Press release image from Hoya Corp of the new Pentax 645D.
(Click for beautiful size.)

The new Pentax 645D is finally here, having just been officially introduced by Pentax. For the serious Pro (landscape, outdoor, portrait, fashion, etc.) shooter, this might be a game changer. That is, if they can get their hands on one. Pentax is initially only offering 200 units to be sold in the Japanese market. I suspect those will be snapped up (pardon the pun) in a matter of weeks.

So Why a Game Changer?
It might just be for two big reasons:

• Features:
  • Backward lens compatibility, a feature that has kept many Pentax shooters very happy over the years, is a fundamental part of this design. The earlier 645 series film cameras were quite popular by medium format standards and there’s a very good selection of used lenses around. It’s nice to see a manufacturer respect that a photographer may have a heavy investment in glass and wants to just upgrade the body.
  • Another simple little feature I personally like is the mirror lock-up. It’s a dial on the side of the prism housing you just turn to lock up the mirror. Not having to go into a menu for a feature that will be used a lot while shooting landscapes is a great idea. Many will shoot this camera on a tripod and lock up the mirror to take each shot.
  • Relatively high flash sync of 1/125th compared to earlier film versions (although the Hasselblad and Mamiya competitors do have higher sync speeds).
  • Weather sealed and cold-proof body for the landscape and outdoor photographer.
  • Dual card slots, which given the 40MP sensor is a great idea.
  • Again for the landscape shooter, a built-in HDR function for those scenes with dark foreground and bright skies.
• Price: The competition at this tier are Hasselblad’s H3DII-39 and Mamiya’s DM40 MF cameras. They are similarly featured yet priced more than double the Pentax 645D’s MRSP of USD $9,500 (direct conversion from Japanese price in Yen). This camera isn’t that much more than the top full-frame 35mm Digital bodies from Canon and Nikon.

Pentax 645D Rear View.
(Click for beautiful size.)

Introduced along with the new body is the new weather sealed PENTAX D-FA 645 55mm F2.8 AL, which is equivalent to 43.5mm in the 35mm (full-frame) format.

This won’t be for the sports shooter (medium format cameras rarely are) but for the pro who’s looking at the top end 35mm format digital bodies and shoots subjects where a high frame rate isn’t a concern—they will be giving some serious consideration to this camera.

You can read the entire press release here: Pentax announces 645D, and the new SMC PENTAX-D FA 645 55mmF2.8 AL[IF] SDM AW. You can see some photos of the 645D at the 2010 CP+ trade show in Japan.

Now time to break open that piggy bank…

A game changer? The jury is out at the moment and time will tell.

Cheers and good shooting.
–Peter Zack

Some more images from the 2010 CP+ trade show in Japan
©DigitalCamera.jp

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My friend Eli pointed this out to me, from the blokes at Canon Rumours: A Canon-L 70-200mm f/2.8 lens thermos. Full story at PDN Pulse; apparently they were being handed out at the Winter Olympics. There’s even a Facebook page about it with over 2000 fans on it already.

It looks more like a travel mug than a thermos, now that I look at it more carefully. I wonder if it’s stabilised? In any case, I’m sure whatever liquid you fill it with it will taste sharp and you won’t be able to f-stop drinking it. I woke up so hilarious today!

Canon L 70-200mm f2.8 thermos
©Josh Weisberg

1. Thy Hobby is Photography, and thou shall have no other Hobby before it.
2. Thou shall not speak the name of St Ansel in vain.
3. Remember World Photography Day and keep thy schedule clear for it.
4. Honour thy prime lenses.
5. Thou shall not break anyone’s camera.
6. Thou shall not take photos with another man’s camera or lens (without his permission).
7. Thou shall not steal another man’s camera or lens.
8. Thou shall not bear false Photoshop actions against thy neighbour’s photos.
9. Thou shall not covet thy neighbour’s lens collection.
10. Thou shall not covet anything else that belongs to thy neighbour (like his Nikon D3x or unobtanium tripod).

Oh, wait, he wasn’t a terrorist, he was just an amateur photographer trying to exercise his legal right to take photographs in public. He got arrested anyway. By chance, his accomplice friend happened to record it all with his movie camera:

Reported in the Guardian.

