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08-08-2013, 08:29 AM   #2371
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QuoteOriginally posted by konraDarnok Quote
Canon and Nikon have the most to lose. So they will be the last to adopt, kinda like how Pentax as the last to abandon screw mounts. Undoubtedly high end SLRs will continue to be made, but then so are phonograph turntables.
Nikon is on to something with the CX-sized 1 series. It is their hedge against the decline of entry-level DSLRs. I predict in 10 years time it will rule the sidelines at youth sporting events and among many amateur and enthusiast photographers.

FWIW, I'm packing for my next motorcycle travel assignment and for the first time in many years I am leaving the K-5 behind. I'm bringing a Panasonic GH2 with 12-35 F2.8 to shoot stills and video, supplemented with the Nikon V1. The Nikon proved itself to me on my last trip. The K-5 has undoubtedly better image quality than both the GH2 and V1, but much of that advantage gets washed away once you are talking about high speed, web press magazine printing. The V1 rocks it with AF and it's much much smaller to boot.

08-08-2013, 08:37 AM - 1 Like   #2372
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QuoteOriginally posted by konraDarnok Quote

I don't know if it's the very nature and storied history of photography or what, but it does seem to have a lot of Luddites. EV vs. OV is a lot like the combative debates of film vs. digital from 10 years ago,.
Not at all. Photography is about seeing. As for seeing nothing beats the real thing. The translation into photographic vision happens in the photographers brain before he press the shutter release (that is for those who know what they are doing). Optical finders will never be outdated on cameras targeted at serious photographers. Electronic finders have their usages but they are already implemented in most DSLR's.
A camera without an optical finder is a camera lacking an important feature.
08-08-2013, 08:40 AM   #2373
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QuoteOriginally posted by IchabodCrane Quote
If that is your objective then nothing can be better than an OVF. As stated before, no practical EVF can render the dynamic range that a sensor can record. Will it someday? I don't venture to guess but if one does I doubt it will be linked to the number of transistors in a processor doubling every two years (now believed to be every three years). Also, no EVF can "gain up" to match a brightly sunlit scene which means there will be an additional lag that no processor can ever address -- the lag in our eyes adjusting from sunlight to whatever an EVF can pump out.

What's wrong with instant review blinkies and histograms for finding clipped highlights?
I use various methods of getting the exposure right, and want something better (for me).

For much of my photography I use manual exposure. That includes studio work and (a lot of the time) airshows and motor sports. I have a Gossen Digipro F exposure meter, but if I am going the trouble of taking a separate reading, I've found I'm better off taking a photo and looking at the instant review blinkies and histograms, as you say. (I'm told that using a separate exposure meter impresses the models! I don't think they are that naive). If you looked at my photos from an airshow shoot you would see the occasional photo of (say) public-address loud-speakers against the sky. Those were for such review purposes.

But this introduces delay. What I would like is a digital preview that I can see as I'm framing the next photo. Perhaps the next airplane is hurtling towards me. Or the model has moved from the carefully metered original position. Perhaps her arm is now too close to a softbox and has clipped. Or she has added jewelry that sparkles and has clipped. (Both real examples).

Note: I've never claimed that Moore's Law is entirely responsible for advances in EVF performance. (And Moore's Law isn't just about packing density, but also about speed). The reason why EVFs are steadily improving year by year is largely irrelevant - what surely matters is that they are improving. I hope that isn't in dispute!

Much of my experience of the gradual replacement of mechanical parts with electronic parts over the last few decades often preceded increases in processor power, and were not necessarily driven by it. There is a sort of symbiotic relationship - someone works out how to replace mechanics with electronics in a particular subsystem, there is now a justification for more R&D in that area of electronics, features and performance are achieved that were perhaps never expected, and so on, perhaps like a feedback loop. Moor'e Law, improvements in materials science, virtually free replication costs for firmware and software, etc, carry things forward once started.

