Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/10/13
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]From: Alexey Merz <alexey@webcom.com> Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 1999 02:10 Subject: [Leica] Re: For those who think film will be dead... > In other words, without substantially degrading > the dynamic range of the CCD, current technology > provides no obvious way to make CCDs with pixels > smaller than 5-10 um in diameter. There is no need to make the pixels smaller than 5 um or so (that's 250 lp/mm already). What is really needed is to make the CCDs larger with the _same_ pixel size, so that they can match the size of a 24x36 film negative, and thereby use the same lenses. > And it is extremely difficult to make very large > CCDs inexpensively ... Yes, and that is the biggest obstacle facing digital photography at the moment. > ... moreover, doing so will impose the same requirements > for large heavy lenses (with big image circles) as medium > format film does. Not if the CCD measures 24x36 millimeters. > And remember - film is improving at least as fast > as CCDs are. So when will I have Provia at ISO 3200 resolving 320 lp/mm with no grain? I really look forward to that. > We are already surprisingly close to the theoretical > resolution limits for compact, handheld digital CCD > still cameras. Like I said, unless some magic breakthrough occurs, we are seriously stuck for the moment, since the only option is a bigger CCD, and nobody knows how to make those reliably. -- Anthony