Red has announced a bevy of new gear, a core part of much of it being a new modular camera system much like I have talked about before.  I don’t know if this will shake up the industry like they and so many of their fans expect.  They have some very avid fans but I’m not wholly convinced that their modular system would give me a DSLR I’d rather use.  It looks bulky, ergonomically questionable, and the prices are quite high.  For example the 24 megapixel Scarlet FF35 module (same size of sensor as the A900, D700, 5D Mark II, etc) is expected to cost $12000.  Still, I’d be excited to have a chance to give one a shot and I think the compatibility with Canon and Nikon lenses (through adapters) is a really smart feature (hopefully they offer full compatibility with all features).

I hope they get some of these out and they can be tried out by some people and even see some reviews.  It will be interesting to see how their sensors stack up against Canon, Nikon and Sony but I think it’s going to be a hard sell to people in the still photography industry.

Sigma now owns Foveon and its three-layer X3 sensor technologies.  This is something I saw some rumors about only a few days ago (too busy to keep up) and is a really interesting revelation.  I don’t know what this means for both of them as I have long thought Foveon to be a troubled company and that Sigma was struggling to get everything on track (with woes about QC and delays on cameras that ultimately receive lukewarm reactions).  I don’t know if this means more money for development for Foveon or not, but they have long struggled to keep up and in spite of the potential for their sensor I’ve yet to see it really happen for them.  They do have many technical troubles to tackle but I hope they can continue to develop and improve their sensor.

On a personal note I also know someone who works for Foveon, hopefully this won’t affect his job!

Kawasaki, Japan, November 11th, 2008 - Sigma Corporation (Location: Kawasaki, Japan) has acquired 100% of the stock of the company that developed the original three-layer image sensor, Foveon Inc. Foveon will continue its sensor development operations in San Jose, CA, USA.

Foveon made history when it developed and patented the world’s first three-layer image capture technology, placing a stack of RGB pixels in each pixel location. As a result, Foveon sensors detect all three primary colors in every pixel location, producing images that are sharper and have significantly reduced image artifacts compared to competing image sensor technologies.

Since Sigma first worked with Foveon in 2000, both companies have enjoyed a cooperative working relationship directed toward developing highly-efficient DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) cameras and compact digital cameras which take the best advantage of the X3 sensor technology. Sigma Corporation has employed Foveon’s technology in its entire digital camera line, producing images which are acclaimed by both amateur and professional photographers all over the world for their high resolution and for their three-dimensional look. Both the latest DLSR, the SD14, and the compact DP1 camera - which packs the full spec of a DSLR into a compact camera - have met with similar acclaim. Two additional Sigma camera products based on Foveon’s image sensor technology have been announced for 2009.

The acquisition of Foveon will not only enhance the development of new types of image sensors for high quality digital cameras, but will also create a synergistic effect with Sigma’s camera and lens business by improving the integration between the camera and sensor. This will result in camera products which will uniquely meet the widely ranging functional and image quality needs of demanding photographers.

As the digital camera market continues to expand, Foveon and Sigma will continuously evolve and improve the X3 sensor technology, thus expanding the company’s photography-related business. In addition, Sigma remains firmly committed to preserving and nurturing the culture of photography.

Source: http://www.sigma-photo.co.jp/english/news/info_081111.htm

Having finally had the opportunity to play with the new batch of “affordable” full frame cameras I wanted to write down my thoughts on all of them.  They’re all impressive cameras in their own respects, each with particular strengths that make them stand out among the rest and I enjoyed using and handling all of them at the recent photo expo.

I’m basically just going to go through the pros and cons of each camera separately, and then wrap up with my “gut” feeling at the end.

Sony A900: the newbie
Since Sony is relatively new in the DSLR area (in spite of having taken over Minolta’s line) I think this camera certainly is an interesting new item worth keeping an eye on.  It is a very unique looking camera, with one of the bulkiest looking prism housings I’ve seen on any 35mm SLR type camera made in at least 20 years.  This definitely gives it a retro look.  It’s well put together and ergonomically the grips seem pretty comfortable although the rear of the camera definitely looks pretty busy.  Aesthetically I don’t think this camera wins awards but the general consensus is it feels pretty well sorted.

