If I look at the advances in sensors and sensor processing that are coming out of the labs and sometimes even shipping in products, I realized something interesting. The game has changed at the research labs. See, previously, the goal was to make a sensor that had the highest resolution. Now, the goal is to still ship sensors with more megapixels but without changing the "real" resolution. And this may be a good thing.
I'm really looking forward to the new apartment. There's a lot to look forward to about it. The problem is, I haven't done much shooting in weeks because of all the moving stuff...
So I didn't expect this. I don't even like posting on my sites during the day, just the evening or the morning. But Leica announced their S2 digital SLR system, which pretty much takes the smallest sized medium format digital backs sensor sizes and wraps an SLR system around it.
Much depends on what happens when folks get their hands on it and how it gets marketed. Leica has a habit of launching technically superior cameras that are purchased primarily by rich doctors and not by professional or even amateur photographers.
The Canon 5D Mk II is here. And I was right that Canon was waiting for everybody else to put their cards on the table before letting loose with the 5D. 21 megapixels (slightly less than the A900, but more than the Nikons), maximum ISO of 25,600, live view, and 1080p HDTV recording.
This is useful. The G1 looks like it might be reasonably able to fit in the pocket with the 20mm f/1.7 lens. I think that whenever they decide that American consumers can handle a smaller camera, the camera they produce will be the sort of thing I want.
So Panasonic has announced their Micro 4/3rds camera. It is a cute and tiny SLR-shaped camera, not the rangefinder some of us were hoping for....
With the colors and other such features, the word on the Internet is that it's aimed at the female audience. I don't think it'll really make sense until the 20mm f/1.7 lens comes out, assuming that it's a pancake lens. Also, it won't autofocus with standard 4/3rds lenses nor does it do video.
The Sony Alpha A900 is out, with a full-frame 24.6 megapixel sensor with built in IS. I'm the sort of person who thinks that this, paired with a 50mm 1.8 lens, would be fairly neat. You can bet that Canon was probably waiting for this to occur before they announced their 5D replacement, tho.
The biggest excitement, clearly, is the market of second camera bodies for people who already have one good body. It looks like we're starting out with live-view compacts, and that's fun, but I'm pretty sure that there are some other ideas out there. I've got a few brainstorms...
Every time somebody bumps up the number of megapixels, there's always another set of blog posts about how useless the megapixel race is. But I don't think they get it right all the time...
Like I said before: "...if [the 4/3rds design] works out for Olympus, it's trivial for Nikon, Canon, Pentax, or Sony to pull the exact same stunt.." I just forgot to mention Samsung specifically.