Friday, November 14, 2008

Age of monster cameras?


Lights, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

I was looking at the specs of the new RED camera: "The RED DMSC is a fully modular still and video imaging camera which is built from the sensor ("brain" in RED speak) on up and can be configured to look and work sort of like a DSLR or more like a blast weapon one would find in a first person shooter."

This is a complete rethink of what a camera system can be like - from the advanced professional perspective. I don't think normal photographers will leap to the RED system, but for some (studio?) shooters this highly configurable system may be attractive. Well, 120 photos per second is at least quite impressive.

Instead, I expect much more from the micro 4/3 system of Panasonic and Olympus. (But I expect that this will be a Panasonic show.) The first reviews and impressions of the Panasonic G1 are available now, and they are quite favourable considering that the G1 is a completely new type of camera.

I'm not yet interested in it, but perhaps the more compact Olympus micro 4/3 camera next year will be more pocketable, together with a wide zoom or a pancake. I sort of can think of buying a micro 4/3 camera with a tree lens setup: a 40 mm f/1.7 prime, a 24-60 mm f/2.0-2.8 zoom and a 100 mm f/2.8 macro, if such lenses would become available.

This photo was taken today at sunset (or thereabout, it was difficult to know about the sun due to heavy clouds). I considered several different compositions until I noticed the lamp in the window, and then used it as a photo element. Could have been better, but I was in a hurry.

2 comments:

Paul said...

Well, I don't know anything about RED, but I do know a thing or two about Live View only cameras, or those similar to the 4/3 cameras.

I owned a Minolta Dimage A1. It was fine for doing somethings, but really sucked for any type of movement. The Electronic View Finder (EVF) was very slow on the refresh and it was hard to see exactly where it was focusing.

Of course, EVF resolution has greatly increased, but there is no replacement, I think for viewing things directly through the glass. Maybe it will be close when they bring fast refreshing HD video to the view finder ... maybe.

Juha Haataja said...

I admit the EVF technology is not replacement for a good prism - yet.

But there are also pros in the electronics - perhaps in the future the photographer can actually get some useful feedback from the computer running inside the camera.

I'm ambivalent about this - I'm an inherently optimistic IT expert but also recognize that IT is not always helping to get things done.