Re: Canon's new astrophoto DSLR announced [ 4x5" FILM option? ]

On Sun, 05 Jun 2005 12:44:07 +0100, Jim Attfield
<jamesatattfielddotcodotuk> wrote:

>I can't follow your point about larger sensors making wide angle
>easier.

If you look at the pricing of lenses, they are lowest in the middle
focal length ranges and rise (sometimes steeply) at the ends. So very
short wide angle lenses and very long telephotos tend to be the most
expensive. A small sensor essentially shifts your lens range upwards.
This means you end up with more telephoto for your money, but less wide
angle. I consider a "typical" useful wide angle lens to be around 28mm
(if you get much shorter you start seeing fisheye effects). To get that
same field of view with my 300D, however, requires using a 17mm lens. At
that length, my lens options are much smaller, and generally a lot more
expensive.

Sure, with lenses designed solely for a smaller sensor this doesn't need
to be the case. But (except for the EF-S lens that came with the camera)
I'm not comfortable committing to such lenses at this point. I already
own a collection of standard Canon lenses, and I think it is far from
certain that small sensors are going to be the standard for DSLRs. There
are an awful lot of photographers, with an awful lot of (35mm format)
lenses out there, and they don't want to replace their entire
collections. It is far cheaper for them to spend a little more on a
single camera body with a larger sensor. Any serious photographer knows
that the camera body is the least expensive part of their setup in the
long run.

>I disagree. The 4/3 sensor format (for example) is confidently
>expected to be good up to aroung the 12-16MP area. They used to make
>similar comments about processors and memory chips, we all know what
>happened there (and continues to happen).

I didn't mean that there was a process limitation to increasing the
pixel density. My point was that there is an optical limitation to doing
so.

> Nobody _wants_ larger
>sensors, the larger more expensive glass and the tank-like bodies
>which accompany the 35mm format.

I don't know. When I read the reviews, there seems to be a large
contingent of photographer, especially pros, who like their cameras
large and heavy for stability.


> I see nothing wrong with wanting a
>small, good hand-fit body with compact lenses which provide
>double-digit megapixel performance with a good dynamic range and
>acceptable high-ISO native noise performance.

Nothing wrong with that at all. But the desire for that is up against
the desire for a DSLR that is compatible with existing accessories. In
the long run a format change is probably desirable, but I think the 35mm
format is going to be around for quite a while yet.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com
.

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