I personally don’t consider the old Minolta Maxxum lens system to be a great selling point.  There are lots of older manual lenses available but there’s a relatively limited selection to choose from for lenses from the past 6 to 8 years as Minolta started to fall behind Canon and Nikon (although one could argue against Canon for abandoning their FD mount entirely).  Still, the new “pro” 24-70 2.8 zoom is a pretty unique piece of equipment and probably will prove to be a solid performer so I think they’re working hard to make sure there’s a lens system to justify the camera.  The best part about this camera was the viewfinder which is simply gorgeous, but the biggest drawback appears to probably be its noise performance.

Nikon D700: the surprise
Everybody knows this camera by now.  It’s a great feeling camera with a proven imager that produces stunning images and great high ISO performance.  It supports the huge Nikon lens system and even has a popup flash, unique among the full frame cameras.  It also sports the best still framerate and the most advanced AF system.  So what are the downsides?  The D700 has the worst viewfinder coverage of the bunch, and the lowest resolution.  That resolution both helps and hurts depending on what you want from it though, as the loosely packed sensor is a major reason this camera performs so well at high ISO.  At the same time, it isn’t going to record the amount of detail the other two cameras are capable of.

There’s really not a lot to say about this camera at this point.  It’s arguably the most versatile of the bunch in many ways (still photography only, obviously) with its good - but not class leading - resolution, great AF and motor drive, and great high ISO performance.

Canon 5D Mark II: comeback kid?
This is the camera that so many people were anticipating.  Many were hoping it would be a Canon clone of the D700 and I’m glad it isn’t.  I appreciate the resolution bump although it’s more than I really had expected (I was rooting for 16-18 megapixels at most).  This camera has a viewfinder and resolution which sits between the other two cameras. The 5D Mark II doesn’t deviate too far from other Canons in design, featuring a largely magnesium case with environmental seals of some sort (people still pointlessly debate how it’s sealed).  Build quality overall between these cameras seems pretty similar.

You won’t find a fast motor drive here or groundbreaking AF, the AF system goes largely unchanged from the three year old 5D.  Some other features still remain weak on this camera, like the range of exposure compensation or auto bracketing available (+/- two stops, are you joking Canon?).  On the other hand, you will find noise performance which so far looks to be quite good (the only RAW samples I’ve seen make it look like it’ll maybe give the Nikon’s a run for their money, even with the higher resoution).  The 5D Mark II is also the only one with a base ISO of 100 and ISO 50 available, something I definitely appreciate.  The most unique feature on the 5D Mark II in this group (and of any DSLR) is full 1080p 30fps video capability which from preliminary samples also looks to be very good.

Conclusion
I’m still not sure how to classify the Sony.  The D700 is a well rounded camera that I think tries to do as much as it can for any kind of shooter.  That jack of all trades approach leaves it a bit on the weak side for certain types of shooters who want to be able to capture more detail (pixel peepers can debate these two cameras forever I’m sure).  The A900 seems similar to the Canon, going for great resolution for studio or landscape work, however it doesn’t look like it will keep up at higher ISOs.  If the 5D Mark II’s noise performance is as good as it appears, then that certainly blurs the line further between it and the D700 for shooters not looking for advanced AF systems or high frame rates.

I suppose I should consider myself lucky that the cheapest camera of the bunch (the 5D Mark II) and the only one compatible with my current system is also the one that spends most of its effort doing the things I want and need right, while not trying as hard to do things I don’t need like framerate or fancy AF.  HD video mode notwithstanding, I doubt that required any significant changes in hardware and I am very curious to try it.

Update: With the recent price drops for the D700 where does that leave Canon and Sony?  I’m not sure it changes a whole lot for them, but with prices on the 5D Mark II going up in Canada (don’t know about the Sony) I think both of them have to be conscientious of the D700’s price slides.  With the markets rolling around and the D700 having already been in the market for a bit, there may be arguments for and against the Canon and Sony models costing more.

