comes out, which will be diffraction-limited by most lenses close to wide-open (and, unfortunately, only the best canon-lenses could be called anything approaching "diffraction-limited" wide-open) somebody has to start saying, enough is enough. Now imagine 50MP in 1.6x crop camera with a plastic kit zoom lens. It will happen! I fear marketing will drive our "professional tools" into the same territory of madness that the current 12MP compact cameras experience - 50MP of tiny, blurry, artificially sharpened pixels stuffed into a 1.6x crop sensor.
Anyway, the implications of this movie mode may be huge. Especially when it gets to Pro-level DSLRs which cover sports and political events, etc.
I stand by the sidelines and look on in amusement at the great wheel of progress and corporate competitiveness, and continue trying to learn to work a Linhof
What are your thoughts?