It’s because of things like this that you get demonstrations like this. There should be some guideline issued by authorities as to what exactly constitutes “suspicious behaviour” or “antisocial behaviour”. Raising you camera to your eye? Getting down on one knee for a lower view point? Moving around to get different compositions? Or is it the classic “using a big camera”? Because we all know terrorists, paedophiles, sociopaths and other “anti-social” individuals all use “big cameras”.

I’m getting tired of becoming a suspicious individual every time I step out of my house with a camera….just because I’m carrying a camera.

On a lighter note, the photographer in question was shooting a Leica digital, which I thought was rather appropriate seeing as Leica is almost synonymous with Street Photography.

It’s that time of year again. Winter is in full swing in the Northern Hemisphere, while the Southern Hemisphere is still rejoicing in Summer, but this goes unnoticed to Photography geeks everywhere as they stay indoors, glued to their computer screens refreshing DPReview’s new PMA product page and reading all the gossip coming from the PMA 2010 (Photo Marketing Association) convention, held in Anaheim, California. This year was a bit lacklustre as some major players decided not to attend (or pulled out at the last moment)—Canon, Pentax and Leica were some of these players (booooo). Still, some good stuff was announced by other manufacturers, and following is my own personal selection of the tastiest from the lot.

Sigma

Sigma 85mm f/1.4 HSM
(Photo pinched from DP Review)

There’s a reason Sigma is the top 3^rd party lens supplier in the business. Actually, there are many reasons, but one of them is their wide selection of lenses, which is some areas surpasses that of the big camera makers. But I always found there was one conspicuous lens gap in Sigma’s line-up: The classic fast 85mm portrait lens. It’s not that Sigma is against primes (they have a fisheye, 3 ultra wides, 2 standards, 4 macros, numerous mega telephotos…), so I never understood why they never issued the most sought after prime for any photographer who likes fast lenses, the holy grail of portrait photography: The 85mm f/1.4. I even wrote them a couple of years ago asking about it and they told me they had no plans for one. But that was then. Some bright executive saw the light and decided it was time, and thus it came to be that at the 2010 PMA Sigma finally announced their 85mm f/1.4, to be available in Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sony and Sigma mounts (sorry 4/3!). Sigma Chief Operating Officer, Kazuto Yamaki, said of this lens:

It’s similar in concept to the 50mm f/1.4—it’s bigger, heavier and more expensive than OEM lenses but achieves higher performance. We’ve made this for professional and advance amateur photographers, we’ve tried to achieve better performance [than the OEM equivalents], particularly when using fully open apertures on the latest DSLRs.

Translation: It’s not going to be cheap. My guess is no less than US$700. But, if it’s sharp wide open and as well built as Sigma’s EX lines tends to be, this would be one of those lenses you will use forever, so its cost would be easily justified. I will try to get my hands on one of these when they hit stores and publish a review for you guys.

Sigma also announced an optically reformulated 70-200mm f/2.8 that now includes HSM focusing. Previous incarnations of this lens have been a breadwinner for Sigma as they’ve provided great build and IQ at affordable prices. The current model, the first to incorporate HSM, has received mixed reviews by users, with some bemoaning a lowering of Sigma’s quality control, while others just thought the lens wasn’t quite refined. It would seem Sigma have listened, as redesigning the lens from scratch is no small thing. Another reason for redsigning this lens is the addition to its optical formula of a new type of glass, that deserves its own paragraph.

Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 DC HSM
(Photo pinched from eNet.com.cn)

Sigma announced the introduction of FLD glass into some of their lenses (including the 85mm f/1.4), which they co-developed with Hoya, the #1 optical glass maker in the World. To quote Mr Kazuto Yamaki again, FLD glass is described as having Fluorite equivalent characteristics. It’s the most expensive optical glass but it’s still cheaper and lighter than fluorite. Fluorite is a crystal (not actually a glass) that offers very low dispersion, thus reducing chromatic aberrations, and is used mainly (only?) by Canon in their most expensive lenses.

Another lens that will use the magic FLD glass is the 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 rectilinear zoom lens (with HSM!); it has many people on the forums salivating. This is a cropped sensor lens, and I believe it’s the widest rectilinear lens available for APS-C sensors at the moment (Olympus makes a 7-14mm f/4 zoom, but 8mm is wider on APS-C than 7mm is on 4/3). If this lens is as good as Sigma’s venerable 10-20mm f/4-5.6, they are not going to be able to manufacture them fast enough to meet demand.

