Well, this is an interesting year so far for advancements in camera technology.
In the commercially available side of things, we are seeing a number of, I’ll go ahead and say it – -Revolutionary– advancements in the technology of digital imaging.
Larger sensors mean new tricks!
Many compact “consumer” cameras are now being designed using with much larger imaging sensors than were previously available without moving up to more expensive DSLRs. In some cases, these small cameras are also compatible with a range of interchangeable lenses.
So what are the implications here?
Well it’s now possible to get argueably “pro”-level image quality/resolution -and very good low-light performance in a compact and relatively inexpensive (way under $800) camera. In fact, many pro’s are buying these and throwing them in their camera bag as a backup to their backup – or for their personal “snap camera”. I’m not saying these are professional cameras…I’m saying that from an image quality perspective, they are -in many cases- very close…
Here’s a few of the more notable ones:
Olympus EP-1 “PEN”
http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1461
Ricoh GRX/P10
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/ricohgxrp10/
Leica X1
http://www.thedigitalnewsroom.com/en/News/2472/Leica_X1_the_Leica_compact_camera_with_APS_C_sensor_inside.htm
If you want really good image quality in a small, lightweight package, then you are in luck.
HD VIDEO
Also, of huge importance is the HD-video-capture-on-a-still-camera movement. Over the past 18 months or so, virtually all camera manufacturers have been adding HD video capture capabilities to their still cameras. At the lower/consumer end of the market, these new video capabilities are pretty darn good. For under $400, you can get a camera that takes great looking stills AND nice looking HD video -even in fairly low light situations.
At the high-end, some of the video-enabled DSLR (Digital SLR) cameras (such as the Canon 7D (about $1700) and 5D MKII (about $2500)) are becoming more and more common as the primary motion picture cameras on the set of television commercials, TV shows and independent films.
But why would a production company use a still camera to shoot a commercial or a movie instead of a video or digital cinematagraphy camera setup? Well, there are a few reasons:
1) kick ass low light performance – the image sensor in DSLRs is much larger than typical video cameras…thereby giving much better low-light sensitivity and while maintaining low “noise” (or graininess)
2) incredible variety of lenses allows DPs (Directors of Photography) almost infinite creative flexibility
3) shallow DOF (Depth of Field). Having a camera and lens that can provide a shallow DOF will allow the filmmaker or photographer to “blur” either the background or the foreground -or both, thereby drawing the viewer’s attention (via the sharp focus) on the subject or object of interest.
4) very low cost – for under $5000 or $6000 (or even much less if you don’t need to buy all the rig accessories) can have a pro-level DSLR rig that squarely competes squarely (in terms of image quality) against “video” or “digital cinema” cameras and lenses costing 10X or even 20X as much.
This HD DSLR phenomenon has taken the high-end digital cinema camera companies such as Sony, Red, ARRI, Silicon Imaging and others for a loop -they didn’t see it coming -and it is certainly changed the technology landscape in this space. Only time will tell what happens – but one thing is for sure. Large sensors are a key strategy for ANY camera company looking to innovate and lead the marketplace.
The MegaPixel wars are NOT over!
Canon just this week announced that they have developed in one of their labs a 120 megapixel sensor. Wow. That’s alot. And it’s the size of a standard APS-H (35 mm “full frame”) sensor found in high-end DSRL cameras. The most pixels currently available in a DSLR Full-frame camera sensor is about 22 Million pixels (megapixels).
There are a few things to point out about this:
-Most theatrical releases (movies) you see at the theater contain about 12MP of effective (viewable) resolution (That’s about 4000 pixels wide by about 3000 pixels tall)
-no camera lens could possibly be clear or sharp enough to actually “resolve” 120Megapixels of image resolution.
-a single uncompressed image from 120MP sensor would require about 360MB (megabytes) for storage. That’s about 20X the about required by today’s high-end DSLRs. You can store an hour of HD video on your computer with 360MB!. Even using JPEG compression, we’re talking about 50 to 60 Megs per image.
So why all the megapixels? Well because having so many pixels on the sensor allows a camera to do several things really well besides capturing alot of “resolution”.
Dynamic Range
A sensor that size would (through some very complex technical wizardry) allow for amazing range of light sensitivity -also known as having a high “dynamic range”. Today’s digital cameras arent very good at capturing all the details in scenes with both very dark shadows AND very bright highlights. In these situations, the camera must choose (or be told) which areas of the scene to capture. You can expose the shot for the shadows, or for the highlights -but not both simultaneously. (You have seen this effect when you tried to take a photo in very bright sunlight, where the people or object you were trying to photograph came out looking very dark or black. ) Today the best digital cameras have about 13 “f-stops” of dynamic range. Consumer cameras have closer to 8 stops. There are some experimental sensor designs that are capturing 18 or 19 stops of dynamic range. This is amazing and comes close (but not all the way) to competing with the sensitivity of the human eye. Amazing!!! For more reading go here: http://blog.kaiharding.com/?p=581
High Frame Rate
The other thing that these very large, very dense sensors can allow for is very high speed image (video) capture. If only a fraction of pixels on a high-density sensor are used, the circuitry can record images very very quickly. There are currently some high-speed digital cameras that can capture scenes at over 1000fps (frames per second). However, they can’t do it with a very high dynamic range – and they can’t do it in low light. A sensor design with 120MP could foreseeably do both.
OK, I think I’ve probably spent enough time rambling to thoroughly confuse even the most ardent tech geek. So i’ll stop for now.
**update** I should mention, for context, that there are already very high-end professional still cameras that offer up to 60MP (hold crap!) -such as the Hasselblad H4D. This is a “medium format” DSLR camera with an ENORMOUS sensor that is in a whole separate class (and price bracket) above “standard” DSLRs. And they are outside the scope of my little article… 