We wound up at the Tick Tock diner for lunch which turned out to be a pretty amusing time.  One of the waitresses decided to chat us up about our cameras and she played with a couple of ours (not mine, it was the smallest and least exciting looking of the bunch, I traveled light for this trip).

We left the diner and helped a lost tourist trying to find an open photo store (Adorama and B&H are both closed on Saturdays) when we were on our way from lunch to the subway.  We debated briefly over which subway to take but apparently I chose correctly because we wound up right where we wanted to be.

Waiting for the subway wasn’t without excitement.  We got to watch the subway conductor and the guy in the red shirt have it out over because the red shirted guy shoving his foot in the closing subway car doors.  I snapped a few pictures of this but another photographer was shooting away with a Jobo gorillapod stuck to permanently to the bottom of his camera.  He then whipped out a voice recorder and started recording the exchange.  I wish I had time to adjust settings on my camera, but sometimes you just have to go with what you’ve got.

Down at Ground Zero we basically walked all the way around the site and took pictures as we went.  The rain was only starting to threaten us so we didn’t think much of it yet, and the sun hadn’t completely disappeared.  After circling Ground Zero from the outside we walked through the World Financial Center and shot some more before having some gelato.

We made some more stops at J and R, a failed attempt to get some food at Max Brenner’s and a brief stop at Grand Central to appease the one member of our party who had never been there.  We finally worked our way back to Penn to take the LIRR back out to Joe’s and ended the long and tiring day with some pizza.

The full gallery with all the shots is below.

[Show as slideshow]

After signing in and getting our passes the first place we went was to the Nikon booth since it was right up in the front.  They had a very impressive spread, with the usual chopped up D3 to admire.  Their camera booth was big and I played around a bit with the D700 since it is the only model of theirs of interest to me that I haven’t had a chance to play with.

From there we made a brief stop at the Canon booth, which was definitely too small.  It was smaller than the Nikon booth but there seemed to be a lot more people, many of them trying to see the 50D and 5D Mark II.  I checked out the 5D Mark II a few times during the show since it’s the most likely candidate for my next camera but I’ll write more thoughts on it later.

From there we started going through the rest of the show row by row.  I checked out NEC and Eizo displays since at some point I’ll probably be looking at getting a new monitor.  We also checked out the Phase One booth and Joe and I both discovered a neat feature they were using in Capture One.  (We asked them about it and I upgraded my Capture One 4 to the latest version when we got back but it doesn’t seem to have the feature, perhaps they were using the Pro version and it’s not in the standard version).  Phase One did happen to be using a Lenovo Thinkpad W700 for their demonstration of Capture One at another booth… it’s big.

The other booths I made a point of stopping by included Olympus, Sigma and Sony.  I stopped by Olympus to play with the E3 and check out their micro 4/3 concept rangefinder.  It looks snazzy but that leather grip on the front is horrendous.  The camera was also bigger than I expected.  The E3 disappointed, it felt quite unresponsive for a camera they’re billing as a fairly high end piece of kit.  Their big teles were quite impressive though.

At the Sigma booth I wanted to check out the DP2 and play with the DP1 again.  I was once again disappointed by the overall responsiveness (or lack thereof) of the DP1.  The DP2 didn’t seem a lot different but it didn’t have a memory card to try it out with.  It supposedly has a new processor and is supposed to be better optimized for the photographer (do they admit the first wasn’t?) so hopefully that will improve things some.  Sigma also had the 200-500 f/2.8 which is an absolute monster of a lens.  They had a Canon Rebel mounted to it which seems a bit odd to me, and may have been partly at fault for what seemed like sluggish AF performance.  The electronic zoom of the lens is controlled by a huge ring, and while it feels cool to spin the ring, the lens zooms far too slowly and is quite noisy when doing so.

Joe and I both were curious to check out Sony for the A900, which turns out to be quite a nice piece of gear.  The viewfinder on it is definitely the best of the new full frame cameras in its price point but I’m still deciding whether I like the overall layout of the camera.  Sony’s new 24-70 2.8 really looks and feels quite unique, and their new fancy swiveling flash is interesting but perhaps too bulky in my opinion.  We also saw this really tiny white lens (a 200 2.8 I believe) mounted on one of their more compact bodies and were convinced it must be fake.

