100 MP System Will Not Be Expensive

[A1000]

Advantages of EVF:

The lenses will not have to be optically perfect, would be able to have chromatic aberations, optical distotrion, the frightness could be less uniform, they will not have to be at the same focusing distance throughout the zoom range; they will not have to have perfect color transmission characteristic. It all will be corrected electronically. 50 MP sharpness and ClearVid pixel pattern will give us effective 100 MP.

This is where Sony's advantage comes in. They have better software people and more of them than any of their competitors, except they are being used now to make kid's stuff, like the Playstation.

Canon and other companies have for years used Sony processing chips in their video cameras.

Canon is a smaller CMOS manufacturer than Sony and Sony is world's biggest in CCD.

No company has more expertise to make quality DSLR's than Sony. The Minolta team was always ahead of Canon and Nikon in developing new, better concepts, like e.g. auto-focus.

Photo Traveler is right. 10-17.5 mm lens will give us 10-35 mm range at 25 MP, 35-70 mm lens will give us 35-140, and 140-350 mm lens will give us 140-700.

These lenses will not have to be retrofocal and will not be hard to manufacture.

3 lenses, 10-700 mm range

System that could be more compact and less expensive than current 25 MP system.

Those, who will want 100 MP, could add also 17.5-35 mm, 70-140 mm, and 350-700 mm lenses. 6 lenses, not hard to manufacture, 100 MP!

EXMOR-R and smaller zoom ranges on bright lenses will mean excellent low light performance.

You start with one standard lens, 35-70 mm; then you can ad two more, to get 10-700 mm range at 25 MP, and later you could add 3 more for 100 MP range.

The lenses would be awful on cameras, which would not correct the image electronically, but the corrected output would be superior.

The computing power at that time, as well as cheap flash memory prices, will mean no problem dealing with this high resolution.

No one should believe that the MP race should stop at 12 MP. Technology keeps marching on. There is no reason to burry head in last century's sand.

[KevinBarrett]

Photo Traveler is right.

If he is right, please tell him so in the OLD thread. This new thread is completely unnecessary.

[A1000]

The way I see future high resolution photography is as folows:

Although the camera will be 100 MP, the viewfinder will be able to switch to a smaller section, e. g. 25 MP. The camera will take that shot, but will give you an option to frame in post differently, since you will have 100 MP area available.

There will be a proximity sensor, which will sense a finger approaching the shutter. At that time the camera will start focusing, and will be taking series of pictures until the finger is certain distance away from the shutter, so you will have series of pictures before and after you pushed the trigger.

Basically you shot will be able to be adjusted, during post processing, in both time and space.

The time adjustment will be the video function of the camera. The shutter will be electronic.

[KevinBarrett]

You should write Sci-Fi.

[David Kilpatrick]

In this case, A1000 is right. Such designs all already exist, including time-bracketing - you take your picture, but the sensor is already (permanently) recording 30 frames every second into an array of buffer memories. Taking the picture simply selects the most recent buffer. Along with this, the camera then saves the last two buffers and adds two later ones. You get five frames to pick from (or more) and you can fine-tune the action. Casio is already there, Olympus have done it too.

Curved sensors are being designed which will allow much smaller lenses with faster apertures and wide zoom ranges - projecting an image more like a fisheye, on to a dished plane like the Thomas Sutton wide angle camera of the 1880s which used a water filled lens and spherically curved plates. Like Hasselblad's software which corrects the 28mm f4 (unusable on film) for their digital backs and makes it appear like a properly rectilinear lens - or Nikon's software which turns the 10.5mm Nikon fisheye into a straight line wide angle - cameras using these new curved sensors and lenses will 'build' an accurate view of the world through firmware.

This is more or less what the human eye and brain manage to achieve.

If you add to that the extreme pixel densities predicted for the first organic sensors, A1000's scenario is not sci-fi at all. It is not even speculation - all of these things either exist or have been proposed, and it's just a matter of how fast they come together and are developed into real products. Add to this some of the clever new approaches to 3D and focusing, and you will one day be able to take a picture and refocus the 'camera' during raw development. You may even be able to change your viewpoint, by a few inches - and some industrial systems will make it possible to change the viewpoint continuously in a full circle surrounding the subject.