Here are what I said earlier, before the distraction of whether Moore's Law actually exists:
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08-08-2013, 08:56 AM   #2374
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QuoteOriginally posted by Pål Jensen Quote
A camera without an optical finder is a camera lacking an important feature.
But the best camera is the one that's with you. When her K100D was stolen, my daughter abandoned Pentax for Sony NEX-6. I can't blame her, it's simply a trade-off between having a suboptimal viewfinder or a camera that you too often will leave at home.

08-08-2013, 09:02 AM   #2375
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Maybe in five years we'll be framing our photographs through our Google Glass, transmitted by our cameras.... Just a thought!
08-08-2013, 09:05 AM   #2376
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QuoteOriginally posted by Aristophanes Quote
Eyeglasses are a prime example. I remember when we were ALL going to have contact lenses because they'd only get better and they'd be the only choice anyone would want.

Nope.

Then laser surgery.

Nope.


FWIW, my father had corrective surgery 15 years ago and says it's the greatest thing ever, and most people I know with glasses would do it if they could afford it. YMMV.


But it's something of a misplaced analogy, as the context of my reply was with Moore's law. Eyeglasses and buggy whips are not progressing the way semi-conductors are.

Now let's get really speculative here. The last 50 years has been something of a digital revolution, photography included. I'm betting the next revolution is going to quantum because that's where Moore's law is pushing us with ever smaller scales; there is a limit with what can be done classically, and a lot of forefront technology is tinkering on the very edges of reality.

Consider a quantum camera. It doesn't rely on lenses, it creates images by reading the quantum state of light. This kind of stuff, the pure visualization of reality with solid state devices is not that far away. 25? 50 years? The idea anything is done analog, be it lensing or recording is going to be archaic. All the nail biting and concern trolling over the future of the K mount or SLR's? Pshaw. We're not even scratching the surface of technology.

Last edited by konraDarnok; 08-08-2013 at 09:12 AM.
08-08-2013, 12:31 PM   #2377
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QuoteOriginally posted by konraDarnok Quote
that's where Moore's law is pushing us
That's why I strongly disagree with calling it a "law". No, Moore's empirical observation is not pushing us anywhere, it doesn't generate progress and it doesn't apply wherever there is progress. The Moore's empirical observation can only observe things, and sometimes it might be regarded as a goal to strive for; but always, it's the Moore's empirical observation who has to bend to reality.

The Moore's empirical observation also has a quite limited scope, it doesn't work for lots of things and can't be used to prove that mechanical systems should/would be replaced by electronic ones; this must be discussed on a case-by-case basis. And so far no one here was able to tell how it would apply to electronic viewfinders (which are LCDs, not ICs).

I would not go "really speculative" in this discussion, either. Fake arguments only shows the lack of real ones, IMO... no fast progress on the EVFs? OK, let's bring up Moore's "law". Optical viewfinders works at the speed of light? Let's talk about abolishing optics altogether. Nice try, but it didn't work.

08-08-2013, 12:56 PM   #2378
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QuoteOriginally posted by Kunzite Quote
That's why I strongly disagree with calling it a "law". No, Moore's empirical observation is not pushing us anywhere, it doesn't generate progress and it doesn't apply wherever there is progress. The Moore's empirical observation can only observe things, and sometimes it might be regarded as a goal to strive for; but always, it's the Moore's empirical observation who has to bend to reality.

The Moore's empirical observation also has a quite limited scope, it doesn't work for lots of things and can't be used to prove that mechanical systems should/would be replaced by electronic ones; this must be discussed on a case-by-case basis. And so far no one here was able to tell how it would apply to electronic viewfinders (which are LCDs, not ICs).

I would not go "really speculative" in this discussion, either. Fake arguments only shows the lack of real ones, IMO... no fast progress on the EVFs? OK, let's bring up Moore's "law". Optical viewfinders works at the speed of light? Let's talk about abolishing optics altogether. Nice try, but it didn't work.


The reason EV will replace OV is cost, not Moore's Law. Moore's Law is merely why future iterations of EV will be better than they are now. And LCDs are old technology. New finders use organic LEDs.
08-08-2013, 01:26 PM   #2379
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EVFs and noVFs eventually replacing OVFs because of cost, sounds plausible*. Moore's empirical observation as a cause of EVF improvement isn't.
And I don't see EVFs and LCDs improving with anything like that rate, though the constant usage and denaturation of Moore's empirical observation would suggest that. By the way, OLEDs have their own problems.