There were a lot of book publishers there of various types.  One of them which had a really nice product was Asukabook.  They weren’t cheap and they wanted an awful lot of money to cover your book in leather although “animal friendly” leather was quite a bit less expensive.

Joe also found time at the Hoodman booth to show how goofy the idea of a loupe for your LCD screen is.  It made for an interesting experience when Live View was turned on.

We also spent a lot of time checking out papers and other gadgets.  I looked at the Spyder 3 and the ColorMunki and have since learned that if I get a new wider gamut display, my Spyder 2 will likely be unable to properly calibrate it.  Bummer.

On another note, I’m not sure where ColorVision got their model but I sure hope she was cheap.

That pretty much wraps up everything I want to say about the show right now.  It was a good time, there were a lot of interesting things to see and play with and I have found I will probably spend a lot more money.  Another post will come soon with photos from the rest of the day when we wandered to various sites in NYC.

There were a few interesting things that happened, most importantly (to me at least) was the long awaited announcement of the 5D Mark II, finally bringing a close to the mid range full frame announcement insanity.  With Canon, Nikon and Sony now in play it’s just a waiting game to see how the 5D Mark II and A900 really stack up with the D700.  Not to be outdone, Leica introduced a bigger-than-full-frame camera, the S2.  This actually has a 30 x 45mm sensor in a surprisingly compact body and Leica boasts a whole new range of lenses to go with it.

In fact, Leica has been pretty busy as the S2 isn’t the only thing they’ve announced.  They’re having another go at the M8 with the M8.2.  Hopefully that gets received better than the original.  They also announced an assortment of other lenses and a couple P&S cameras as well.

Nikon had already spilled the beans on the D90 early and nothing else that they announced was particularly interesting, just some P&S cameras.  From Canon we saw a few new things to go along with the 5D Mark II, like a megapixel stuffed G10, a gaggle of new P&S cameras and a new 24mm 1.4L II lens.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the 24mm lens, with its new SWC coating, will be ushering in a long term update plan for a number of Canon’s older lenses much like what Nikon has been doing.

Sigma wasn’t staying quiet either, they kicked out a new SLR (SD15) with the same old sensor, and a DP2 which adds a longer and faster lens to the same basic camera as the DP1.  I’m still not excited about it, unfortunately.  Too little too late.

Pentax called on a famous camera name from their past with the K2000, which will be known as the K-m as well.  This looks to be the new entry level camera and I expect it to have the usual upgrades in feel & ergonomics compared to the Canon and Nikon models it will likely compete against.

Finally, as mentioned Panasonic and Olympus were showing off some new Micro 4/3 products and ideas.  I’m not convinced yet but it looks like Olympus might be getting the right idea on this one.

There was plenty more that happened, but these are just a few things that caught my attention.

I hope you all enjoyed the typos in this.  It was written in pieces over the past few weeks and I finally decided to post it without really remembering the fact that I had not proofread it as I was writing it.

Still, if you want to see what taking the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 hue test is like, this is as close as you’re probably going to get on your computer.

X-rite Farnsworth-Munsell 100 hue test

Nikon has had a long relationship with the gold finish, from their boxes to bands on their lenses.  Perhaps it was only a matter of time before they spilled a can of their favorite tacky color all over one of their digital SLRs.  This is not the first time someone tripped in Nikon’s factory while carrying a can of gold, see here and here.  I’m sure there are other examples but why exactly are they celebrating the D60?

The rumors about this have been around for a little while now (in typical Nikon fashion) but I wasn’t sure I really believed it would amount to anything.  This is supposed to be a standard Nikon D60 with a $50 paint job on the shutter button, mode dial, camera name badge, strap lugs and maybe a few other places (how about a gold lens mount?).

So for those of you out there deciding between the D60 and the XSi, if you really like gold inexplicably splattered across the things you own, I think your decision just got a lot easier.  The rest of us will just continue to scratch our heads.