David

[alphaomega]

Wow. That is exiting. So I was right to resist Sony's £50 cash-back offer on the A350. I was thinking of buying a second copy as my wife has laid claim to my A350.

I wonder how long I need to wait until Sony offer me the opportunity to purchase one of these future wonders. I also am now speculating if my new PC with Q9300 quad processor will be able to cope. Maybe I should have bought with Vista 64 bit processing and 8 Gb RAM rather than XP 32 bit and 4 Gb RAM of which only 3.25 Gb is actually usable.

I do wish to upgrade my A700 at some stage and the question is going to be when. For sure I do not need a 100 Mb sensor. Here is my request. Sony please release an A750 with an 18 Mp APS-C super sensor with exellent resolution and IQ plus no noise up to 6400 ISO and a dynamic range to beat Fuji's S5. Thanks in advance. When you then release IDC 4 there should be no need to include CA removal for this camera will not produce CA. Any CA will be removed through firmware before download. That would make my CZ 16-80 even better.

[David Kilpatrick]

CA removal is already there in some DSLRs, Sony will catch up. I don't think 18 megapixels on APS-C will be here until 2011. Based on Canon's 50D, it is already possible on DX/Sony APS-C format.

The future curved sensors and strange lenses with built-in correction firmware will almost certainly appear first in cameraphone and pocket digitals. You could be waiting another ten years for the 100 megapixel DSLR but it will probably arrive. If it does arrive, will include 2X2 pixel and 4X4 binning - normal operation would be a 25 megapixel model, and you can bet that smaller filesizes like 6 megapixels will be offered with extreme high ISO performance. Also, I think that any of this future stuff will also rely on advances in computing power. Where we are now, I've done some 60 megapixel raw processing and it's not that bad even on a Mac a quarter or less as powerful as yours. But this is just raw processing, the future of imaging thing may rely on far for complex stuff than de-Bayering.

In the meantime, I'm settling down for two years of recession with whatever gear I've got... they can have time to plot the next assault on my finances.

David

[bossel]

By that time, each photosite will have it's own small mirror, allowing for up to 5000 frames per second. A special mode will allow that this high pitched sound imitates sea gulls, to attract them, and shoot some BIF pics.

[pakodominguez]

In the meantime, I'm settling down for two years of recession with whatever gear I've got... they can have time to plot the next assault on my finances.

David

Well, the A900 is a Camera that can have you (and me and anybody) happy for the next 4 years, specially if Sony came with a better firmware/desktop software soon -probably for the PMA, same as A700's v4 for photokina?

About recession, I read an article yesterday at El Pais.es about economics in the UK (The End of the British Exception), some how making fun of how the brits used to make fun of the Germans 10 years ago about their "still industrial economy model". The article said that one of the mayor problems in the UK is that they don't have anything to sell (no more manufacture...) and cuoted somebody saying that the UK have two solutions: become the 51 state of the USA or jump onto the Euro zone.

Let's see what happens in the next 6 months...

[Dusty]

About recession, I read an article yesterday at El Pais.es about economics in the UK (The End of the British Exception), some how making fun of how the brits used to make fun of the Germans 10 years ago about their "still industrial economy model". The article said that one of the mayor problems in the UK is that they don't have anything to sell (no more manufacture...) and cuoted somebody saying that the UK have two solutions: become the 51 state of the USA or jump onto the Euro zone.

As much as I like the Brits, I'd vote not to take them unless they banish Prince Chuck. That man is just too d*** goofy looking!

Dusty

[David Kilpatrick]

It's not really true that Britain is not manufacturing. Scotland has an average of 9% of its employment in manufacture, and my region (the Borders) has 14.3% in manufacture, which is considered to be too high a dependency on this sector - and has proved so, with massive job losses. One firm laying off many workers is a typical British manufacturer, Emtelle. You never hear about them but they make the big flexible pipes which cables go into under the road - those nice corrugated, bendy bright green and purple coils lying around construction sites. We have many manufacturers whose goods you never see, because they are not consumer goods.

