New Technologies Provide Fast-Working Cameras And Better
Photos
By Zachary Singer
The underlying technology
of digital cameras is evolving at a stunning rate, bringing
benefits for all photographers, from the casual snapshooter
to the busy pro. Remarkable improvements in resolution and image
clarity have brought us cameras that can make much larger and
sharper prints. Autofocus speed and accuracy continue to progress,
and shutter lag, long the bane of digital shooters, is declining
rapidly.
Along with these advancements in familiar areas, new technologies
promise better pictures as well. Image-stabilized cameras now
take the shake, and the blur, out of your handheld images. Other
cameras automatically post-process your photos to reduce image
noise, lighten shadows without lowering contrast and eliminate
red-eye.
All this wouldn’t be much use to you if you couldn’t
compose your image properly, so the larger LCD monitors and
enhanced electronic viewfinders are big news. With all of these
exciting improvements, you’ll probably take more pictures
ultimately, so you’ll be glad for the cameras’ longer
battery life, too.
Taken together, these developments add up to much more fruitful
photography now, while hinting of even better things to follow
in the future. Here’s a guide to the state of the art in
today’s digital cameras.
8
Megapixels In A Consumer Camera
Advanced compact cameras from Canon, Konica Minolta, Nikon,
Olympus and Sony boast resolution previously unheard of, even
in pro equipment just a few years ago. Their new image sensors
supply enough pixels for a careful shooter to make a sharp and
beautiful 16x20-inch print. The sensors achieve this feat by
packing eight-million photosites into the same space that the
previous generation used for just five million, boosting the
new cameras’ linear resolution by a full 25 percent over
that of 5-megapixel cameras.
ED Glass
There’s more going on in the new 8-megapixel cameras than
the image sensors alone. A major, if less flashy, reason the
cameras’ finished images look as good as they do is the
extra-low dispersion (ED) glass incorporated into the lenses
of every camera in the group. Formerly the province of high-end
telephoto lenses, ED glass minimizes aberrations, especially
those that cause color fringing.
Faster Start-Up And Shutter Release
Nikon’s D2h and D70 digital SLRs are ready to shoot as
soon as you switch them on. Their power switches are located
around the shutter release, making the time between power-up
and first shutter release even shorter. The Nikon D2h also boasts
a mere 37ms shutter lag time, which is as fast as a pro film
camera. Canon’s EOS-1D Mark II rivals the Nikon D2h in
performance.
Advanced compact cameras usually take a little longer to start
up than D-SLRs, but they’re gaining ground. The Kyocera
Finecam M410R, Olympus C-8080 and Konica Minolta DiMAGE A2 power
up quickly and feature minimal lag after achieving focus.
Faster Shot-To-Shot Times
Kyocera’s RTUNE technology enables cameras like its 4-megapixel
Finecam M410R to shoot continuous sequences at full resolution.
Unlike most other cameras, the Kyocera can maintain its 3.3
frames-per-second pace until your memory card is filled.
Nikon’s D70 D-SLR records 70 full-resolution JPEG images
before its buffer fills, but with 6-megapixel resolution. Increasing
the JPEG compression slightly lets the camera shoot 144 images
in a row. For raw speed, though, the Canon EOS-1D Mark II and
Nikon D2h lead the pack with bursts of up to 40 frames at eight
frames per second or better.
In all cases, the ability to expose more images without waiting
is a product of several technologies coming together. Larger
on-board buffers have allowed the cameras to hold more images
in their electronic brains until they can be written out to
the memory cards. Improved processing circuitry such as the
Canon DIGIC chip sends images through the system faster, easing
the load on the buffers. And memory cards keep getting faster,
with CompactFlash cards, the old standard, now available in
80X speeds.
Longer Battery Life
Due in part to improvements in battery technology like the move
to lithium-ion cells, many cameras now can expose hundreds of
images on a single charge of their batteries. The Canon PowerShot
Pro1, for example, shoots about 400 images on a charge, even
when one-quarter of the shots use flash.
Just as importantly, though, the cameras’ circuitry continues
to gain in efficiency. In spite of its 8-megapixel resolution
and increased firing rate, the Canon EOS-1D Mark II takes more
than 1,200 exposures on a single charge. That’s more than
double the number of its 4-megapixel predecessor, and both cameras
use the same model of battery.
