At 07:26 02/22/1999 +1300, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
>Although at first, this new idea of an electronic film cartridge you can put
>in your SLR seems to be the ideal, we all need to think again. It would be
>nice to have this system be the ultimate and perfect answer for those of us
>who don't own a digital still camera but read on.
>
>Here are the two main, missing items, in my opinion. There is no LCD screen
>with which to view your just taken pictures. All other digital cameras I
know
>of have one. An interchangeable camera back needs to be available that would
>do this. The new digital F5 seems to have one but that camera does not work
>the way this system does.
>
>The second big missing item is that there is no interchangeable film picture
>storage device i.e. flash memory card or whatever, to go along with this
>electronic film cartridge. Once you have filled up the memory of the
>electronic cartridge, it has to be downloaded to another medium. This would
>require you to carry a laptop or have multiple efs (electronic film
>cartridges) available. Very costly. Pros could never work like this.
>
>If the manufacturer of this system does not address these two items along
with
>many others like how to trick your camera into thinking film is advancing
over
>the take-up sprockets/reel so that camera's exposure system will work (my F5
>won't work without film rolling over the take-up spool) I don't think it
will
>ever take off.
>
Three good points, although a laptop with the limited resources needed only
to download the digital exposures wouldn't cost more than a good lens, and
we're already working without any immediate way to view the exposures. The
laptop would also present a method of viewing exposures rapidly after
download.
I wouldn't see how anything of limited resolution like this could ever
become a professional medium, so I wouldn't think that would be much of a
factor. I haven't calculated it, but a 1280 x 1024 pixel digital medium
has got to be several quantums less resolution than even the least
fine-grained silver-based film. Except for the most expensive studio
cameras, I don't think any of the digital cameras, megapixel or not, can
begin to approach silver-based film for resolution, and I have always
wondered what other professional need it might fill. Not being a
professional, I can't be sure.
Therefore, the only reasons to I can see to use it would be convenience
under limited conditions (like a Polaroid back?), reusability of the media,
lack of need to convert to electronic format (where that matters), or other
similar conditions where the highest quality wasn't necessary. At least so
far.
As for the technical problems of triggering the autoexposure system, etc.,
I'm not sure which cameras this might cause a problem for, but I knew I had
a good reason for keeping my little FG and my old F2's.
The main thing it would do is allow us to use our Nikon lenses with
electronic media. Without a need to transport film, or, indeed even to
have a light-tight enclosure except during the actual exposures, there
seems to be no need for a lot of the mechanical functions of the body such
as the motor, etc.