On the camera front, it’s noteworthy that the DP1x and DP2s were announced, these being slightly updated versions of the company’s DP1 and DP2 fixed-lens compact cameras, respectively. Sigma also expressed their intention to produce interchangeable lens compact cameras using their 1.7x crop Foveon sensor, as well as making lenses for the μ4/3 format. Being the smart people that they are, they said they’re going to wait to see what lenses people prefer using before deciding which they will manufacture. While this makes sense from a marketing standpoint, it sucks from an advanced amateur’s point of view. We want freakishly small primes for these cameras, and the faster they are, the better. As of now, no mirrorless camera system offers a classic 3-prime line-up, nor do the manufacturers seem to be planning one. What a pity.

Samsung

Samsung NX10

Some brands want to do well, others just want to stay above water and survive the global recesion—Samsung wants to own the mirrorless market. Damn… Their first step towards global mirrorless domination was taken at the PMA where they finally showed the NX10 on American soil (they “announced” it countless times during 2009, parading prototypes around various trade shows). The NX10 is a mirrorless (how many times am I going to use that word today?) camera similar to the μ4/3 design of Olympus and Panasonic. The main difference is Samsung has equipped the NX10 with an APS-C sensor, which is about 60% larger than μ4/3 sensors and could best these in lower light performance. While Samsung’s DSLRs used a Pentax K mount, the NX line of cameras (we’ve been promised more coming later this year) use a new mount developed by Samsung and aptly named NX mount. The lenses available initially will be two kit zoom lenses (18-55mm and 50-200mm) and a small pancake prime lens (30mm f/2) but Samsung have released a lens roadmap in an attempt to prove they are serious about this camera system. And global mirrorless domination.

I am expecting to receive one within the next few weeks and will be publishing a review of it, so stay tuned.

Samsung TL500 EX1 (click for hugeness)

But that’s not all! They also announced a seriously attractive P&S called the TL500 (or EX1 if you’re in Europe). It features a 10MP 1/1.7″ CCD sensor, just like the Canon S90, as well as a lens ring control wheel, but adds a hotshoe and a swivelling LCD that are missing on the S90. Click on the photo above to see it in a gloriously huge size. No pricing is available, but I would guess around the US$400 mark. Samsung are clearly wanting to eat into the high-end P&S market currently dominated by Canon (G11 and S90) and the Panasonic LX3. Again, Samsung want us to know they’re serious: The TL500 features an impressive 24-72mm-equiv f/1.8-2.4 lens that is optically stabilised. I can’t wait to see image samples from this beauty.

Sony

Sony EVIL mock-up shown at PMA 2010 (Photo credit: Sony)

Continuing our tour of the S’s, we arrive at Sony’s booth, where (under glass, away from prying hands) they were showing their mock-ups of up-coming alpha mirrorless cameras. Another brand who gets on the mirrorless bandwagon. Until I see working models, I’m not going to have any opinions; all I can say right now is that the sensor on these cameras (Sony has also promised more than one model) will be APS-C sized. Release date? Sometime in 2010.

A successor to the A700 that would feature video was promised, as well as two new lenses under development: A Carl Zeiss 24mm f/2, likely to cost an arm and a leg, and a 500mm f/4, likely to cost the arms and legs of your whole camera club. Check out the cgi pics here.

Nikon

Nikon presented two new lenses: the 24mm f/1.4G and the 16-35mm f/4G. I believe there was much rejoicing over the first (until the price was unveiled…US$2,200), and some bewilderment over the second. You see, Nikonians have been clamouring for a long time over an f/4 zoom line like Canon has—these lenses are smaller, lighter…and cheaper. Because they’re f/4, not f/2.8. So Nikon finally concedes that they’re sucking and release an f/4 zoom, except it’s large, heavy…and expensive. I’m glad I am not a Nikon shooter having been waiting for these lenses for years. At least it’s weather-proofed. But worry not, Nikon has assured its acolytes this is but the first in a new line of zooms; let’s hope the next one isn’t a 24-50mm f/4.

Olympus

They didn’t show anything new, but they did lift their right hand, left hand on Ansel Adams’s The Camera, and swore they would not abandon the DSLR market despite the huge success of their μ4/3 mirrorless cameras. Then to prove it, they showed a prototype for a μ4/3 lens: the 14-150mm f/4-5.6. Wait, shouldn’t they have shown something for standard 4/3? Oh well! Looking at the photo of this lens (which is bigger than the PEN E-PL1 it’s attached to) I can’t help but think it is simply a standard 4/3 design with a longer mount added to assure proper focusing distance. Or maybe not. In any case, I think it’s too big for the camera and defeats the purpose of mirrorless cameras: Small size.