Faster And Better Autofocus
The Canon EOS-1D Mark II has faster, more accurate autofocus
than the original EOS-1D. The Mark II’s ad-vanced microprocessors
are the key, and result in autofocus that feels nearly instantaneous.
Appealing to a different user, Olympus’ pocketable C-60
focuses with equally striking speed for its class and gets the
exposure made with minimal shutter lag.
Like the Canon and Olympus cameras, Konica Minolta’s DiMAGE
A2 focuses very quickly for a camera of its type. The A2 offers
a unique combination of predictive autofocus for following motion
and an autofocus point that can be positioned anywhere within
the frame. This combination, introduced not long ago on the
A1, allows a photographer to designate an autofocus target and
have the camera track it accurately. It’s a natural for
macro work, especially for flowers that shift position in even
a slight breeze.
Wide-Angle Lenses
Advanced compacts increasingly sport something uncommon just
a year or so ago—wide-angle lenses. Four of the five new
8-megapixel compacts feature lenses with 35mm-equivalent focal
lengths of 28mm at the wide end for true wide-angle performance
without extra adapters. Other compacts feature them as well,
including the new versatile, pocketable 5-megapixel Canon S60.
Until the advent of these machines, the only alternative for
wide-angle-loving digital shooters was an add-on adapter for
some advanced compacts or a very short focal length lens mounted
on a D-SLR.
Noise Reduction
Along with improving the imaging sensors, camera makers are
controlling image noise by processing the images more efficiently
after they’re exposed. For example, Olympus’ TruePic
Turbo image processor reduces the random-pattern noise that
appears in darker areas of an image or in images taken at higher
ISOs. Built into the Olympus E-1, C-8080 and C-60 cameras, among
others, the processor selectively controls edge adjustment,
better known as “sharpening.”
Working like an experienced Photoshop user, the TruePic circuitry
only sharpens sections displaying fine detail and avoids areas
of even tones, like skies or skin. (Noise shows more readily
in such uniform areas and would be accentuated if sharpened.)
Because these even-toned areas don’t have much image detail
in the first place, they can be “smoothed” instead,
which diminishes the noise and improves the creamy appearance
of that part of the picture.
Image Stabilization
Image stabilizers built into advanced compacts from Canon, Konica
Minolta and Panasonic compensate for camera motion, allowing
you to shoot handheld at slower shutter speeds or with longer
lenses without losing image quality from motion blur. On the
average, the stabilizers allow you to shoot with speeds two
or three stops slower than you otherwise could have used. Instead
of shooting at 1/500 sec. with a 200mm lens, you could shoot
at speeds as slow as 1/60 sec., or with a 50mm lens, you could
shoot at 1/15 sec. instead of 1/125 sec., assuming you have
steady hands and good technique.
The stabilizers from Canon and Panasonic sense camera motion
and “counter-jiggle” some of the zoom lens’ optical
elements, neutralizing your movements’ effects on the image.
This system has been used in 35mm SLR lenses for some time now,
but has only recently become available in digital compacts.
Super-High-Resolution EVF
Konica Minolta’s 8-megapixel compact, the DiMAGE A2, boasts
an incredible 922,000 pixels in its electronic viewfinder (EVF).
The viewfinder image shows a much clearer view and finer detail
than EVFs with fewer pixels, and improves your ability to check
focus accurately, especially when using the finder’s 3.3x
magnified view.
While no current EVF can quite match the clarity and immediacy
of an SLR’s ground glass, the DiMAGE A2’s comes close—and
it can provide real-time information, like live histograms and
the effect of your white balance setting, that would be impossible
for D-SLRs to show. It also can provide a “boosted”
image for easier composition in dim light. When you preview
depth of field with the DiMAGE A2, the lens stops down to taking
aperture, like a D-SLR’s lens—but the viewfinder image
remains bright.
Larger LCD Monitors
Several models now sport easy-to-see rear LCD monitors of two
inches or better for a view almost the size of a 21/4 camera’s
large ground glass. The big-screen lineup includes the Canon
EOS-1Ds and EOS-1D Mark II (both 2.0 inches), Casio Exilim Pro
EX-P600 (2.0 inches), Panasonic DMC-FZ10 (2.0 inches) and Kodak
DX 7440 (2.2 inches). The Nikon D2h and Kyocera Finecam L4V
trump them all, though, with their 2.5-inch LCDs. Many of the
monitors, as well as others with smaller dimensions, are de-signed
for easy viewing in bright light outdoors, too.
