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[OM] Re: Thoughts on Olympus SLRs

Subject: [OM] Re: Thoughts on Olympus SLRs
From: Chuck Norcutt <chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 05:53:51 -0500
Making the image larger is a matter of optically magnifying it. 
Unfortunately, making it larger spreads a fixed amount of light over a 
larger area and makes the image dimmer.  That's why the viewfinder 
design is a compromise.

Magnifying the image and making it brighter requires an amplified, 
real-time, electronic image such as found in point & shoot digitals or 
any other digital (such as the Minolta A1) which uses an interline 
transfer sensor chip (as opposed to a full frame transfer chip where 
"full frame" here does not refer to size).  For chip types see:
<http://www.kodak.com/US/en/dpq/site/SENSORS/name/ISSProductFamiliesRoot_product>

Current interline transfer chips have to be built such that a 
significant amount of the surface area is given up to electronic 
componentry that is not part of the sensor surface.  This means that an 
interline chip can't have the low noise performance of a full frame 
transfer chip as is typically used in DSLR's.  The full frame chip 
simply has larger buckets to catch photons.

But as technology progresses I think the interline chip noise 
performance problems will eventually be overcome or minimized and 
electronic viewfinders will be made much larger and with higher 
resolution.  I've always found it interesting to watch the A1's 
viewfinder/screen to see it change amplification levels as you change 
exposure such that the image brightness on screen becomes a pretty good 
light meter by itself.  It's also interesting to watch it switch to 
black and white mode when the light drops so low that it can no longer 
do accurate color.  I think a higher performance version of this basic 
imaging system will be in many of our cameras of the future.  It will 
probably be cheaper to produce one day than a complex SLR mirror and 
prism arrangement.  With the mirror out of the way one could also have a 
very short registration distance and have a camera that accepts numerous 
lenses with different adapters.  You could also have less complex wide 
angle lenses that didn't require a retrofocus design.  Some day.

Chuck Norcutt

Brian Swale wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I'm still using OMs, and one thing I do notice after using the E-1, is how 
> loud 
> the shutter sounds. ... ... 
> 
> With the E-1, and having taken about 50 images of birds using the Zuiko 
> 500/8 today, I feel more than a little scratchy about the small view-finder 
> image which makes it really difficult to achieve good manual focus especially 
> with a lens like the 500 which has such a short DOF and for which really 
> precise focussing is critical.
> 
> What I'd like to see in the E-2, in addition to more pixies (sic) is a much 
> larger virtual view-finder.
> 
> Surely it must be possible to build into the camera body a reasonably 
> compact optical system which would present to the viewer's eye an optical 
> image as large as, or even larger than, the image seen in OM view-finders.
> 
> Is this too much to ask? I think not.
> 
> It surely is possible to create this feature without affecting the current 
> small 
> mirror size for the E-1 - a size clearly important in the quest for reduced 
> vibration.
> 
> My 2 cents
> 
> Brian
> 
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