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Newspaper Column
- Digital Media Tools
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Bangkok Post - Database - Digital
Media Tools
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Published - June 11, 2003
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012 - Kodak DCS-14n Professional digital
SLR
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The
highest resolution digital SLR (35mm SLR format) camera presently available.
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At fourteen million pixels, 4,536 x 3,024 pixels, the Kodak DCS-14n
is presently the leader of the digital SLR camera resolution race. Canon
comes close with their 11 million pixel Canon EOS1Ds, but the Canon EOS1Ds
sells for US$8,000, while the Kodak DCS-14n is available for a much more
affordable US$5,000. (Local prices may vary)
Kodak’s previous Professional digital SLR cameras have been constructed
from “off the shelf” Nikon and Canon SLR bodies and Kodak digital film backs.
Although they were the highest quality digital SLR cameras available at
their time, they were also very large, extremely heavy, and required external
power supplies for practical use in the field.
The Kodak DCS-14n is constructed of a custom made magnesium alloy body,
based on the Nikon F80 35mm SLR. This custom digital camera construction is
a departure for both Kodak and Nikon, resulting in a light weight and compact
camera body designed specifically for digital image capture. The 14 million
pixel full frame CMOS imaging sensor is provided by Belgian company FillFactory.
Nikon Lens Owners Only
Although higher resolution is tempting for any digital photographer, the
reality is that the Kodak DCS-14n is of greatest interest to current Nikon
35mm SLR camera and lens owners. The current choice for Nikon lens owners
is the Nikon DX, Nikon DH, and Nikon D100. Although these cameras deliver
very high quality images they are limited to a maximum of six million pixels
resolution in the Nikon D100.
The Nikon DX is the current high end of the Nikon DSLR cameras. It features
a 5.33 million pixel CCD, which delivers 3,008 x 1,960 pixel images. The
Nikon DX and DH are both based on the high end Nikon F5 and F100 35mm film
SLRs.
The Nikon DH is specifically designed for high speed performance, allowing
the capture of 40 consecutive frames at 5 frames per second. It features
a 2.66 million pixel CCD, which delivers 2,000 x 1,312 pixel images. The
Nikon DH is widely used by action and sports photographers around the world.
The Nikon D100 is a lower priced digital SLR based on the same Nikon F80
body as the Kodak DCS-14n. The Nikon D100 features a 6.1 million pixel CCD,
which delivers 3,008 x 2,000 pixel images. The Nikon D100s main advantage
is that it is compact, lightweight, and relatively inexpensive at less than
US$2,000 for the body.
Since both Kodak and Canon are now offering full frame DSLRs at over 10
million pixel resolution, it only stands to reason that Nikon will have to
deliver higher resolution, full frame DSLRs in the near future. Many Nikon
users will wait for the Nikon solutions but Kodak is betting that a large
number of photographers will want to avail themselves of the advantages of
higher resolution and full frame imaging right now.
The Advantages of Higher Resolution
A professional photographer working for the publishing or advertising industries
will not need any convincing. Higher resolution means that images can be
cropped more liberally and blown up to larger sizes. Images used in Advertising
can be used from extremely small sizes on a product package to extremely
large sizes such as billboards and buses. The advantages of higher resolution
have always been known but difficult and costly to apply in the past.
For the portrait and event photographer it means additional earnings from
being able to print anything from a 2 inch passport photo to a large wall
hanging picture without having to use a large format film camera.
The Advantages of Full Frame Imaging
Anyone who photographs interiors and landscapes knows that there is n o
substitute for a wider angle lens when you run out of backing up room.
Previous to the Kodak DCS-14n (and the Canon EOS1Ds) all DSLRs used image
sensors that were smaller than the standard 35mm frame that the SLR systems
were designed for. This meant that a 24 mm lens would give you (for example)
only the coverage of a 36mm lens.
For photographers used to taking pictures with ultra-wide angle lenses
this has proved to be disastrous. The only solution has been to use film
for ultra-wide angle pictures or at this point to either buy the Kodak DCS-14n
or Canon EOS1Ds.
Some Suggestions for Kodak
In the past week I have been testing a Kodak DCS-14n and found the general
operation, weight, balance and picture quality very good. In particular
I really appreciated being able to make full use of ultra-wide angle lenses
and the extreme cropping ability of the 14 million pixel resolution.
However, I found that lower resolution JPEG image capture is so poor (unsharp)
compared to RAW format image capture, that it only makes sense to capture
full resolution RAW images. The RAW images are however somewhat flat and
have a slight magenta cast to them. Fortunately Kodak supplies excellent
camera management, image management and RAW image conversion software with
the camera.
There is also available from Kodak an additional software package, Kodak
Photo Looks, that allows the Kodak DCS-14n user to apply a variety of profiles
to RAW images. The Look profiles give you a result that is closer to what
photographers are used to from different film stocks. At present there are
two Looks built into the camera, Product and Portrait. Most users will choose
to leave the camera set on Product because it gives a sharper more brilliant
image than the Portrait mode.
The Photo Looks package should be included with the camera so that photographers
can have a more “film like” user experience. Even more important Kodak should
build a larger library of Looks into the camera or allow the photographer
to change Looks in the camera through software.
In time photographers will become comfortable with new technologies and
related terminology, but at present they are still thinking, “Kodachrome 64
would be a great film for this subject matter”. It would make a lot of sense
if they could tell the camera that they want a Kodachrome 64 profile for
a series of outdoor pictures and then moving indoors tell the camera to switch
to Ektachrome 400 or another more appropriate film profile.
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