Polaroid and Foveon hop in bed
And the result is a $399 Baby Boy
http://www.foveon.com/press_x530.html
I wonder how this will stack up against the 5-6MP digicams coming from the competitors.
I still have my eye on the A75. Can't wait for the reviews coming up this year.
http://www.foveon.com/press_x530.html
I wonder how this will stack up against the 5-6MP digicams coming from the competitors.
I still have my eye on the A75. Can't wait for the reviews coming up this year.
Comments
An unfortunate thing may be no Mac compatible software. I believe Polaroid hasn't supplied it for any of their other digital cameras. Hopefully the Foveon makers will on this one.
I'd say the "1.5" mp X3 sensor is perfectly capable of creating great very sharp 8x10s, something you need a traditional 3 mp res mosaic sensor to accomplish. The big question mark is "Polaroid," not Foveon.
It doesn't really matter what you can get out of a Foveon or a Bayer. What can you get out of them at the same price?
I will be interested to see how the 399 Polaroid compares to other 399 Bayer cameras.
The more expensive 5MP+ 1/1.8 and/or 2/3rds cams do deliver though, at least at low ISO.
Originally posted by MacsRGood4U
Actually, Polaroid is just licensing its name.
Hence the double quotes around Polaroid in my post. The real Polaroid went bankrupt and liquidated its assets in 2002.
There are two Polaroids actually. The original company selling instant cameras and film products (along with sunglasses) and Primary PDC Inc which, as you say, is whoring out the name for a myriad of products. There's even a line of ink cartridges. However, the core Polaroid company does remain in operation as Polaroid Corporation. It retains all the patents issued to it. To keep the company afloat, they sold all of their manufacturing facilites, real estate and other non-core businesses.
From here it looks like Foveon is slumming.
Originally posted by Matsu
Even in those pics, it doesn't look very promising from a fit and finish standpoint.
Of course it doesn't. It's a painted balsa or plastic mock-up. Sheesh.
From here it looks like Foveon is slumming.
You've said that from the beginning. They're just moving slow and steady like most other smartly run private companies. There's no reason to to go head-to-head against the high mp Sony, FillFactory, Toshiba, and other image sensors. They're already making Foveon's case just fine. *Cough*F828*Cough* ...
Like you, I think the foveon part of the camera will probably be fine, especially now that there's in-camera JPEG, it's the polariod part that seems troubling. Having seen a skid of Polariod portable DVD players at the local costco, balsa or plastic, that mock-up looks about right in the fit and finish dept.
There's no way to look at the 828 except as a triumph of marketting over performance. It's probably an OK camera for those doing ISO 64 studio shots on a budget. It's nicely made, sure. It even has some intriguing features, but what's the point of nightshooting/laser focus assist if the low light performance is so horrendous? Pure gimmickry, and expensive too. Enough to earn the first non Apple related pricing dance 999USD and they originally had the balls to mark this thing at 1199 though I think Canon changed their minds about that one
Now Sigma has signed on to 4/3rds, I wonder if that means lense support only, or if they'll have a 4/3rds X3 body. Get it in cheaper than the SD 10, and a bit simpler (in-camera JPEG) with a 28-90 equivalent lense kit for 999, and suddenly we've got a really nice value proposition.
Almost there, but this polaroid won't do it. I've been reading some high traffic photography forums. What do consumers want? A nice looking camera at a decent price. Some even want a nice looking camera at a stupid price, evidence the raft of people who can't admit they want an 828 just for the look.
Can polariod sell either of these sets of people a crappy looking camera?
Originally posted by Matsu
Now Sigma has signed on to 4/3rds, I wonder if that means lense support only, or if they'll have a 4/3rds X3 body. Get it in cheaper than the SD 10, and a bit simpler (in-camera JPEG) with a 28-90 equivalent lense kit for 999, and suddenly we've got a really nice value proposition.
Lens support only for now. The 4/3" format is ho-hum to me. For now, I think the APS sensor size is the best compromise, and 4/3rds is going too small in the name of making more compact cameras and lenses. A 28-90mm equivalent lens for the 4/3" format would have to be a 14-45mm. That lens would cost quite a bit.
Some food for thought, thanks to the good folks at DPReview:
2/3rds = 8.8 x 6.6mm
4/3rds = 18 x 13.5mm
APS = 25.1 x 16.7mm
35mm = 36 x 24mm
I'm not sure that a 14-45 4/3rds lense really ought to cost that much. It's substantially smaller than a 28-90 -- about half the size. With manufacturers making pretty decent 28-200 35mm zooms (general purpose, budget, walk about stuff) 4/3rds could come in a lot cheaper, and smaller. The expensive Oly-Zuiko stuff hasn't, but a company like Sigma could. They could even keep it reasonably bright for reasonable money, say f/2.8 constant.
Also, as the P&S guys are bumping into the limit of 2/3rds performance, it might make the most sense for them to jump up to 4/3rds. They don't need to be SLR. They can go with EVF type, electronic shutter systems to save themselves the expense of good shutter/body/mechanicals, and just build bigger EVF systems.
Something like the Sony 828, or new Olympus 8080, would probably be pretty good with 8MP 4/3rds, EVF, and a fixed lense covering somewhere in the 28-135 (35mm equivalent) range. Wouldn't really be that much bigger than what they're selling with 2/3rds now. A little less zoom, but a lot better performance too.
Zoom, however, like MP, sells.
Originally posted by MacsRGood4U
Since the Foveon uses a different method of imaging, a 4.5 MP resolution may actually equal a higher resolution of a non-Foveon system. Of course, some people have a sixth sense about these things and can ascertain quality, saleability, etc. just by looking at a mock up.
It should be interesting, the Sigma SD10 uses the Fovean 3.4 MP sensor, and apparently can outperform 6MP cameras. I wonder if this means the Sigma is going to get an update as well.
Originally posted by the cool gut
It should be interesting, the Sigma SD10 uses the Fovean 3.4 MP sensor, and apparently can outperform 6MP cameras. I wonder if this means the Sigma is going to get an update as well.
The Sigma SD10 has a 10 million pixel Foveon X3 CMOS sensor. The Polaroid has a 4.5 million pixel sensor which outputs 1.5 megapixel images. I don't see why the SD10 would get an update.
A conventional "36 pixel "digital camera would have something like this 36 pixel sensor:
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A Foveon based camera with the following stacked 108 pixel sensor would also create a 36 pixel image:
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As you can see, the checker-board sensor is cheating to achieve its full resolution. It must use sophisticated processing to "guess" whether there was actually blue or green light hitting the sensor where there is only a red pixel and vice-versa. With the Foveon sensor, there's no guesswork involved.