I think even 14.3% is not enough, and the reactions of some of our local industries are wrong - cashmere and tweeds, for example, they just shut the mills and close down. It never occurs to them that they need new products, you can't go on selling the same old 1950s cardigans for ever. Shirley loves cashmere, she does not love sleeves and hunts for sleeveless styles, tank tops, t-shirt style stuff not old cardigans. All of a sudden it started appearing - from China. Yet we (people like us, in general) have been telling the staff in the mill shops for years that we want new style to suit centrally heated houses and air conditioned cars, malls, restaurants, hotels etc. Even Pringle of Scotland has disappeared. They just could not move beyond the image of someone playing golf in a woolly sweater.

Now, of course, with the pound at half the value it was when Pringle was bought out by Chinese entrepreneurs, the original factory COULD have sold fashions worldwide (given a small paradigm shift in generation/style appeal).

David

[alphaomega]

Reference DK's comments above re Scotland and new product innovation, I am not certain how many times I have been in a variety of EWM shops here in Scotland looking for a lightweight wool pullover and a pure wool slipover. All to no avail. They continue with the same medium and heavy weight stuff they have produced for decades. I guess that to make light weight garments they would need new knitting machines, so that is out of the question.

Like David I will sit tight for a while now and await Sony's next DSLR move. If they come up with a worthwhile successor to the A700 with a 15-16 Mp sensor that can produce lower lower noise at higher ISOs than my current model with v.4 firmware I might dig deep im my pocket. I used to say I do not shoot high ISO images, but on reflection it is probably more like I do not do it because my current equipment is not quite suitable. A successor to the A700 with these twin virtues of higher Mp sensor and lower noise would provide me with enhanced shooting opportunities in two areas, architecture with more cropping space when adjusting for converging verticals and high ISO picture making. I would need good reasons to upgrade so it is up to Sony to produce the goods.

We will see what Sony can come up with. Looking at the Japan 2008 DSLR sales it is clear that the volume is at the "cheap" end so maybe that is where Sony will concentrate their efforts. On the other hand their best seller was the A350, which is probably more in the middle so it will be interesting to see what their next move will be and what technological innovations they will introduce to beat their revals. Maybe the A350 stood out because in reality this was the only DSLR with an important Sony innovation, namely the LV and tilting screen combined with a high Mp sensor.

[stevecim]

On the other hand their best seller was the A350, which is probably more in the middle so it will be interesting to see what their next move will be and what technological innovations they will introduce to beat their revals. Maybe the A350 stood out because in reality this was the only DSLR with an important Sony innovation, namely the LV and tilting screen combined with a high Mp sensor.

I would not mind seeing a improved a350, after having one for 4 months, it's not to bad (in it's price range), the LV/tilt screen is quite handy and I feel it's only down sides are high iso and small OVF.

On Sunday I was at the Melbourne Zoo, hanged around to listen to the after hours band. Went for a walk around, after most people had left, to take a few snaps and meet up with someone else that had the same idea, he had a Nikon D90 and a AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED. I had my a350 and my cheap Tamrom 70-300 LD Di, I was a little supprised when his D90 would not auto-focus in low light areas, like the under water viewing area of the pygmy hippopotemus. it was dark with cloudy water and large dark colored fish in the pool. His D90 would not auto-focus and it would use the focus assist lamp which just reflected of the glass, my a350 had no problems auto-focusing but the iso1600/iso3200 shots where just to noisy

[KevinBarrett]

Oh, I wasn't suggesting that A1000's post was sci-fi at all! I was suggesting that his imagination and projection of future technology is of a scale that would be well suited to a sci-fi author.

I still don't know what's wrong with having one speculation thread instead of five.

[Dusty]

I still don't know what's wrong with having one speculation thread instead of five.

Perhaps we need a separate rumor/speculation/desires/future tech category to put all these threads under.

Dusty