As with earlier cameras, the compact cameras can display both
a “live” image for composition before the exposure,
and the captured image afterward. D-SLRs’ monitors can
only show the images after the exposure is made.
Durability And Weather Sealing
High-end D-SLR gear from Canon, Nikon and Olympus makes widespread
use of magnesium castings for maximum strength with minimal
weight. The bodies provide sealing at all critical points to
minimize penetration of dust and water. Olympus has even designed
the new lens line for its E-1 system with rubber-like gaskets,
making the entire camera-lens system weather-resistant. Other
camera mechanisms have been upgraded, too—the shutter on
the Canon EOS-1D Mark II is now rated to 200,000 cycles.
Not planning on buying a pro D-SLR any time soon? The advancements
made in that arena show up in consumer-grade cameras, too. Every
single one of the new 8-megapixel compacts is built with a tough
magnesium body, just like their bigger brothers.
“Dual-Pixel” Sensors
Fujifilm’s SuperCCD SR sensor, featured on the company’s
S20 compact and S3 D-SLR, has two sets of pixels at each photosite
for increased tonal range. The more sensitive detector of the
two records shadow detail, while its less-sensitive counterpart
re-cords the highlights. The camera’s circuitry combines
data from each detector pair into finished pixels with increased
detail at both ends of the tonal scale.
“Supersonic” Dust Banisher
Olympus’ E-1 beats the D-SLR “dust blues” with
its Supersonic Wave Filter, which knocks the dust off your imaging
sensor. Without the device, the inevitable microscopic flotsam
inhabiting your camera’s interior migrates to your D-SLR’s
imaging sensor, where it creates annoying black shadows on the
chip—and your images. Most D-SLR users are all too aware
of the problem, and use an airblower to dislodge the particles
(and Photoshop to retouch the images where the dust stayed put).
In contrast, the E-1’s images are largely dust-free, without
any special intervention from the photographer.
Digitally Optimized Scene Modes
Nikon’s D70 D-SLR features Digital Vari-Program modes,
which take Scene modes to a new level. Like the Scene modes
in other cameras, the D70 offers settings for sports, portraiture
and landscapes, as well as night versions of the last two. The
key difference is that along with setting an appropriate ƒ-stop
and shutter speed for the type of subject, the D70 also changes
the way the digital images are processed, optimizing them according
to the input scene mode and the ambient conditions.
The camera will select saturation, tone, hue, white balance
and sharpening according to the type of scene you put in, as
well as the quality of light the camera sees in your image.
For example, a portrait image is processed with more flattering
skin tones and texture in mind, so the camera uses lower color
saturation and less sharpening than it would for sports or a
landscape.
Advanced In-Camera Processing
Innovative electronic circuitry provides automatic treatment
of an image’s problem areas, like the red-eye that results
from on-camera flash. The Nikon Coolpix 4200 and Hewlett-Packard
Photosmart R707 search out and eliminate red-eye, delivering
finished JPEG files with natural-looking eyes.
The HP R707 automatically opens up shadow areas, brightening
them without affecting the overall image brightness or contrast.
The feature produces images more like you originally saw them.
The camera also provides preliminary alignment of a panorama’s
individual frames. Along with providing an outline of the previous
frame on the LCD to help you align the next one, the camera
stitches all the frames together for a preview of the finished
image. All of these features, used together or independently,
will reduce the amount of time users spend tweaking their photos
in image-processing software.
RAW+JPEG
Many D-SLRs now can record your images in RAW and JPEG formats
at the same time. This RAW+JPEG capability provides the image
quality of RAW files and the convenience of JPEG. The combination,
which is available on all current Canon D-SLRs, the Nikon D2h
and D70, and Olympus E-1, lets you use JPEGs for quick sorting
in most browsers and for easy sharing with others. When you
want to produce the best quality from a selected few images,
the RAW files (which are slower to work with) allow stronger
inputs on levels, curves and other settings, as well as the
ability to completely redo the original camera settings for
white balance, contrast, sharpening and other parameters.
Wireless Image Transfers
Nikon’s D2h can use a high-speed wireless transmitter to
send its images to your computer network. The dedicated transmitter
screws into the D2h’s baseplate and connects to the camera’s
USB 2.0 port. Used by professionals at sports events, the system
also can interface with the growing number of hot spots for
wireless networking around the U.S.