* Even the cost factor is not as important for less cost conscious people, those who might find an OVF plain better, for many years.
08-08-2013, 01:52 PM   #2380
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QuoteOriginally posted by konraDarnok Quote
The reason EV will replace OV is cost, not Moore's Law. Moore's Law is merely why future iterations of EV will be better than they are now. And LCDs are old technology. New finders use organic LEDs.
So why does an A99 cost as much as a D800?
And if an EVF has real advantages over an OVF, why aren't people selling their FF Nikons and Canons and buying the Sony?
08-08-2013, 01:59 PM   #2381
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Well, the cost advantage would happen only when the EVFs will be fully developed, a mature technology not needing much R&D budget.
We're not there yet. So far, the cost advantage is with the noVF cameras (most MILCs); yet still they sells in much lower volumes than SLRs.
08-08-2013, 01:59 PM   #2382
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Sony FF

The reason why no one is buying the A99 has nothing to do with the EVF and more the fact that there is almost no FF lens support other than legacy minolta glass. No one is going to buy a 3k camera and put used glass on it. Pentax at least has a couple FF lenses still in production.
08-08-2013, 02:13 PM   #2383
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QuoteOriginally posted by IchabodCrane Quote
So why does an A99 cost as much as a D800?
And if an EVF has real advantages over an OVF, why aren't people selling their FF Nikons and Canons and buying the Sony?


This a common misunderstanding of how capitalism works. The costs of a camera are not passed on or saved by the consumer. The market prices the camera, not how much it costs to make. If you can't make the camera for the price the market is willing to bear, you go out of business (or at the very least lose money) No doubt the A99 costs less to make than the D800; therefore Sony makes more profit per unit sold, which is why Sony is doing this. Mirror boxes are expensive to manufacture, engineer, and support. For all I know all FF digital cameras are loss leaders as an excuse to sell profitable glass.

"Advantages" also have nothing to do with how capitalism works. This is where digital cameras came from in the in the first place. Early digital cameras were inferior to film in almost every respect. Resolution, color, lag, you name it, it was terrible, but a digi cam is cheap -- no springs, no gears, no complex film transport mechanisms. You just print a board and put in a plastic box. Competition in that market is what improved image quality and the user experience to what it is today. It's all about making a buck.

Last edited by konraDarnok; 08-08-2013 at 02:39 PM.
08-08-2013, 02:53 PM   #2384
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QuoteOriginally posted by konraDarnok Quote
The costs of a camera are not passed on or saved by the consumer. .
Yes it is. If a company don't make money on what they sell they'll eventually go bust....

You overestimate the cost and complexity of the mirror box and viewfinder system. We have had $300 SLR's for goodness sake.
Apart from its other advantages, the mirror assembly are among the most reliable part of a DSLR. It is more likely that the electronics will fail than the mirror or finder system.
Another point is that some things some people are simply willing to pay for even if cheaper alternatives should materialize....
08-08-2013, 02:59 PM   #2385
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QuoteOriginally posted by Pål Jensen Quote
Yes it is. If a company don't make money on what they sell they'll eventually go bust....
You didn't read my argument very well. The price of a camera, or any good, is determined by what people are willing to pay as dictated by supply and demand. How much it costs to manufacture is irrelevant. Either the overhead allows for a profit or it does not. If it costs 10k to manufacture and people are only willing to pay 3k, you **can not pass the costs on.** It doesn't work that way.

QuoteOriginally posted by Pål Jensen Quote
the mirror assembly are among the most reliable part of a DSLR.
Which is why my K7 couldn't take a crisp picture unless the mirror was locked up? Thankfully they fixed the problem with the K5, but that hassle is not cheap to engineer around. Reliability comes at a cost.

Last edited by konraDarnok; 08-08-2013 at 03:14 PM.
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