Tokina

The humble 3^rd party lens supplier presented their first full-frame lens in a very long time, a 16-28mm f/2.8. This lens covers a similar range on full-frame as their much-liked and popular 11-16mm f/2.8 does on APS-C, and given the number of “cheap” full-frame cameras on the market right now, it makes sense for Tokina to try to grab some sales from those who can’t afford the OEM wide angle options.

Ricoh

Remember this? We haven’t heard much about the Ricoh GXR since then, but these guys have kept working on the system because they announced the development of two new lens/sensor modules: a small-sensor image-stabilised 28-300mm-equiv f/3.5-5.6, and an APS-C 28mm-equiv. f/2.5. I’m still waiting to see a full review of this camera somewhere—I think DPR are working on one.

Conclusion

These were the items that interested me, and this article is by no means a thorough look at what the PMA had to offer. Search online and you will find descriptions and photos from people who were actually there; many of them talk about the straps, tripods, bags, lights, hats, potato peelers and other photography-related items on display, but they just didn’t get my attention. OK, so there probably weren’t any potato peelers.

I’ll admit I wasn’t blown away by anything, but I am very interested in the Sigma 85mm f/1.4 as a possible future purchase; I’m also looking forward to reviewing the Samsung NX10, the first APS-C mirrorless camera. Let’s hope I don’t have to wait too long because the most exciting think for me at PMA 2009 was…the Samsung NX10!

In case you’re wondering, I used the word “mirrorless” a total of 11 times in this article.

Note: Links in this article might be to one of our affiliate stores. Purchases made from our affiliates through these links will benefit Enticing the Light at no extra cost to you.

Every day Amazon offers a Gold Box special. During those 24 hours you can purchase what’s inside the box at a greatly discounted rate. Today, this Gold Box Special is the Pentax K-7 DSLR for $899 body only. This is a fantastic price for a camera that’s been retailing for $1,150-1,300 in the last weeks. DP Review gave it a Highly Recommended stamp in their review late last year. And for $100 more (at $999) you can purchase it with the highly-regarded 18-55mm Weather-Resistant kit lens. This package provides the most compact, weather-sealed advanced DSLR on the market today, and it’s also the most affordable to boot.

I’d like to point out that if you purchase through our affiliate links below, you’ll be helping support Enticing the Light at no extra cost to you. Your price is the same, but Amazon will give us a small commission for referring you. Don’t we all win this way? Click on the images below to visit their Amazon page.

$899 Body only	$999 With 18-55mm WR kit lens

Oh, you’ll have to click on the “See price in cart” link within the Amazon page. Their price is so low that they can’t advertise it. And remember, sale ends today at 23:59 Mountain Time (01:59 Eastern Time) or while supplies last. I believe International purchases are also eligible for this offer.

Note: Links in this article might be to one of our affiliate stores. Purchases made from our affiliates through these links will benefit Enticing the Light at no extra cost to you.

Newcomers to Photography, and even seasoned shooters, are often confused as to what it is exactly that makes a Great Photograph. We all know what a pretty, or cute, or moving photograph is, at least at some emotional, non-verbal level, but we find it hard to define in words what separates the Good from the Great.

Fret not my children, Miserere has spent a few minutes thinking hard about this and has it all figured out for you. A Great Photograph is…

A Photograph Taken in an Exotic Location

©Michel & Christine Denis-Huot

Humans are curious creatures who are drawn to adventure—it’s one of the reasons we spread around the Globe after Africa became too much of the same old, same old. But we still miss our old homeland, which is why photos taken in Africa are all Great. Unless you actually live in Africa, in which case they’re just photos of your own back yard. Show the average group of Westeners a photo of elephants majestically traversing the Serengeti and you’ll receive a chorus of “ooohs” and “aaahs”. Show it to one of the local Maasai tribe members, and he’ll let you know exactly what he thinks of those $@#&ing elephants that walk around thinking the plains are all theirs and keep stomping on his vegetable patch. Show this same Maasai warrior a photo of a polar bear on an iceberg, and you’ll get “ooohs” and “aaahs”. Now, show this same photo to an Inuit, and…well, you get the idea.

