Advances in technology

I am interested in seeing advances in the following areas:

• Improvement in low-light sensitivity (I won't characterize in in term of greater ISO sensitivity, as it is more complicated than that)
• Improvement in dynamic range
• General availability of a true tristimulus by pixel ("three-color" sensor), as seen today in the Sigma/Foveon technology.
• Get rid of the reflex mirror in high-performance cameras

Regarding the latter, two things seem anachronistic to me:

• Since 1903, we have been traveling in essentially the same way: in a four-wheeled vehicle propelled by a four-stroke Otto-cycle engine running from gasoline.
• Since 1889, and in the modern context, since 1949 we have been, for much serious photography, dependent on the single-lens reflex configuration.

It would seem that the various technical ingredients are within reach to have a high-performance camera with all-electronic viewing, both on a monitor screen and in a high-resolution eyepiece electronic viewfinder - you know, like I enjoyed in my Sony MVC-FD7 in 1998.

Doug_Kerr said:

I am interested in seeing advances in the following areas:

• Improvement in low-light sensitivity (I won't characterize in in term of greater ISO sensitivity, as it is more complicated than that)
• Improvement in dynamic range
• General availability of a true tristimulus by pixel ("three-color" sensor), as seen today in the Sigma/Foveon technology.
• Get rid of the reflex mirror in high-performance cameras

Click to expand...

Doug,

Everything you wish for could be delivered any time Canon wishes. Put the 5D sensor in a compact camera with just a rangefinder or no optical finder at all and interchangeable lenses and the DSLR would be a thing of the past. Canon can introduce a Foveon type sensor if it wished. however, there's no reason for them to do so. If, however, market share was being lost to the Panasonic and Olympus micro 4/3 system, the Leica X1 or the Ricoh GXR, then Canon would give you what you ask for.

Unfortunately, the sensor in the 4/3 system cannot capture as much light as the full frame chip in the 5DII so it will always be behind in DR.

I'm betting on the GXR as they have the flexibility to play around with any sensor size and lens combo they wish to try, without having to design a whole new line of lenses. If you remember, each lens has its own sensor. So they can try a short run of any combination to test out some new chip. Enough folk will buy the series. However, this, even if successful is unlikely to make Canon blink.

Asher