Abaixo, alguns trechos do artigo
"Reading Tea Leaves - PMA 2008 and The Future", escrito por Michael Reichmann, editor do site
"The Luminous Landscape":
É um excelente e extenso artigo, abrangendo todos os setores da fotografia profissional, principalmente. Os trechos abaixo abordam assuntos de interesse mais direto do público brasileiro. Quem se interessar em ler o artigo completo (eu recomendo!), veja o
link:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/tea-leaves.shtml The Megapixel Race
"Things are still silly in the digicam field with shirt pocket cameras now up to about 12MP. This means 2.8 micron pixels (or maybe even less) which if this trend continues will begin to impinge on the size of the upper wave lengths of light. Stuffing photons into these little holes is going to start challenging the laws of physics pretty soon."
"Update: Ironically, to both put the lie to and validate my comments here, Kodak has just announced a 5MP sensor for use in cell phones that has 1.4 micron pixels and speeds up to ISO 3200."
"In the DSLR world sanity seems to be settling in, with pixel counts in the 12 – 14 MP range becoming the norm. The high end of the pro DSLR market seems to be at the 21 – 24 MP range, and while that leaves room for the lower end of the market to still move upward, the ceiling isn't going to get much higher once pixel count gets above 25MP and photosite sizes below 5 microns, because noise will become too big an issue at anything other than moderate level ISOs. Photographers now want image quality above pixel count, or at least I do."
"It also needs to be asked – which photographers need these large files? Typical commercial uses (magazines, newspapers, etc) are easily satisfied with files in the low to mid teens, and while a larger file, such as from a Canon 1Ds MKIII, is great for making a 24X36" print, how many people actually need this? Of course a larger files means a greater ability to crop and still get a usable image size, but this then starts to stress lens performance; a bit of a vicious cycle."
"So, as far as I'm concerned, anything north of a high quality 12 Megapixels is fine for most applications, and 20+ MP files (whether from a DSLR or a medium format back) are only needed in the work that I do for my most critical landscape work and some commercial projects. (For example, I have a commission to document a major urban renewal project, and in addition to an eventual coffee table book have been told that wall-sized blow-ups for a presentation center will be needed. So, I'll be shooting much of that with a 39MP medium format back.)"
"Horses for courses, as the British say. In other words, look realistically at the work that you do and choose a camera that is appropriate for the task. If you're a travel photographer you'll have different needs than if you shoot wildlife, or fashion, or products, or life styles. One size does not fit all."
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Full Frame
"For some six years Canon has been essentially alone in offering full frame 35mm DSLRs. Contax and Pentax took a shot at it some years ago, with Pentax dropping out before hitting the market, and Contax withdrawing after only producing a very small number of cameras. Kodak (remember Kodak?) also did so with their 14n, 14c, SLR-N and SLR-C, which were noble but highly flawed attempts."
"The Canon "1Ds" series, at 11MP, then 16MP and now 21MP was otherwise the only mainstream game in town, and gained a lot of mileage in the pro community because of it. Conversely, Nikon lost a lot of ground in the pro market because of its lack of a full frame camera and thus very high pixel counts. Many stock agencies started demanding higher res files and Nikon shoots simply couldn't provide them. The LBCAST sensor fiasco didn't do much to bolster Nikon's reputation when it came to sensor quality either. The faithful stuck with Nikon but there were a lot of defections over the years."
"But beginning during the second half of 2007, and in strength at the start of 2008, Nikon has turned the tables. In August '07 Nikon announced the full frame D3, and since it started shipping in November it has received nothing but praise."
"In January Sony announced its 25 Megapixel full-frame sensor and shown prototypes of its forthcoming flagship camera where it will find a home – due later this year. Of course no one doubts that a version of this sensor will find its way into a Nikon D3 variant, likely sooner rather than later."
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Competition and Complacency
"When Nikon announced the D3 and D300 last August, along with a slew of high-end pro lenses, it was clear than the company was finally serious about getting back in the game. These new cameras have proven this, and the new stabilized super-telephotos, 24-70mm, 14-24mm, Nanocoating lens technology, and now three brand-new tilt/shift lenses, are, if nothing else, a clear signal to Canon and the pro community that Nikon once again intends to compete in every segment of the pro and prosumer market."
"For its part Canon is to be applauded for everything they've done to move sensor size and image quality forward during the past 6 – 7 years. Its stabilized super-telephotos and tilt/shift lenses of the late '90s were breakthroughs, and were influential in moving a lot of photographers into the Canon camp (me included). Certainly the Canon D30 camera of 2000 broke the hold of prohibitively high prices for DSLRs, and established CMOS technology as viable for high-end camera sensors for the first time."
"But this is now 2008, and there is a definite feeling out there that Canon has not been as innovative recently as they have been in the past. Many of its smaller competitors have introduced advances such as in-body stabilization, providing shake reduction to all lenses. Sensor shake for dust reduction was introduced by others first, as was Live View. Articulated LCDs are finding their way into more and more DSLRs, making Live View more usable for some, but this has not yet appeared on any Canon DSLR."
"But, lets not quibble over features. The point is that Canon is the 800 pound gorilla of the industry, and though they've done a lot of innovation over the years, they have not, in my view, taken sufficient advantage of their lead recently. This has left openings for other companies to exploit, and they are now doing so."
"An example of this is wide-angle lenses. It is no secret to anyone that Canon's lens line-up, though very extensive, is not as strong as it needs to be in the wide angle range, especially WA zooms. Full frame high resolution sensors such as found in the 1Ds MKIII push lenses very hard. Wide angles are harder to design than medium focal length and long lenses, especially when used on DSLRs."
"For this reason many demanding Canon users buy wide angle lenses from Leica and Zeiss and use them with adaptors. This means no autofocus or even autodiaphram, but for many critical users the superior image quality of high-end lenses from these two companies makes the compromise worthwhile."
"Canon appears to be aware of this weak spot and has recently been upgrading some of its WA lenses. But apparently not well enough, as shown in this comparison of the Canon 16-35mm f2.8 L, Nikon 14-24mm f2.8 G and Contax Vario Sonnar 17-35mm f2.8. Incidentally, I've been shooting with the just-released Nikon 14-24mm and am astonished at its image quality. This may well be the finest ultra-wide angle zoom ever made; one that rivals most primes in its focal range."
"Nikon is a traditional rival to Canon for the high-end market as well as the consumer segment. But Sony is the new kid on the block. With its acquisition of the Konica / Minolta camera line and technology a couple of years ago Sony showed its intention to become competitive in the prosumer if not pro market itself. It is also the only other major camera company with its own sensor fabrication capability other than Canon, and their new 25MP chip announced at PMA shows that they fully intended to exploit that capability. (Pentax through its hook-up with Samsung now is also somewhat in this category, but that combo has so-far failed to live up to its potential)."
"Olympus continues to march to the beat of its own drummer. I was dubious about the 4/3 format when it came out, and have been every since. Nothing that I've yet seen has convinced me otherwise. Their Pro bodies using this format are no smaller than top-of-the line reduced frame DSLRs, and while Olympus lenses are generally just about as good as it gets, they are expensive and not all that much smaller either. I don't see the just-released E-3 as a convincing follow-up to the E1, even after a 4 year hiatus."
"Olympus' consumer grade DSLRs have a lot of appeal, but their smaller sensor will continue to be its Achilles Heel and will prevent them from being able to be competitive in the high end, as full frame sensors continue to drop in price and increase in resolution. It's like the difference between medium format and 35mm. Size matters, and in digital as with film size has clear advantages."...Boa Leitura!!!