A Photograph Taken in a Remote Location

© Mars Exploration Rover Mission
(click for huge size)

This category of Great Picture is sometimes confused with the preceding, and indeed, there can be overlap in some cases; but they are different. A remote location is one that is difficult to get to, which makes it rarely visited, and even more rarely photographed. Many exotic locations used to be remote, but since the advent of affordable air travel and vaccinations, almost anyone can visit Africa, Mongolia, Antarctica… Remote locations are becoming more and more difficult to find, but there are still some remaining: Mount Everest, deep caves, oceanic beds, the Moon, Mars… The reason these photos are great is obvious: There are very few of them. Take a look at the photo of Mars illustrating this section; I could call up the guys at the Mars Exploration Rover Mission and tell them how much they suck at stitching photographs (haven’t they heard of Hugin?) and how terrible the photo looks. They would probably say, you think you can do a better job? Then go ahead and get your arse over to Mars to take some pics with your fancy panorama head and tripod. That isn’t going to happen, is it? Like the great philosopher said: When there ain’t no competition, you’re best by definition™.

A Photograph Taken with Old Equipment

©Sally Mann

When Carleton Watkins hauled his mammoth camera into the wilderness, he made Great Pictures of remote locations. Nowadays, he would be making Great Pictures simply by using the camera anywhere. It doesn’t matter what you photograph—as long as you do it with an old camera, it will be a Great Picture. The best part of this category is that greatness increases proportionally with the age of the camera used.

You can even buy a whole book of Great Photographs made recently with old cameras.

A Photograph Taken with Bad Equipment

©Arthur Liou

Maybe the easiest of the Great Photographs that one can take. Just use a broken camera, or better still, a toy one. Point it at something, anything, and voilà, instant greatness. The fact you could have used a perfectly good camera and achieved the same effect with a click of a button in Photoshop is totally irrelevant. If you want to jump start your Great photographic career, get yourself a Holga!

A Photograph Postprocessed into Surrealism

©Jill Greenberg

Nothing says I know what I’m doing like a healthy dose of Photoshop, and if being unique helps a photo become Great, then it’s your duty to separate the image from reality as much as possible. In fact, you shouldn’t settle for surreal, make it unreal! HDR (High Dynamic Range), DHE (Dave Hill Effect), PPE (Plastic People Effect), it doesn’t matter, just use the effect, and make sure you buy the software version that goes up to 11. Then apply it twice, just to be on the safe side.

See that photo above? Is that the real Aaron Eckhart or a photo of his statue at the local wax museum; or is it a painting? It doesn’t matter! (Those were trick questions.) It’s a Great Photo, period.

A Photograph Taken with a Medium or Large Format Camera

©Ansel Adams

This is a double-whammy, because using a medium/large format camera not only produces Great Photographs, but you also get to call them, and sell them as, Fine Art. Fine Art is just like Standard Art, except the prices paid have 3 or 4 extra zeroes added on. For example, had the above image been made with a P&S, nobody would pay more than $6 for a print; but because that photo was taken with either a 4×5 or 8×10 view camera… the print costs $60,000. Of course, it was also taken by somebody famous, which overlaps with, and brings us to, the next category.

A Photograph Taken by a Great Photographer

The most efficient way for you to make your photographs Great is by becoming a Great Photographer. After that, every photograph you take will be Great by definition. This applies to any Art, be it Photography, Painting, Sculpture, Bonsai Growing… There is a catch: In order to become a Great Artist, you first need to make Great Art, but in order to make Great Art you need to be… You get my drift. (Although some artists have managed to become Great by other means…)

A Photograph Containing 3 or More Clichés

Robert Doisneau – Kiss by the Hôtel de Ville

Nothing says Great Photograph like a bunch of clichés thrown together. Take Doisneau’s Kiss by the Hôtel de Ville for example:

Cliche #1:

A street photograph in Paris. How original—nobody ever did any street photography in Paris during the 50’s.

Cliche #2:

A photograph taken from a street café. In Paris.

Cliche #3:

Love. Oh, Love…the ultimate artistic cliché.

Cliche #4:

A couple in love. In Paris. Wouldn’t it be perfect if they were kissing, carefree, in the street to express their great love for each other?

