Re: SEA MOSS KILLS FILM, or at least it might

[Jim Brick <jim@brick.org>]

At 09:32 AM 6/23/97 -0700, you wrote:
>SEA MOSS, err CMOS, came into its own today.
>
...
>
>Stephen Gandy
>
>PS.  Where was this stuff invented?  LA of course, where else?
>

CMOS (Complimentary-symmetry Metal Oxide Semiconductor-FET) is a twenty
year plus old technology. Invented by RCA in the late 60's and
commercialized in the early 70's. CMOS is a technique for designing
integrated circuit gates. Its claim to fame is that it had nearly zero
standby current and very low operating currents plus it worked in a voltage
range of 3-15 volts. Battery backed CMOS memory is used in your PC's today
to save configuration data over a power-off cycle. It's possible (I'm
guessing) that someone found that making light receptors (CCD's, photo
transistors, etc.) via a modern CMOS technology allowed them to make
sub-sub-micron cells that didn't require much power. This might allow more
pixels per inch thus increasing the resolution of the digital image. One of
the major digital problems is getting enough pixels/inch. Increasing the
size of the receptor array increases resolution but also increases power
requirements and scan times. This might increase resolution at a lower
power but I suspect scan times will still be way too long for us mere mortals.

Even with this possible breakthrough technology, it will be a long time
before you will be able to have digital at ASA 50, have the resolution of
Velvia or Kodachrome 25, and be as convenient as a roll or sheet of film.
Most people cannot afford digital technology today (I mean the good
stuff... Leaf, Sinar, even Leica at $30,000.) And it's basically only good
for catalog work (still subject, small size reproduction.) It will be a
long time before any of us use digital for the work like Ted, Fred, Donal,
Luis C., etc. (sorry if I missed anyone) produce. Oh yeah... Ben. :-) The
current consumer digital cameras will only produce files at CRT resolution.
Happy snap and WWW stuff. No gallery prints. To go directly to a 20x24
Cibachrome, Dye Transfer, or whatever, digital requires a file about 400
megabytes in size. To produce digital 4x5 film output requires about 150
MB's... or you can just shoot 4x5 Velvia. Drum scanning a 4x5 tranny to a
150MB file, photoshop-ing it, then outputting it back to film is very
viable (and expensive.) But this stuff cannot go with you on location. And
it still uses FILM! Good Photo CD's can produce a good 8-1/2 x 11 (full
printed page.) Did any of you see Fred Wards article in this months (June
97) Photo District News pages 69-72? "Book Publishing From Scratch." G R E
A T article. It's too new to be in the PDN archives but you can get the
issue direct from PDN for $8 via [http://www.pdn-pix.com/backissues.html].
It's worth reading. Like Fred, I too publish books, and I did everything
myself except the scans. They were done off-shore and I reviewed the press
proofs of each scan. And I was able to make changes and get a re-scan at no
additional cost. But it's inconvenient and makes FedEx rich. And shipping
my originals to someone in the Orient makes me very nervous. I'm gearing-up
to follow in Fred's footsteps for my next book. Many many many thanks for
the article Fred.

This stuff changes daily. I've probably made enough mistakes in the above
to cause someone to yell at me. Oh well... I'll stick to my R7's, Linhof
4x5, and use film. No SEA MOSS CCD's for me today.

Jim