Thank you, Adam. Pentax have made the right decision here.
John On Mon, 01 Jan 2007 19:40:46 -0000, Adam Maas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Economics. Sensor cost is relative to area. This is because there's a > fixed size to the silicon wafers that sensors are made from (which > affects yields [the number of usable sensors per wafer], as one minor > issue is enough to make a sensor useless). The wafers cost a set amount, > so the cost of a Sensor is relative to how many usable sensors one can > make per wafer. One can make 3-4x as many DX format sensors as FF > sensors, and yield is inherently higher as the number of errors is > relatively fixed. > > Last i heard, yields on the 5D sensor were around 70% (a significant > improvement over what they were when the 1DsmII was introduced, which > was 25% or so), yields on DX format sensors are at the 90%+ range. So > the difference in the number of sensors per wafer is even larger (since > you're writing off about the same number of sensors per wafer, but > you're making far more DX sensors per wafer) > > So DX format sensors are MUCH cheaper than FF sensors. Note the cost > difference between the Canon 5D and 30D, which are essentially the same > camera apart from the sensor and prism. And Canon has been attempting to > drive down the cost on the 5D aggressively due to competition from the > cheaper and more capable Nikon D200. It's still a $2600 camera, to the > $1200 or so a 30D costs (with much less pricing pressure). Most of that > cost difference is in the sensor. > > FF is not going to cost comeptetive with DX. Ever. Simply because even > if you can make a $100 FF sensor, you can use the same technology to > make a $10 DX sensor. > > -Adam > > > Bob W wrote: >> why do you think they won't bring out a ff body? >> >> And why would it be so much more expensive? If they get down to the >> price level which would allow the non-professional makers (ie not >> Canon or Nikon) to use them, then I imagine they'll be about the same >> price as smaller sensors, no? >> >> -- >> Bob >> >>>> If every other manufacture brings out a FF body Pentax will >>> as well or >>>> they _will_ _die_. Simple as that. >>> But the others won't. Simple as that. >>> >>> And actually it won't affect Pentax. Any "full-frame" bodies >>> would be >>> much more expensive, and therefore in a separate market segment that >> >>> Pentax doesn't address. Canon would suffer from the >>> competition, not >>> Pentax. >>> >> >> > > -- Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/ -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