Cliche #5:

Black and White. You gotta have B&W if it’s a street photo. C’mon! Everyone knows that.

I’m surprised this photograph didn’t make the camera explode the moment it was taken. Just imagine you’re shooting street photography (using B&W film) in Paris. And you’re sitting at an outdoor café, in Paris, when you happen to see two people, in love, in Paris, on the street, kissing. Because they’re in love, in Paris. And you’re there with your B&W-loaded camera. Shooting street photography. In Paris. Just imagine!

The only thing that would make this Great Photograph reach critical cliché mass and annihilate the whole internet is if the photographer had actually posed the photo and not told anyone for decades. Now that would be something…

A Photograph of Somebody Famous

©Dennis Stock

Is this a good photograph of an unknown young man walking in the rain in New York’s Times Square…or is it a Great Photograph of the famous actor James Dean?

A Photograph Everybody Else Considers Great

©William Eggleston

I have one name for you: William Eggleston. Critics, photographers and other beret-wearing artists tell me what a masterpiece of contemporary photography William Eggleston’s Guide is. And yet…I don’t see it. But that lonely tricycle must be a Great Photograph…because everyone tells me it is. The legendary MoMA curator John Szarkowski wrote the introduction to the book, which is certainly saying something about the book. That’s what people tell me, anyway.

A Photograph Within an Important and Larger Body of Work

Robert Frank - The Americans, book cover

If you look at any of Robert Frank’s individual photographs taken in and around the US during the mid-50’s, you wouldn’t necessarily gasp in amazement. Look at them again within the context of his great opus The Americans“>The Americans, and they slowly begin to shine. In fact, Robert Frank’s book is a great example of that worn cliché about the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Each photograph within the book is Great by virtue of belonging to this Great Work. And the book itself is Great despite not containing Great Photographs. There’s a bit of Zen in this one…

Wikipedia has a pretty good entry on The Americans.

Conclusion

I hope that with these examples it has now become clear to you what a Great Photograph is. And now that it’s clear, you should be well on your way to making each and every one of your photographs a Great Photograph. Anything less would be an insult to me, who just spent ages writing it all down for you in detail.

Now grab your camera and run off to take some photos—make sure they’re all Great. Don’t let me down!

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Courtesy of NASA's optimistic Expedition 22 astronauts onboard the International Space Station on February 9^th 2010

It seems NASA did not get as agitated as old Adolf with the D3x’s price, and they probably ordered quite a few of them too. And yet, one needs more than an $7,500 camera and $9,400 lens plus 1.4x TC combination to take a technical photo. Sure, it’s a pretty sunset from space, and there’s the space shuttle Endeavour moving towards us while the Blue Danube plays over the loudspeakers, and you’re in free fall, and your 13lb (6kg) camera+lens kit weighs as much as a feather…but dude, did you really think 1/30s was a fast enough shutter speed for this scene?

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, click on the photo for a full resolution view and look at the space shuttle. He came so close to a perfect photo…

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Fire Escape Collapse  ©Stanley Forman

Imagine you’re a news photographer hanging around City Hall covering a small demonstration when, without much warning, a race riot breaks out in front of you. You would start taking pictures, of course. Now imagine your camera’s motor drive malfunctions… This happened in Boston on a sunny April 5^th in 1976, and the photographer was Stanley Forman, internationally known for his Pulitzer-prize winning photo Fire Escape Collapse.

On that fateful morning, he would take a photo (see below) that would garner him his second Pulitzer (and even inspire a book). But he almost didn’t take it.

Visit Digital Silver Imaging, where our friend Eric Luden will tell you the whole story and show, for the first time ever as far as I know, the reel of film leading up to that momentous photograph.

The Soiling of Old Glory  ©Stanley Forman

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Photo courtesy of B&H Photo

The release of the new Canon EOS 550D (T2i Digital Rebel in the US) got me thinking. Is a Sub $800.00 18MP camera really required? What’s the upside to the shooter? Is this an advancement of the “more is better” megapixel race? I’m sure I’ll stand in the minority on this but I feel there are a few valid points to consider. I welcome your thoughts in the comment section. Before you consider these the ramblings of an old-school shooter, let me make it clear that I do welcome necessary advancements in camera features and quality, but I’m just not sure how this is a benefit to advancing the APS-C format. It sure will grab some headlines, though.

So let me start out with a few disclaimers. I’m no engineer or physicist, I have just enough of a basic understanding to get me in a little trouble discussing CMOS and CCD designs. This is not a brand-bashing article either, it’s just that Canon has offered the first 18MP camera with a street price of $799.00¹. Finally, I haven’t handled this camera. It’s introduction really made me wonder why we need an 18MP camera that seems to be tailored to the first time DSLR buyer. Following are some of the points I want you to consider when thinking about high pixel count APS-C DSLRs.

Computer Requirements

To start with, if you are moving into DSLRs for the first time, do you need 18MP, or for that matter 15MP? If you shoot RAW (and I would think most should) to get the most out of a DSLR, you’re probably looking at a computer upgrade. The file size of a RAW file with a sensor this size is about 24.5MB (5184 x 3456 pixels)². So load that file size into a program like Adobe Photoshop and if you’re at 2GB of RAM, it’s going to be really slow to load or edit anything, maybe even at 4GB. If you can upgrade the computer memory, then you have a relatively cheap fix. But if not, you’re going to want a new system very quickly. Laptop owners may be very limited with upgrade options.

Hard Drive Space

I never delete files totally; I’ll sort the poor shots from the good and store the poor ones as unused. Why? Well, my post processing skills improve on a regular basis. What I could do with a poor shot 2 years ago is very different than what I can do today. Who knows what software improvements will bring in the future? So unless it’s complete junk, I save it somewhere. 24.5MB files will fill a hard drive very fast, so you’ll need external hard drives or a new internal upgrade fairly quickly.

Memory Cards

If you have a bunch of 1 and 2GB SD cards from your P&S, well they will be tossed fairly quickly. Consider that a 1GB card will probably hold 38-40 images at full RAW size. That takes us back to the 36 negative film days. You’re going to fill that card up in 11.1 seconds at 3.6 fps chasing that bird in the backyard. One of the benefits of a digital camera is meant to be the ability to blast away if you choose to because there are no film costs. So add a bit more to the budget for some 32GB cards for that vacation trip. Of course, you can always lower the image size (by shooting JPEG), use your 1GB cards and….in the end, maybe the P&S would be have been better for the vacation.

Any or all of these issues may cost you more than just getting a new camera body.

Display Sizes

What does the buyer of this camera use it for to show off their photos? Sites like Flickr? On the computer? 4″×6″ or 5″x7″ prints with the occasional 8″×10″? Do you need 5184 x 3456 pixels for that? Nope, sites like Flickr will restrict image sizes and most monitors have between 1024 x768 to 1280×1024 pixel displays³. Web sites you might create will be less than this. You can make 18″x27″ prints with 6MP images from a DSLR without a problem.

Image Quality

That’s the huge appeal for the buyer. 18MP must be better than 15MP, or 12MP right? So why did the new full-frame Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III come out at only 21.1MP? Wouldn’t 40.5MP (keeping the same pixel density as the T2i) be the right pixel size? My basic understanding of pixel density is that the smaller the pixels on the sensor, the noise will increase.

The output read noise power is directly proportional to the vertical resolution of the imager and inversely proportional to the pixel area, resulting in a strong dependence between noise and pixel density.⁴

The 1Ds Mk III uses a full-frame sensor which is 864mm² vs the APS-C sensor at 413mm², and as a result the pixels are going to be roughly twice the area. Why so few pixels? Because this camera is aimed at the Pro market where good low light control and fine detail is demanded. More pixels aren’t necessarily better. To get clean images from a high megapixel APS-C camera a lot more noise processing is going to have to happen before the RAW image is written to the card. So you’re not going to have the fine detail nearly as much as the RAW image that is a less processed native image from a full-frame sensor. Pro shooters don’t want the image processed by the camera, they want that control for post processing work.

So What Are the Advantages?

1. You can crop the heck out of your shots, but you need to be using top quality lenses to achieve maximum resolution.
2. You can print images to sizes that we just normally don’t do (24″x36″, for example).
3. Marketing for the camera companies. Not really to our benefit but to sell more cameras.

So the T2i is a stripped down 7D that retains the 18MP sensor to sell this entry-level model. For me, that just doesn’t make sense and I certainly hope the camera companies don’t go down this road together.

Cheers and Good Shooting –Peter Zack

¹ Price: Adorama and B&H
² Canon USA web site specs: Canon
³ W3Schools
⁴ MIT paper Pixel density

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